Speaker 1: All start to you want to present Off the Bench
with Jacob Hester and T bob Abert. Yeah yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah, Off the Bench with Jacob Hester and T bob.
Speaker 2: Abert to come off the pitch.
Speaker 1: Now here's Jacob Hester and T. Bob Abert.
Speaker 3: Welcome man.
Speaker 4: Hour number two, Thursday edition of Off the Bench. Taylor
show up here with the Landra Villarial and Jordan Kitchens,
who just did a fantastic intro to hour number two. Landra,
I need your help with something before we get started
here in hour number two because I'm a little stumped.
What would you say is super sonny? What classified super sonny?
Speaker 5: Also, we can't even how do you know it's sonny outside?
Speaker 3: We can't see.
Speaker 6: Before the sun.
Speaker 5: I was like, well, where is this going? It's the
weather report on Brother Channel. It just said a nice,
big bright son So I'm envisioning outside a nice bright
son Yes, we're buck stuff in the world right now.
Speaker 2: Yah.
Speaker 3: Because it's say he's super sonny.
Speaker 5: It feels supercent I feel that I feel the UV
raised radiating on me right now.
Speaker 4: You feel raised and maybe the in the darkest room
and there's ability weaponings.
Speaker 5: The darkest one of it is not the coldest, not
the coldest, but it's one of the darkest rooms. I
will say this, I'm willing to be a betting man,
and when we walk out of this studio it'll be
a nice, bright and sunny day outside. Matter of fact, chat,
let us know right now is the sunny outside? Please
let me know. Is it sunny outside? I believe it.
Speaker 3: I mean, it probably is.
Speaker 5: But just like let me know, super super superci you
gotta be you know, you gotta be positive positivity.
Speaker 4: I got picked on for about six months in the
YouTube Jackets. I said thunder showers one.
Speaker 3: Time, which I stand by.
Speaker 5: That was the storm to be thundershower.
Speaker 4: Well, storm to me depends on how hard it's raining. Yes,
it doesn't necessarily have to be thundering, but it can
thunder and not storm, so it's a thundershower. I stand
by it. No, it's a moderate rain with thunder and
lightning mixed. And take thunders hour.
Speaker 5: They're choosing to be difficult, all right, we get what
you know. We know what you mean.
Speaker 4: Look, Jordan, I have explained this multiple times to T
Bob and Jake. I am not a professional weather man,
so appreciate anybody tuning in. But if you were getting
your daily weather and relying solely on off the bench,
that's kind of on you.
Speaker 5: But also like we've been doing this since I before
I started doing that the intro or whatever, and I
think it's pointless. I love it, actually kind I think
it's pointless.
Speaker 3: I don't think that we need to do it.
Speaker 6: I know, like I have, like.
Speaker 5: Nobody tunes into one O four five ESPN.
Speaker 3: To get a weather report from Taylor.
Speaker 5: You know what we don't know? That probably does Bob's
knee and the chat. They probably those are the type
of guys that get for the Taylor to do that.
Speaker 4: All right, Well, possible transition there. Let's let's dive in
right now to a little college basketball. Look, March Madness
is coming up. I just JANELLSU Women's played in the
SEC Tournament coming up tomorrow night. I think there are
three teams right now in men's college basketball that stand
out above the rest. And that's difficult to say because
all season long, me, you, anybody else who's watched these
games have said, man, the field is so wide open.
Yukon has taken a step down. This is anybody's game.
And while it is to me, there are three teams
that stand out above the rest. The first team, it's
the Duke Blue Devils. It's self explanatory. Cooper Flag is
as good as it gets in college basketball. Just look
at his numbers. Nineteen point six points per game, seven
and a half rebounds, four point two assists, one point
six steals, one point two blocks. Cooper Flag leads Duke
and points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks per game. Think
about that for a second. That's a talented basketball team.
It's also more than just Cooper Flag, though. Kamnippal thirty
six points or thirteen points six points per game. He
shoots almost forty percent from three, and he shoots over
ninety one percent from the free throw line. Similar players,
Tyrese Procter another guy that'll just shoot you to death
from three, forty percent from behind the arc, eleven point
eight points per game. He's a guy that's been there
for multiple years. Go, I get it, you had to
replace coach k you got John Shire now. But this team,
right now, this might be the best Dupe team they've
had in five years, really since talent wise, really since RJ. Barrett, Camraddish,
Zion Williams. That team made it to the Elite eight
and honestly probably should have went further than that. They
had the talent to win it all. I think this
duke team is on par with that one. Maybe not
top level talent outside of Cooper Flag, but this is
a deep team. They got like a lot of different
guys that can hurt you in a lot of different ways.
The second team I want to highlight is Auburn. In
my opinion, they are the most complete team in the SEZ.
Speaker 3: I get it.
Speaker 4: They just lost the game to Texas A then it
was a double digit game where Auburn actually never led
in that ball game. That is a little bit concerning.
Here's why I'm not super concerned. Jani Broom is this
offense as good as the other pieces around Jani Broom
are that we're going to get into in a minute.
Jani Broom is this offense? He took nine shots, he
scored eight points. Here's what Jani Broom got into foul trouble,
so he could not be as aggressive as he normally
is now. Hes still played thirty two minutes because he
was able to you know, not foul out, but total
fouls for each team. Auburn committed nineteen fouls. Texas A
and M outscored him thirty six to twenty eight.
Speaker 3: In the paint.
Speaker 4: Again because Broom and Dylan Cardwell and the big men
couldn't be as aggressive as they may have liked free throws,
Auburn was thirteen to fifteen. Texas A and M shot
twenty five free throws in that ball game. You're at home,
you have the vanage already, you get the other team
in foul trouble early on. It's very, very hard to
win that game because Auburn shot the ball well. Auburn
actually outshot Texas A and M from the field as
a whole and from behind the art. Auburn shot fifty
percent from the court and almost forty one percent from three.
They shot the ball well enough to win that game.
They just again couldn't be as aggressive as they wanted
to be on the defensive end. Really down in the paint,
I mentioned the point and paint differential. How about this differential.
Texas A and M twenty four offensive rebounds, Auburn just eight.
You normally see that number flipped when you get into
foul trouble early on. It is very hard to do
what you want offensively, Look, Jane I. Broom is a
complete player. To me, He's what separates this team from
the rest of the SEC. If anybody watched that Alabama
versus Auburn game about a month ago, it was a
one versus two matchup. The reason Auburn was able to
take care of business there and pull away down the stretch,
it's because Alabama didn't have anybody that could match.
Speaker 3: A Jani Brew.
Speaker 4: Because as good as shooters Auburn is from the three
point line, which we'll get into in a minute, and
Alabama's just as good for the most part, they don't
have a Jani Broom. Download and look, Dylan Cardwell for
this basketball team is a good post player. But Jani
Broom can play in the post. He's got a good
mid range shot, he could step back and hit a
three when he needs to, He's a good defender. Janni
Broom can pretty much do it all on the court
and Alabama did not have anybody to match it.
Speaker 3: That's why he went out there.
Speaker 4: He scored over twenty points and Auburn was able to
win that game, and they were actually pretty comfortable in
the last few minutes of that ballgame. But outside of him,
Chad Baker Mazara is a problem for other teams. In
last three games, look, he only had fifteen against Texas
A and M, but before that back to back games
of twenty two points. He's averaging about thirteen a game.
He shoots over forty seven percent. And once again another
guy that shoots over forty percent from three.
Speaker 3: Miles Kelly another great shooter.
Speaker 4: We have seen him get hot time and time again
this basketball season and just kill opponents with his shooting.
Dylan Cardwell, who already mentioned in the post to hot Pettiford,
he's getting better and better.
Speaker 3: He's the freshman guard.
Speaker 5: All these guys are old man's Chide Baker guy, he's
older than me and he's still playing college ball.
Speaker 4: But the thing that makes them so good and I agree,
But first off, that's what plays in the NCAA older
look at you, look at guys. That's why a Villanova,
A Yukon teams like this always perform. Well, go back
and look at the previous national champions. They all have
two things in common. One they all have veteran leaders
on that team. And two they're all top ten and
free throws, they're all top ten and free throw percentage.
All these teams can shoot free throws well. All of
them have veterans and a guy like to Hod Petiford,
who I'm mentioned in now. He's a freshman guard, so
you have that young talent as well. Duke has that,
and He'sproctor is a guy that's been there for a
number of years.
Speaker 5: I'm paying downfall. I just can't respect their game. Can
I understand it?
Speaker 3: You know what they do it well? This year?
Speaker 5: You need to win this year. Their issue in the.
Speaker 4: Past is that they've been such a good shooting team
that when they have an off shooting night, they have nothing.
Speaker 3: Else to combat that.
Speaker 5: Like Houston a little bit.
Speaker 4: Yeah, with jan I Broom, with Dylan calrdwell, with these
guys that can play in the post.
Speaker 3: They're a more complete team this year than they have
been in the past.
Speaker 4: I've been a big Auburn downer in the past as well,
but this team's a little bit different because of the
number of guys in the number of ways that they
can hurt you. Okay, look, we know about Duke, we
know about all They' pretty much been the top two
teams all year long. The last team I want to
highlight is the Houston Cougars led by Kelvin Samson, but
they have a veteran and LJ.
Speaker 3: Cryer.
Speaker 4: He is a fifth year graduate player. Again, it's always
nice to have veteran leadership when you get into the
NCAA tournament. They're just a disciplined, well coach basketball team,
and that's going to happen when you have Kelvin Samson. Also,
they're a lot more efficient on offense in recent years
under Samson, we always see this team top ten, top
five in defensive efficiency. Their offense kind of hovers around
the thirty thirty five.
Speaker 3: Mor they're.
Speaker 4: Fourth in the country in scoring margin per game. This
offense is efficient, This offense can play. The one issue
I have with Houston they don't have a ton of height.
Their tallest guy is Javier Francis. He plays at about
six to eight. But they're so efficient and they smother
you on defense, and it really hasn't mattered so far.
Now we'll see what happens when they play a team
like Auburn with a Dylan card Well or how they
handle a Cooper Flag down low. But for the most part,
their defense has been so good. They've been so well disciplined,
they don't turn the ball over a ton. They are
the top team in college basketball in terms of team
defensive efficiency Number one. They play great defense. They have
the veteran leader in LJ. Cryer, and yes, they shoot
really good free throws. Also, they have an established coach
who's had a lot of success, and it's had a
lot of success there. You go look at at what
Kelvin Samson has done there. He's taken them to an
Elite eight before, he's taken them to a Final four.
He's been to multiple Sweet sixteens. He's won seventy percent
of his games as a coach. Kelvin Samson has been there,
done that, He's been great. He also has a winning
record in tournaments twenty six and nineteen in the March
Madness Tournament in his career, so he knows how to
win these big games. So when you have a big
time coach with a graduate player at LJ. Cryer, a
lot of talented, defensive minded pieces around them, and you're
great when you get to the free throw line, it's
hard to beat a team like that.
Speaker 3: And that goes to say with all these teams.
Speaker 4: Because the reason I wanted to highlight these three Look,
they're in the spotlight. They're all ranked inside the top ten.
We all know that these teams are good. They're all
good in different ways, and they can all beat you
in multiple ways. Houston more defensive minded. Auburn, they're going
to shoot you to death. Duke, they just play everything
off of Cooper Flag. He can kill you down low.
And if you double team and he can kick it
out to Kinniple, he can kick it out to Tyrese Proctor,
he can kick it out to these All of these
teams are super efficient at what they do, but they
can all beat you in a number of different ways.
Now again, I do think this NCAA tournament is wide open.
I think that any team can get hot at the
right time, whether a team.
Speaker 3: Goes on a run.
Speaker 4: Look Saint John's basketball team right now, it's ranked number
six in the country because Rick Patino is their head coach.
That is a mid major that no one's gonna want
to play when March Madness rolls around. For the most part,
while I think there's a lot of teams that are
very even just from what I have viewed this year,
I think the Duke, Auburn, and Houston are in a
class by themselves at least right now. All right, look,
we're going to take a quick time out. When we
get back, we're gonna get back into more local sports.
We're gonna mention the New Orleans Saints. They cut a
fan favorite yesterday and they are now paper thin at
running back.
Speaker 3: We'll get into that on the other side here and
off the bench.
Speaker 2: Off the bench, I.
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Speaker 4: Hey Thursday edition of Off the Bench Taylor Trumper. Whether
you filling in for Jacob Hester and t Bob aber Hey?
Right now, I want to get back to the New
Orleans Saints. It was announced yesterday that the Saints are
cutting ties with Jamal Williams. Look, this is a guy
that it was a big signing a couple of years
ago on paper when he joined the New Orleans Saints.
He was just never able to catch on. He led
the NFL and rushing touchdowns with the Lions the year
before coming to New Orleans two years with the Saints
at four hundred and seventy one yard rushing and two touchdowns.
He couldn't stay healthy and when he was on the field,
he wasn't a super productive guy. But what this move
does is drastically increase your need for a running back
because you really just don't have any.
Speaker 3: Here's your running back room right now.
Speaker 4: In terms of guys who have actually played Alvin Kamara,
Kendre Miller, and Jordan Mims is a restricted free agent.
Speaker 3: That's all you have right now, period.
Speaker 4: So what I want to know is, Jordan, the other
day when you were filling in for Alandra, we had
Nick Underhill on and he said, it's seems like the
Saints to Mago target Ashton gend in round one and
you had a pretty brash reaction, and T Bob and
Jake kind of gave you some crap for it.
Speaker 3: So I want to know now.
Speaker 4: I want to know now, with cutting Jamal Williams, you
really only have two running backs right now, and Kendre
Miller's been hidden us anyways by some traction, does it
change your opinion of drafting ash and gent nine overall?
Speaker 5: Nah, it was still cause of a met I see
that the words grew Orland, Saints select Aston gent Boise
standard be like like I'm going.
Speaker 3: To raise like it's going to be your exact reaction.
Speaker 5: Yeah, exactly, Honestly, I might, I might just turn the
TV off, But like I seen, when I've seen enough, seen.
Speaker 4: Enough, Well let me tell you why I actually agree
with you. I've actually come around to this idea. When
when Gend's name was first brought up. I was like, oh, yeah,
I'm a good player. Like, do you have bigger needs
than running back?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Probably, but you kind of need every position. Like you're
the New Orleans Saints. You've you've drafted bad, You've let
go of your top players. They are high caliber play
on other teams. Now you kind of need everything. Yeah,
here's why I'm with you in there. This is a
very very deep running back class right now. There's two
running backs projected to go in the first round, Ashton
Genty bonafide first round pick, and then a lot of
people believe a mari And Hampton out of North Carolina
is also going to be a first round pick. But
there's so many other guys out there that are just
frankly under the radar. For example, Traveon Henderson from Ohio
State is a stud We have seen him multiple times
in college do whatever he wanted. He's got the size.
Oh and by the way, he ran a faster forty
time than Quinn John Judkins at the combine. Tragion Henderson
ran a four to three seven at the combine at
his size. We know the college production. That's a guy
that I mean right now. He's probably gonna go second,
third round if that. He's a guy that's a little
bit under the radar. What Caleb Johnson from Iowa. He's
a hard nosed runner. We know those Iowa offenses love
to run the football. They ran their offense through Caleb
Johnson and they were actually pretty effective. At the other day,
I mentioned winners of the NFL combine, but Shul Tutten
from Virginia Tech a guy I mentioned twelve hundred yards
last season, fifteen rushing touchdowns.
Speaker 3: He also ran a four to three to two. He
had the.
Speaker 4: Fastest time of any running back in this combine. He's
a guy that's projected to go like fourth, fifth round
right now.
Speaker 3: RJ. Harvey from uc he's a little bit undersized the guys. RJ.
Speaker 4: Harvey at double digit rushing touchdowns at UCF this year.
Speaker 3: He fifteen hundred yards rushing and if.
Speaker 4: You remember, coming into the year, it was supposed to
be a running back duo between RJ.
Speaker 3: Harvey and Penny Boone.
Speaker 4: R J. Harvey took over that backfield and never looked back.
I mean, he was impressive, to say the least. Look
the Saints have the first or the ninth pick in
the first round of this year's NFL Draft. After that,
they're at pick forty in the second round. All those
guys I just mentioned will probably be there at pick forty.
Caleb Johnson will be there. Treveon Henderson will be there.
Brishard Smith from SMU had a super productive year last year,
part of the reason SMU was able to make it
into the College Football Playoff. Dylan Sampson may have been
the best running back in the SEC.
Speaker 5: I was waiting on you to say that. I'm like,
Dylan Samson is out there and he was a dog.
Speaker 4: Look, there were good running backs in the SEC all
over the place. Jarq west Hunter was good at Arkansas,
but Dylan Sampson, to me, stood out over everyone else. Yeah,
and he did it for two seasons at Tennessee in
the SEC. He's still a young guy. Look, he's five
foot eighties two hundred pounds. But that's fine with me
because at the beginning of his career he's going to
be nothing more than a change of pace back. To
give Alvin Camaro below. Anyways, he didn't have to be
a big six to two bruiser. Jarkquest Hunter another I
just mentioned five nine, two oh five. It's more than
just those. Damian Martinez from Miami's six foot's two hundred
and seventeen pounds.
Speaker 5: He's a bruiser.
Speaker 4: He has the size to be an every down running
back in this league. Corey Kiner, who lsu Vans were mentioned,
they remember him very well. He's five to ten, he's
two hundred and ten pounds. Really good at Cincinnati for
a number of years. Klum a nung guy from Ruggers,
TODs Brooks from Texas Tech. I mean, these are all
guys that were every down running backs in college. This
running back class is so deep people have forgotten that
Cam Skataboo is a person. Look if I was Skataboo,
I would have ran the forty at the Combine. If
Camp'skataboy ran a four or five eight in the forty
at the Combine, he's a second round pick.
Speaker 3: His tape speaks for itself.
Speaker 4: What Cam Skataboo was able to do for Arizona State
in that game against Texas, who coming into that game
had a top five defense in all of college football
told me everything I need to see. I don't need
to see Campscataboo at the Underwear Olympics and the combine,
running the three cone drill or catching passes out of
the backfield. I saw everything I needed to know about
Campskataboo in that game.
Speaker 3: He was sick, he was throwing up on the sidelines.
He came back.
Speaker 4: He was even better after that than he was before.
He completed a long pass. He caught a long pass,
mossing a defender in the process. You could not stop
him in shortyardage. Everything camp Scataboo wanted to do in
that game behind an offensive line that was overmatched against
a really good front in the Texas Long Horns.
Speaker 3: It told me everything I needed to see.
Speaker 4: Also, there are a number of free agent running backs
this year that are available.
Speaker 5: Well, we broke so we're not really worried about that.
Speaker 3: I get that, but there look there's affordable option.
Speaker 5: Yeah, same definite.
Speaker 4: For example, Javonte Williams from the Broncos is set to
be an unrestricted free agent. He's about to be twenty
five years old. His rookie salary was two point two
million dollars a year, and I don't think he played
significantly better to command top dollar running back position. Anyways,
that's a guy you can bring it.
Speaker 5: I want somebody fresh. You know, I'm a fantasy football guy.
He never lived up to the.
Speaker 3: Higher so that's fine, but I mean.
Speaker 5: It's sour taste. It's like saying, Brandon, how you name
around me?
Speaker 4: Alexander Madison's a guy. He's twenty six years old, Taylor.
Speaker 5: Come on, come on, Jordan.
Speaker 4: Let me, let me, let me explain something to you
about how the free agency market works. If these were
top dollar for Jordan, these guys are twenty five years old,
how young do you want?
Speaker 5: No, we can get some fresh guys from college.
Speaker 4: I understand those guys. But if you don't, there are
another options as well.
Speaker 5: Madison, man, he couldn't make it work with the Raiders
last year. You got bitch who was the guy that
that benched before?
Speaker 4: They're not going to do every down, Abdullah. They're not
going to be here every down running back.
Speaker 5: Let's like get another Jamal Williams. Like we like, we
need to get a guy that's solid. Jamal great guy,
better human than ballplayer, but we all players.
Speaker 4: All of these guys in recent years have all been
more productive than Jamal. Not not why as Jamal from
four years ago, last two or three years. All of
these guys have been more productive.
Speaker 5: Jamal the signing never really made since for the beginning
because Aysom Hill was the short YARDEDT guy.
Speaker 4: Regardless, a guy that's a guy that's out there. You're
gonna hate him because he's not nineteen years old. But
look aj Dillon from the Backers, He's had a number
of big games in this league. He made He's two
point six million dollars with the Green Bay Packers. He's
a guy that could come in. You need a short
yardage back because Jamal Williams is gone out and to
Tatom Hill's injured, to all Hill Aluta, he's thirty five
years old.
Speaker 3: I love Ashton Genty.
Speaker 4: I think if the Saints drafted Ashton Genty, he would
do good things with this organization because he's a good
football player. The bigger problem I have is there are
a lot of options out there.
Speaker 3: And you need a lot more.
Speaker 4: You need a pass catcher, you need a tight end,
you need help on the offensive and defensive lines. You
need safety help desperately. You need running backs. But I
mean you can get a running back at pick forty.
You have the seventy first pick in the third round.
You have the ninety first pick in the third round.
You have, you have seven picks in this year's draft.
Speaker 5: You have, you have a lot of picks, and all
seven have to be guys I need that can play immediately.
That's how bad we are.
Speaker 4: I know you're a big time Saints fan. It don't
matter who the hell they draft this year. The Saints
are going to be awful next year.
Speaker 5: Starters.
Speaker 4: Whoever you draft their running backs is not gonna be
a starter. Alen Kamara is going to be the starter.
The thing is, grab a guy who has the ability
to be in every down back that is on a
rookie contract. If something happens to Kamara, he can side
right in. And then when Kamara moves on, because he
doesn't have a lot of years left, you already have
his replacement, Darren waiting. And that guy will only be
twenty four years old, which is a little too old
for Jordan. But he'll only be twenty four years old.
Speaker 5: This man said, AJ Dillon, stop it, stop it.
Speaker 3: AJ Dillon is twenty five years old.
Speaker 5: He's wise, bro, He's will it Jordan.
Speaker 3: There's a reason he's a too milly.
Speaker 5: Let me explain. He is wise. I mean bro, he's wise.
I don't everybody on these free agent mar for AJ Dillon.
I'm just letting you know he's like the Saints. You
should draft the running back. That's what I'm saying. I
agree we should. Undred we're already clearance shop racking. We
can go get it.
Speaker 4: Like a last say, let's say, let's say, for whatever
reason after this ain't drafted nine there's a run on
running backs. Let's just say, hypothetically, okay, you would not
sign AJ Dillon for a million and a half dollars
a year.
Speaker 5: Maybe I still flay, you should draft the running back
like you just need to get that.
Speaker 3: But the gym's donning Paul perfectly.
Speaker 5: You just named ten running backs that are going to
be there in the later rounds.
Speaker 3: Maybe, and it's why I mentioned them first. They're your first.
Speaker 5: Hey, you want agent, that's fine.
Speaker 3: The point is a sign.
Speaker 5: I just don't think AJ Dillon. I don't. I'm sure
that's not moving a needle.
Speaker 4: Anything I said made you think that I like AJ
Dillon over any of those guys draft because.
Speaker 5: You're trying to do like AJ. I'm just don't. I
am not moved by a J Dillon or said I'm
just not moving back.
Speaker 4: Plan is free agency. It means it's not your first option.
You have to draft a running back. Draft running back,
but Ken Dre Miller can't give you anything. You still
need another running bafter outside.
Speaker 3: Of the draft.
Speaker 5: I just said draft running back. You have to no
question about it, and we're green on the same thing.
You might need more than one the same thing. We
agree on the same thing. But when need to drop
the running back, I'm just a Dillon.
Speaker 3: But I don't know. If you take him first in
the first round, you.
Speaker 5: Kill hell no, hell no.
Speaker 3: I would go tedor Roald mcmellan. I love him. I
would actually deal.
Speaker 4: Okay, I'm coming around to Tyler Warren in the first
round because.
Speaker 3: He can do a little bit of everything for you.
Speaker 4: And look, the reality is Juwan Johnson said to be
a free agent Foster Moros on the last year of
his deal. Yeah, Taysom Hill's not even to tight end
to begin, whether he's listed his one, but he's not
a true tight end anyway.
Speaker 5: He's he's he's hurt, so they an't worry about to.
Speaker 4: If you bring in a guy that you think can
make an impact Round one outside of running back.
Speaker 3: There's too many good guys. Whether it's an R. J.
Speaker 4: Harvey, who I love, whether it's look but Schouel, Tutton
awesome at the combine, Dylan Samson awesome at the combine,
Trevion Anderson, Quin, Shawn Judkins, Caleb Johnson. All of these
guys are going to be there when you pick in
rounds two. Most of them are going to be there
in round three when you pick at seventy one. Yeah,
there's no reason to draft Ashton gent I like Ashton Gendy.
Speaker 3: I think he's a good player.
Speaker 4: I would really call you the New Orleans States to
stay away from him in round one. All right, going
to take a quick time out. When we get back,
we're gonna be joined by Ross Jackson. He was actually
out there at the combine and our guy drove to
the combine, And first off, I'm gonna find out why
he did that. Secondly, we're gonna chop it up with
him about the New Orleans Saints that's coming up.
Speaker 3: Next here on Off the bench, Off the bench.
Speaker 4: To the bench one of four five ESPN sitting in
for Jacob Hester and t Bob Abear. Right now, I
want to go to the phone lines, bring in Rass Jackson.
He hosts Locked on Saints. He also does right ups
for us at Louisiana Sports dot Net.
Speaker 3: Ross, how are you today?
Speaker 5: Man?
Speaker 2: What's up? Buddy's doing great, doing great things for having
me on?
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, Ross. I wanted to kind of do a
little combine recap.
Speaker 4: But last week Matt Moscona tells me you drove to
the combine in Indianapolis?
Speaker 3: Is that correct?
Speaker 2: I did? Yes, I loved and I love long distance
drive and so that was the longest in Troy.
Speaker 3: Okay, how long did it take? Okay? I was actually
thinking it was gonna be a lot more more than that.
Speaker 2: No, it's it's it's shockingly not bad. It's it's you know,
there's better places you could drive to in eleven hours
than Indianapolis. That can be wrong, but alter Indianapolis is awesome.
And so we cut it in half. We drove from
New Orleans to Nashville, uh, and then finished the drive
the next day up in Indianapolis. But it was great.
Speaker 4: How how is the food seen in Indianapolis? I hear
it's actually pretty underrated.
Speaker 2: It's pretty underrated.
Speaker 5: It's good.
Speaker 2: It's a lot of steak. I'm not a real meat guy,
so I don't get to enjoy it very much. But
they have some pretty good seafood and stuff like that
over there too. I don't typically do seafood outside of
New Orleans, but that's one of the cities where I'll
risk it.
Speaker 4: Now, now, Ross, was this your first combine to physically
go to.
Speaker 2: No, this was my oh, I want to say fourth,
It might actually be fifth, but it was one of
them too. It was like a round a handful.
Speaker 4: So okay, kind of give me a little bit of
a background of like the behind the scenes of the combine,
Like what's the coolest part of being there, because like
us at home, you know, we'll turn on the TV
and we'll see guys run a forty yard dash.
Speaker 3: There's a little golf club in the background. Like what
do you get to see?
Speaker 2: Well, I love the golf class. Yeah, No, it's funny.
Like I actually typically leave Indianapolis before the combine drills
even get started. For us, it's a lot of going
kind of trying to pick up a little bit of
a chit chat and everything like that, like some of
the rumors that are going on, you know, doing some
of the night scene to kind of meet up and
have conversations and things like that, and you try to
like steal some of most conversations as you can. But
also like the way the things do things is really unique.
Like they don't do the podium at the combine like
like a lot of other teams do. There's a few
teams that do it this way, but they kind of
do their own thing off the side with local media only,
which is really nice. And so being able to be
there for that, being able to be there for you know,
some of the conversations that are going and being able
to pick the brains to people in the know around like, hey,
what what's kind of going on free agent wise across
the NFL. Who's becoming aticle? He's not always those things.
So they're trying to pick up kind of all that
information from a bunch of different angles, not just the
New Orleans Saints angle, because you know, markets could become oversaturated,
which impact the way that the Saints play there, you know,
version of the markets. You kind of have to know
what's going on holistically around the league in order to
really understand how maybe some of the decisions that New
Worlds wants to make, plans to make or would like
to make are are really impacted by the overall landscape
of things.
Speaker 4: As far as like the combine itself, like stand out
positive or negative? Is there a guy that like surprised
you in a positive way or like you thought was
going to perform really well who maybe didn't like would
you kind of make of it overall?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look, I will say this was a
unique combine where we saw some you know, I don't
even remember what the number was. We saw a lot
of people not participating. So that was one that kind
of changed a bit of what the projection of the
weekend was going to be. But Nicka mounworry. The safety
out of South Carolina was absolutely incredible at the combine.
It really checked a lot of boxes. And my understanding
was that, like all of his interviews that he did
were really solid. He obviously did well at the podiums
and things like that, but like his his testing as
a whole was outstanding for the day, just in terms
of the way that he measured going out there and
running a four to four, going out there and jumping
forty three inches with an eleven foot broad jump, like
just amazing performance by him. So he was probably a
guy that really stood out. And I think another one
that stood out that we kind of expected to be
the cases Texas A and M defensive end Shamar Stewart.
Schwarz Stewart was outstanding in terms of his testing. He
just lacks a lot of college collegiate production and mont
Worry does not lack that collegiate production. So for me,
he was the standout.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's a guy that you know, an anytime I've
heard about positive standouts, em and Warry is kind of
the first name out of their mouths. And also he's
six three to twenty at the safety position. That's a
guy that's going to come off the board a lot earlier. Nick,
I mean, I'm sorry we had Nick on yesterday. Ross
Jackson joined in a strud Now, as far as the
Saints in Round one, we have seen a variety of
people being mocked to them. I mean, we've seen Tyler Warren,
Ashton Gent, We've seen defensive linemen. In your opinion, where
should the Saints go in Round one?
Speaker 2: My number one prospect for them is Keteralal McMillan, the
wide receiver out of out of Arizona. I think he's
the one that has the biggest, most immediate impact. The
Saints are clear that they're they're they're intending to compete
here in twenty twenty five. And if you're going to
do that, then go and get somebody in that first
round that's immediately going to have an impact for you. Right,
you're probably not in the position in that case to
draft somebody that you look feel like you can develop
some kind of project or something like that. You got
to go and get a short fire guy. Keterrold McMillan
is a short fire guy. He would be an excellent
compliment to guys like Chris Lave and Rashid Shaheed. So
he's up there. Kind of My one, be like really close.
Number two would be Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham. Should
he fall, I don't know if he makes it to them,
but I mean, look, the things have work to do
on both sides of their trenches. I think the defensive
tackle class is deeper than the wide receiver class is
when it comes to top talent. But you know, if
a guy like Mason Graham falls, that that's a pretty
easy one to get excited about. And then the last
one that I'll mention, I think is the one that
was most mentioned around the New Orland states in Indianapolis
with Penncety tight end Tyler Warren. I'm typically not a
tight end in the first round guy, or a tight
end in the top fifteen guy, probably more appropriately, because
it's typically a position that takes a long time, a
couple of years to translate to the NFL. But a
guy like Tyler Warren who's already a solid blocker, which
is a lot of the reasons why it's typically tougher
to transition. In college, you're like a pass catcher, right,
You're just another wide receiver in AA a lot of times.
And then after that when you get to the NFL,
all of a sudden, you have to learn protections and
all this stuff. It's all that Warren plays in a
big ten. There's a lot of projection protection that goes
on in the big tent, a lot of blocking that
goes on to the big vent, the punt conference. And
so I think a guy like Tyler Warren maybe can
transition a little bit faster than most tight ends can,
and so he could be a guy that has an
immediate impact for New Orleans as well well.
Speaker 4: So that kind of leads me into the next point.
If it's not Tyler Warren in round one, where do
you think the tight end position is? Maybe like on
the Saints priority list and like are there any guys
you like maybe second, third round?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's I think it's on their priority
list to address a couple of times, and that could
be resigning Juwan Johnson and a new acquisition. It can
be a pair of new acquisitions, like there's there's there's
multiple ways to kind of address the spot for sure,
But I think that's the spot that they're looking to address.
Duwan's going into a free agency boss tomorrow, as well
as Tayson milli book coming off of injury. You've got
a young guy in Dallan Hulker who's really promising, but
you haven't gotten to feel out of them yet. I
think you've got a couple of guys that are coming through,
you know, Trayton Welsh as well as Michael Jacobson that
are coming off with future deals and you know kind
of practice squad years and stuff like that, and so
I would absolutely see them addressing that position. I think
it's on their priority list. I don't know where it
is on their priority list because it's going to depend
on how deep the priority list is. Right, Like, they
got a lot of work to do this offseason on
their roster, but I do know that they want to
address it multiple times, and so I think the draft
makes a lot of sense. Tacond and third round guys
that makes sense. Harold Fanning Junior out of Bowling Green,
probably the best tight end in the country when it
came to production, outstanding a little bit undersize those maybe
doesn't check the boxes for New Orleans Terns been all
around guy that has worked for Kellen Moore. So one
guy that comes to mind, and I'm probably going to
catch a lot of flack for this because he's an
LSU Tiger, But Mason Taylor, Man, he makes sense. Look,
I get it. The New Orleantons haven't often invested in
LSU players. The last one is they drafted, if I
remember correctly, it was Will Clapp years ago, so they
kind of overdue. They typically do this on a rotation
of like every nine years on average, they end up
stillcting some LGU player. They'll all overdo on it. And
I think Mason Taylor is a guy that makes sense,
has that thing kind of all around perspective. Ken Block,
can catch, can run routes. I think he would be
another guy that I would absolutely want.
Speaker 4: Well Jackson join right now, host of lucked on Saints
and Our Saints writer for Louisianasports dot Net.
Speaker 3: We're all. The good news is the Saints need every position,
so you can't really go wrong.
Speaker 4: The bad news is they pretty much need every position
right as far as a late round target, I'm not
even talking like mainly position, but like if there is
a guy that falls late round and the Saints are thinking, hey,
maybe best available. If there's a guy out there who's
there in the late rounds, do you want the Saints
to grab?
Speaker 3: Is there a guy out there?
Speaker 2: Missouri edge rusher Johnny Walker conor Johnny Walker Junior? To
me is the dude that is just like one of
those guys that, to me is going to be the
steal of the draft wherever he goes unless he's skyrockets. Right.
If he skyrockets, then obviously things change, but because then
the expectations will be higher. But if he's drafted in
Day three, six foot three, two hundred and fifty undred
and fifty ish pounds, stand up edge rusher was the
Cotton Bowl Defensive Player Defensive MVP when when Missouri played
in the Cotton Bowl a couple of years ago. Nine
and a half sacks last season, but again two sacks
against Alabama and everything to force three fumbles. So he
affects the ball when he gets to the gets to
the players as well, and is just a hyper athletic player.
I think in Brandon Staley's defense in particular, where you're
looking for that type of mold, the pass rusher, the
stand up speed pass rusher, the Leonard Floyd type. If
you're able to get a Johnny Walker junior in the fifth, sixth,
or seventh round, I don't care you do it. You're
your role that dice. You got to trade up to
the fifth to do it if you've got a state
point and the sixth to do it, whatever it is.
If you're able to get into that day three range,
I think he's a guy that's well worth invest again
at that point. And I'll also throw in also one
of my favorite names in the draft, by the way,
Mac McWilliams. Isn't that awesome, dude. Mac McWilliams, the cornerback
out a UCF like great physical build, has a lot
of production, makes a lot of players at the ball,
good scheme, versatility playing, and that that that central Florida defense.
I think he's another one that I would I would
highlight as well.
Speaker 4: Well before we get you out of here, look the
Saints since hiring Kellen Moore, They've hired Brandon Staley, a's DC. Youah,
Doug Nlsmeyer's OC. They just announced they're bringing in Scott Lenahan.
You hire Bo Davis away from LSU. What have you
made of the staff that Kellen Morris put together so far?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I like the structure of the staff. I think there's
two things to highlight. I think there's the hires, which
are the individual names of those coaches and with their
backgrounds are and all of those things. I like the
fact that he's got two, you know, former head coaches
on his coaching staff. I like the fact that he
brought Doug Nutsmeyer back to Louisiana and did it with
a you know, bringing him in as the guy that
kind of balances him out a little bit, as he
describes it. But the other piece that I really like
is the structure of the coaching staff, particularly open the
defensive side. The things feel like with their hires that
they're going to maybe have like a passing game coordinator,
a safety's coach, and a quarnerbacks coach as opposed to
a defensive backs coach, And I like that. I like
being able to translate the game immediately to one position group.
It sounds like, or it looks like they might have
like an inside linebacker versus outside linebacker coach, which kind
of shows you a little bit about what their plans
are for their pass rush and changing that. So I
think the structure of the defensive coaching staff, which is
really replicating what Brandon Staley had in twenty twenty with
the Los Angeles Rams, I think shows you exactly what
it is that this team is looking to do on
the defensive side. So that's the other thing that at
highlight that I think is a plus in terms of
the way they've structured this roster. But the former head
coaches on the coaching staff roster with a first time
head coach, I think is an excellent move by Kellen Moore.
Speaker 4: All right, Roster Jackson our guest right now, Ross, thanks
for hopping on with me today, man Hey.
Speaker 2: Always a pleasure, but take care say say thanks much
for having me on. I thought to you here soon.
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
Speaker 4: That's Ralsea Jackson with Locked On Saints and our Saints
staff writer here at Luisianasports dot nata.
Speaker 3: Right, we're going to take a quick time out.
Speaker 4: We'll have a short segment to wrap things up here
at on number two of off the bench.
Speaker 3: On the other side off the.
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Speaker 4: Look, we only have about two minutes to go before
we have to hit that hardbreak. What to mention thing
that happened yesterday afternoon right after we got off the air.
The Los Angeles Chargers have released defensive end Joey Bosa.
He was the longest ten yeared player and he was
the last player that was left over from before they
were in LA. When they moved to San Diego to
LA back in twenty seventeen, he was the last remaining player. Look,
he's a guy that's still just twenty nine years old.
He was a number three pick in the twenty sixteen draft.
Seventy two career sacks that puts him second in franchise
history behind Leslie O'Neil. He was Defensive Rookie of the
Year in twenty sixteen ten and a half sacks, seventeen
tackles for a loss. They gave him one hundred and
thirty five million dollar contract extension in twenty twenty. And
it's one of those things that after you give a
guy a lot of money, injuries and whatever else is
the case, it's going to keep them off the field.
Keeps him off the field. That's the issue with Joey Bosa.
Bosa was always a really talented player when he was
on the field. I mean, you hear Jacob Pester on
this show all the time talk about Joey Bosa. He's
not always available and that was the issue. I mean again,
when he was healthy, he remained one of their most
effective pass rushers. In the playoff loss of this past
year to the Houston Texans, he had six pressures, he
had a sack on CJ.
Speaker 3: Stroud.
Speaker 4: But he's just been in and out of the lineup
so much. They cut him. That saves them almost twenty
six million dollars in cap space. Look, Bosa said at
one time he wanted to be a Charger for life,
but look, they cut him. The Chargers now have ninety
point six million dollars in cap space. It'll be interesting
to see what they do here. I'm gonna be really
interested to see where Joey Bosa goes one because he's
still relatively young player at twenty nine years old. He's
been a productive player, win healthy, and win on the field.
He's been in and out of the lineup for injuries. Also,
Max Crosby just completely reset the defensive end market yesterday
he was He is now the highest paid non quarterback
in NFL history. He has a one hundred million dollar contract,
you know, eighty five million of it guaranteed. Look, Michael
Parson still needs a new deal. Joey Bosa is going somewhere,
Miles Garrett, if he gets traded somewhere, is his deal
going to be restructured? How are these things going to look?
It's always interesting when one guy gets paid a ton
of money at one position and there's still a lot
of other top talent left to go to be interested
to see where Bosa goes, what kind of money he gets, Parsons, Garrett,
all these guys, all right, Look, we.
Speaker 3: Have one more hour left. We're gonna a big deal
or no big deal at nine am and then nine
Speaker 4: To fifteen our Munchie segment with chef Michael Johnson off
the bench,