Field Yates from ESPN released a mock draft where he had the Commanders taking a WR in round 1 of the draft... Would you be in on that idea?
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00:00when it comes to Philadelphia's roster.
00:03Talking about what you might want here for Washington,
00:04but speaking of Washington's roster,
00:06so Field Yates, all right, wicked smart little guy,
00:10works for ESPN, a lot of draft talk, fantasy talk,
00:14analytics, the whole nine yards.
00:16And he did a mock draft here, and here's what he says.
00:20As the commanders look to surround Jayden Daniels
00:22with more playmakers, they could tap back
00:24into the Ohio State receiver pipeline
00:27to pair Terry McCorn with Emeka Agbuka,
00:32who leaves Columbus with the most catches in school history.
00:35Agbuka is the most ready-made prospect in this class
00:38as he features pristine route running,
00:39reliable hands, and a selflessness as a blocker
00:42that the commanders would undoubtedly love.
00:44He caught 10 touchdowns for the Buckeyes this season.
00:48Toblerone, I ask you, with 29,
00:50the little ding-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling,
00:53with the 29th pick of the NFL Draft,
00:54the Washington Commanders,
00:55whose names are changing immediately, this is Mike Goodell,
00:57select Agbuka.
01:00Your thoughts.
01:02I don't hate it.
01:03I don't love it.
01:04I'm kind of somewhere in the middle
01:06because if there are not better options, then sign me up.
01:09I like Emeka Agbuka.
01:10He's not special to me as a receiver.
01:12He's a solid player.
01:14He's not exceptional, but, you know,
01:16the way that receiver has gone
01:18in the National Football League,
01:20guys are getting paid a lot of money.
01:21And so if you can get one on a rookie contract
01:23that can be impactful,
01:24even if it's a guy that's gonna be a number two receiver,
01:27I don't hate that idea.
01:28They need to upgrade a wide receiver
01:30outside of Terry McLaurin.
01:31So I would like that idea.
01:33But I think that's something that maybe you do
01:35through free agency,
01:36or that's something you maybe do
01:38in the middle rounds of the draft,
01:39alongside maybe a running back.
01:41I would love to see them address the line first.
01:43If that's something where the O-line,
01:46they're just not good guys,
01:47like, you know, what happened last year
01:48where they tried to trade back into the first
01:50and they couldn't get back into the first.
01:52And then, you know, they end up coming up to the pick
01:53early in the second round.
01:54They're just not guys there.
01:55So they went with Johnny Newton, then fine.
01:57I don't mind passing on it then,
01:59and then going with the wide receiver.
02:00But I would prefer to see a little bit more emphasis
02:03paid on the lines of scrimmage going into this season.
02:06But I have no issue with Ibuka getting drafted there.
02:08So if that's your best player on the board,
02:10and that's who you take, sign me up.
02:11So I want that too,
02:12the thing you just said about the offensive line.
02:14I have beat the drum.
02:16I thought before the season started this year,
02:17then they needed to do better.
02:19I don't know how many avenues there were
02:21for them to do better.
02:22Again, I go back to free agency,
02:23the best player, the best tackle,
02:25the most accomplished tackle in the marketplace
02:27was Tyron Smith who signed for a year
02:29in like $11, numbers approximate.
02:31There aren't premium upgrades at the tackle spot.
02:35Guard market, a little more robust, but even still,
02:37I don't think you're going to do a whole heck of a lot better
02:39than Sam Cosby, certainly a right guard,
02:41and or Nick Allegretti, a left guard,
02:44a guy who had started on a really good offense,
02:46a Superbowl winning team.
02:47Again, not a star, but solid enough.
02:49I want to do better there.
02:52I want to do better at right tackle.
02:52I want to do better at left guard
02:54and maybe ultimately left tackle.
02:55Now the team has to decide, is Brandon Coleman,
02:59did he show enough to be the left tackle anchor
03:01of the future or do you solve one of those other two spots,
03:04AKA right tackle or left guard with Brandon Coleman?
03:07He is a positive asset.
03:09Don't get me wrong.
03:09He's not a liability.
03:11I want to be great there, right?
03:13And I think that's an avenue
03:13where you use a premium resource to do it.
03:16I just don't think it's in free agency.
03:18So this is the part where you and I may disagree, Tobes,
03:22but as I look at what happens in free agency
03:23over the last couple of years,
03:24I mean, you heard more Earl's updates.
03:26Tee Higgins might get franchise tag.
03:28And by the way, if I'm Cincinnati,
03:29that's exactly what I would do.
03:30I would franchise him.
03:32No, he might be pissed about it,
03:33but I don't want to lose him for nothing.
03:36I also don't want to give him a huge mega extension
03:39because of all the injury history that he has.
03:41He's a star.
03:42He's perfect opposite Jamar Chase as kind of a 1A.
03:45He's a number one for a lot of offenses.
03:47And I think he'd be really, really good for them.
03:49But the point of the dude's story is,
03:51their window is right now
03:52with a couple of defensive upgrades,
03:54they could be right back into the thick of things
03:56as a threat to Kansas City and company in the AFC.
03:59But I digress.
04:00There aren't premium players at tackle, usually at receiver.
04:04You can work via trade,
04:06whether it was Keenan Allen, Stephon Diggs,
04:08not to disrespect these guys,
04:09but there's a wrinkle there.
04:11There's damaged goods.
04:12It's either Allen may have lost a step or for Diggs,
04:16it was maybe attitudinal where I was welcoming Buffalo.
04:18I don't know.
04:20But it's not as if you could just go pluck a 26 year old
04:22in his prime off somebody
04:24that's going to give you 1300 yards.
04:26I don't know that that's available to me.
04:28This was kind of the issue.
04:31If there was one that I had with Peters and company
04:33this past off season in the draft was
04:36that's where you have to go get
04:37some of these premium positions
04:39in that first and second round window
04:41of tackle receiver, tackle receiver.
04:44Mikey Sandwich will turn into a really nice player.
04:46He'll be an asset for him.
04:47I'm a fan.
04:48I ultimately hope that he's able to go back
04:49into the slot with the draft that in the do
04:51by either Lattimore playing better
04:53or another corner to replace St.
04:55Jude slash Michael Davis slash whoever's opposite there.
04:58But if San Francisco is going to play on the outside
04:59you have another need there, but that's, that's secondarily.
05:03To me, those other second round picks
05:06you got very little from Ben Senate.
05:08Maybe you do one day, but it didn't really help you.
05:11Johnny Newton was a rotational piece on the defensive line
05:13that couldn't stop anybody and couldn't wreak any havoc.
05:15Again, fine, not like a liability or a disaster
05:18but if I had a gripe, that's what it would be.
05:20So to me, this is where these first couple
05:23of rounds Tobes, and I'll tag you back in.
05:24That's where I'm targeting lineman receiver
05:27lineman receiver, these other spots that we all agree.
05:30They need, we all agree.
05:31They need them.
05:32It's just shuffle up and deal as to your priorities
05:34and or how you acquire them.
05:36But to me using a first round pick on a tackle
05:39or receiver is music to my ears, trying to make sure
05:42that this offense, you can beat Carolina as is
05:45you can't beat Philadelphia as is you're at.
05:48Yeah. And I think when you look at it
05:50the reason maybe I'm a little bit more hesitant is this year
05:53I don't love the draft class at wide receiver
05:56at the top, nearly as much.
05:57If we're talking about last year
05:58and we're talking about a potential of a guy
06:00like a Brian Thomas jr.
06:02Who felt with mine, he was picked 23rd.
06:04So he was kind of in that range.
06:06If he fell somewhere to 29
06:07then I think I would run that card in versus Emeka Buka.
06:10I really like him, but I don't know
06:12that I love him at 29 versus other options.
06:15And so that's kind of where I would lean, you know
06:16at the, at the end of the day, I, your point is right.
06:21They need to upgrade.
06:22And so sometimes we do this with the draft.
06:24We do this with free agency where we argue
06:26over a few million dollars.
06:27We argue over about 10 different spots.
06:29Did you end up with your guy or did you not?
06:31And sometimes you just have to bite the bullet
06:33and go get the guy.
06:34And so if that's what they deem
06:35like this is how we're going to address it.
06:37And the beauty of this is we're going to know beforehand
06:39how they're going to go through free agency.
06:40Do they sign an offensive tackle?
06:42Do they go sign the wide receiver?
06:44So they can kind of address these things beforehand.
06:46What is ultimately going to be their decision?
06:48If they, if we fast forward to April
06:51and they're in Green Bay 29th pick
06:53and they pick Emeka Buka, I'm not going to be pissed.
06:55Like it's a good pick.
06:56I think it's just, I don't know
06:57that that's my number one option
06:59but I think it would make sense
07:01for them to upgrade that position because regardless
07:04of what you're going to do
07:05with the offensive line and stuff, the skill position guys
07:08around Jaden have to be upgraded.
07:10If that's the avenue they want to go, that's fine as well.
07:13So where the, also maybe the sticking point here is
07:15I think I like Buka more than you do.
07:18The description to me sounds like a Peters type player,
07:22right?
07:23Where he's like, to me, he's like a slot plus.
07:25Like we think of a slot receiver.
07:26It's like the five, eight water bug.
07:28You know, it's like a prime Jamison Crowder
07:30or a Olamide Zaccheaus or, you know, I don't know
07:33a Wes Welker, smaller guy that's like, that's his role.
07:36The kind of this new world order
07:38as defenders are more and more positionless, right?
07:41These safeties are linebackers and also corners
07:43and they cover and do a little bit of everything.
07:45I think so too, that's happening with receiver.
07:47So I look at a Jackson Smith and Jigba, for example
07:49again, another Ohio state product where if you just go
07:52I got a slot receiver, I'm going to take him early.
07:54I'm going, eh, really?
07:55You sure about that?
07:56But we all know that that dude's more
07:58than just a regular slot guy, right?
07:59It's a, he's one part Debo, and I'm hyping up JSN
08:03but like he's one part Debo Samuel in terms of, you know
08:05catch and run, he's one part good blocker.
08:07He's one part, I can actually run the whole route tree
08:09from the outside.
08:10If you match me up on a slot corner
08:12I get a matchup that I like.
08:13I think Agbuka probably is not the most explosive guy.
08:16He's not his teammate, Jeremiah Smith
08:17but that I catch touchdowns.
08:19I'm a good blocker.
08:20You can line me up anywhere that smells Kingsbury to me.
08:24That smells, you know, a guy that's always open to me.
08:28And it may not be as sexy at times, but I think he pairs well
08:30with another Ohio state guy, Terry McCorn, but it's on
08:33it's on a segment about Agbuka specifically.
08:35It's maybe about the concept.
08:37It sounds like you're more open to it than I thought.
08:38A lot of people would be
08:40because around here, quite frankly, I mean
08:41you're a lot younger than me.
08:42I'm pretty much twice your age, but around here
08:45if you say something other than offensive
08:47and defensive line, you're basically asking to fight.
08:50You know what I mean?
08:51Like you're basically saying, you know
08:53you're disrespecting the hog somehow
08:55even though the league has changed and morphed
08:57and done a bunch of different things.
08:58It's still a game that's played and won and dominated
09:00in the trenches.
09:01We just saw Philadelphia do that with a great O-line
09:03great D-line, they're hoisting a trophy.
09:05But the idea that you can't do both things
09:09to make sure that a quarterback has outlets
09:10on that third and eight, where they're going to struggle
09:12against Philadelphia again, not against Cleveland
09:14not against Arizona, not against Carolina
09:16against Philadelphia who can lock them up.
09:19And we just saw them do it a couple of weeks ago.
09:23I'm all in for, for adding to that side of the football
09:26because I think you can add to defense
09:29the way they just added the defense.
09:30We look at their player acquisitions this past year.
09:33You can find a Dante Fowler, the same way
09:35the Eagles a couple of years ago, found Hassan Redick
09:37who had, you know, whatever, 17 sacks for them.
09:39It's not easy and it requires you getting it right.
09:42But what doesn't in the, in the world
09:44of the NFL and player acquisition, right?
09:45I mean, to me, there are, you look at the cornerback market
09:48for example, guys are going to be free agents
09:50much more robust than would be the wide receiver market
09:53or the tackle market.
09:54But let's see what people think about this.
09:56800-636-1067, 800-636-1067.
10:01I don't put words in your mouth.
10:02I would say you are whelmed by the idea
10:05of going receiver there at 29.
10:07That's fair whelmed.
10:08I'm giddy about it.
10:09I'm Josh Giddy without the legal issues.
10:11I'm all over it.
10:13Thank you, Toby, for getting that.
10:14I am all about it.
10:15I want playmakers.
10:17I want excellence on that side of the football.
10:19I think it's an arms race.
10:20I think you've got a way and you've got the most
10:23you can get out of kind of the Island of Misfit toys
10:26that they just finished producing with this year.
10:28I think you need to dramatically upgrade talent
10:29on that side of the ball to make it
10:31so that you don't have to win a certain way
10:34where you can't run the ball.
10:35You can't really throw it deep
10:36and you kind of have to have Jaden Daniels
10:38manage the game like a supercomputer
10:41without really being able to run it
10:42or throw it in certain ways
10:44and hold possession of the football
10:46for 28 minutes per half.
10:48That's hard to do.
10:49That's a hard tight rope to walk.
10:50I know they just did it, but that's not sustainable to me.
10:52What's sustainable is that third down war daddy.
10:54What's sustainable is what the Eagles have,
10:57talent everywhere.