00:00the great Joe DeLeon, A to Z sports, NFL college football and draft analyst, the Rufino and Joe
00:05show. Joe, welcome back to the show, Joe. How are you guys doing? Doing all right here. We've,
00:11I don't know if you know this, but the Browns are five and two. So we're willing to talk some
00:16real stupid, crazy stuff right now. How about you? I'm of course willing to talk crazy because
00:23my Giants are in a similar situation, somehow doing really well and at the top of the division.
00:28So we were having a conversation that three weeks ago, JP nor I would have entertained in
00:34any facet, but if the decision had to be made today, would you extend Deshaun if you were the
00:40Browns? I would, man, when you, the framing of it had to be made today makes it obviously really
00:49tricky to say. Cause like the way that I look at this is it's a decision that should be made
00:53at the,
00:54at the end of the year. If he truly is an elevator for you on offense by the end of
00:59the season,
01:00and it wasn't just some steady play over the course of the middle of the year, and you are
01:05legitimately in the hunt for the division, then I don't think you have a choice. Like,
01:09I think you have to bring back what works, but I still have the belief that I think exploring a
01:17younger option could be good for this team. And we're going to, we're going to find out
01:22how good the Browns really are. And if they can rally and survive around Watson, if they feel,
01:27if it looks like the Browns are going to be consistently steadily competitive, um, right
01:33off the bat, and this isn't some sort of rebuild, which that's what the current evidence shows,
01:37then it probably is not in their best interest to look at the, uh, a rookie quarterback, because
01:41then you got to start from scratch all over again. I got to be honest, the Browns situation is probably
01:46one of the, not the worst, but one of the most complex because do you, do you go with the
01:52mystery
01:52box of trying to see if you can find a rookie that would be a stellar player? Do you just
01:57go off of the
01:57fact that, um, you know, you, you've gotten something out of Deshaun Watson, which is something
02:02you've been chasing for a long time. Joe, what do you think the market would be if Deshaun Watson
02:07wanted to test the waters out there? Like, do you feel like he actually has a real market?
02:11I, cause we're talking crazy numbers attached to Deshaun if we were to do it, but you also do
02:15have to put it up against what the market would say as well.
02:20The complication with Deshaun and talking about his market is, is obvious because of the
02:26off fields lawsuit and the incident that occurred. Um, I don't know how many teams would willingly
02:34want to get involved with that. So like, that's what makes it really wonky. I also think the thing
02:41that's an issue. And I think that we're seeing right now for a lot of NFL teams, it's, it's not
02:46wise to throw around big money for a quarterback that has a very small sample size. It's good play.
02:52I look at the, an example of what the Colts did by extending, giving a big deal to Daniel Jones.
02:59It was, it was, it was a terrible mistake. It's a terrible mistake. He played really good for
03:05three quarters of the year before he got seriously injured. And because they invest all that money in
03:10him and Alec Pierce, the draw offense is, is tank like for the next couple of years. So like the
03:15worst thing that you can do, whether you're the Browns or you're somebody else is put a heavy
03:19investment just because the play has been above average for a stretch of the season. So I don't know
03:25if the market would be so hot. I think enough teams have been kind of burned by this, that
03:30the teams are going to have an abundance of caution. All right. So with that, one of the
03:35reasons why this conversation gets pushed to the forefront is the seemingly deterioration
03:43of the 2027 quarterback class. Is it too early to give up on the once vaunted 2027 NFL quarterback
03:50prospect class? I don't think it's too early to give up. I think that there are a lot of
03:58unique options. I just think that there's less, and this has been, I feel like there's been a lot of
04:04weird takes on this recently that everybody's just ready to say like, Oh, it sucks. Like we should just
04:10pack it in. Don't draft any of these guys. They're terrible. You're going to be screwed. If you take any
04:13of them, like it's very doom and gloom in this circumstance. And I don't know if that this is some
04:18sort of draft smoke screen that we're starting to get from anonymous people around the league
04:23trying to lay the groundwork and whatnot. But I still think that drew mess to maker and Trinidad
04:29Chambliss and Gary and Mensah are all worthy of going in the first round. And I think that
04:35mess to maker has the ceiling to be a top 10 guy. I think that Chambliss has the ceiling to
04:41be a top
04:4115 guy. And I think the same thing is the case for Gary and Mensah take all the right circumstances.
04:46I think the conceit and succeed in the league. The thing that happened here, and this is the
04:49one of the things that I kept calling out in the, in the summer is that it's not so much
04:53that the class is more talented. It was the fact that the class had more options than it did
04:58previously. So if certain guys fell off and didn't play to expectation or didn't take the
05:03leap we were hoping for, then, you know, there were other players that could rise up and fill
05:09that space. And that's what we've seen. Chambliss took advantage of that. Mess to maker certainly
05:13took advantage of that. And I'll just start this out there. Lenora Sellers has played pretty good
05:17over the past two games. And I'm, I feel as though that he's going to start to rise in the
05:22mix of
05:22this class. If he chose to declare Joe, why is it, do you feel like we're having these lackluster
05:27quarterback classes? I know you laid it out. It's, it's more about options than it was anything.
05:31And there's still three in the first round in your opinion. So that's not bad, but last couple of
05:34years, it hasn't been great. And this year, it doesn't seem like it's great relative to what we were
05:38discussing previously. So what, what is happening? Cause you would think more resources are put
05:43towards these kids. Uh, more development should be put towards these young quarterbacks than ever
05:48before. What is, what is going on here? Well, but one again, the revert back to the options thing,
05:54I think that now we're just going to have far less quarterbacks to even talk about in general,
05:58because a lot of these guys that have extra years of eligibility, now that it is a locked in
06:03five-year window, if there's not a clear cut communication from teams that are saying,
06:08we're going to take you in the top 10, it's not worth going, dealing with that gamble of
06:13entering the class and then you falling to the third round or whatnot. And you lose out on all
06:17that money, like something that Dante Moore is, is now going to have to deal with. So I think that
06:22the fact that T that quarterbacks naturally are going to, it's been happening. It's going to pick up
06:26even more because of available money. Those guys are better off returning to college. I also think that
06:32player movement is definitely something that needs to be talked about. I know that it doesn't truly
06:37fit specifically with some of the examples that have happened in this class, like with Arch and
06:42with Dante Moore. But I think that we don't have the star player development over the course of
06:47multiple years, because guys aren't staying and starting at one school. They're bouncing around
06:51and, you know, they might, you would get like a Jared Curtis or a drawn keyway,
06:57Sagapula, Tele, who, you know, those guys go to smaller programs. They get on the field,
07:02their teams suck. They try to play through it. And then they end up transferring and going
07:05somewhere else. It's just hard to grow and develop as a player when you're in that type of a
07:10circumstance. All right. So I'm going to not just give you the 2027 class, but we'll, we'll just do
07:15college wide. If you got to bet on one quarterback in college right now, that they'll go to the league
07:22and succeed. Who is the one quarterback you're choosing? I'm going to cheat. I'm going to go to
07:29Kamario Taylor and Keelan Russell. I think that both of those guys very early on in their careers
07:36have legitimately not go BS flashes. No, like, like, oh yeah, that looks kind of good. I think
07:40that both of those guys immediately when they stepped on the field this year, and now they're
07:43starting to get banged up, which sucks, but they're otherworldly talented and they're elevating
07:48their teams to a high level, especially Kamario Taylor, who Mississippi State team, we're seeing how
07:53they look without, you know, they can barely move the ball. Now they don't have Kamario Taylor.
07:57He's got a huge arm. He's super mobile. He's such a natural player. And I think that Russell is the
08:02closest thing that we're going to get to Lamar Jackson again with how mobile he is. Their
08:06offensive lines got banged up and made his life a lot harder. But I think that both those guys have
08:11absolutely looked like a prime, you know, premier high-end players that could go into the top five
08:17and then go on and become great players in the league. Should Taylor stick at Mississippi State
08:21or should get out to, you know, maybe an Ohio State or a better program?
08:26I don't think he's going to leave. I think it might be in his best interest to look elsewhere
08:31because, you know, we're seeing that they don't really have the supporting cast to effectively
08:36protect him. His offensive line was pretty bad this year. But I think that his commitment and
08:42his connection to the school and the region and being from there and having family members that went
08:47there, he's going to want to stay. But we'll find out if he can survive having less of a supporting
08:54cast next year. And depending on how he plays, if that affects his draft stock and if he has like
08:59a seller's type of a fall off. You think Dante Moore will regret basically not being chosen second
09:04overall and returning to Oregon? Or is this the type of thing where he'll sit out this year,
09:08next year he'll play for Oregon, and he'll show everyone why he at one point should have been a top
09:13selection and it'll just be a delayed NFL start. Not, not something that necessarily derails him.
09:19I, I certainly believe he regrets it. I think that considering where he was to have gotten up
09:26that high in the mix to be the second overall pick and then for things to transpire the way that
09:31they
09:31did, it's obvious that he's going to regret something like that. I don't think that he declares
09:37this year because I don't think it makes sense. The lasting impression wasn't great.
09:42It's not enough film to go off of. And you're entering into a, into the draft process with
09:48like already two steps back, unless you're talking to teams that tell you that they still really liked
09:54what you did two years ago. I find it hard to believe that he would go in the first round.
09:58That being said though, I don't think he, I don't know if he goes back to Oregon.
10:01They paid him a lot of money. They didn't get the return out of that. And I don't think it's
10:05just as
10:05simple as he finishes the year, doesn't play the rest of the year. I mean, and then he comes back
10:10next year. I would imagine with how poorly things have gone on offense this season, that they would
10:15try to have like a really fresh start across the board. They're already going to have to go and get
10:19a new offensive coordinator. Do they try to make the move of going and bringing a coordinator who
10:24attracts a young quarterback with them? Who knows? We'll, we'll see how that ends up going.
10:28I feel like he's going to go into the portal and he's going to go somewhere else for a final
10:32season
10:32because going back to Oregon didn't work for you this time. Why would you go back again? Why would
10:37you take that risk of going back one more time and it blowing up in your face once, once again,
10:43this time around? Joe jobs starting to open up in college, Dave Aranda getting fired at Baylor,
10:48Dave Doran, basically, if your name is Dave and you're a college football coach, it was not a good
10:52week for you. Uh, but NC state's open. And what's interesting is, uh, two quarterbacks have gone on
10:58the record, uh, about potentially coaching at their old school. RG three saying he'd love to get a
11:04chance to coach at Baylor. Uh, Phillip rivers saying he knows his names in conjunction with that,
11:09but didn't commit one way or another. Who do you think would be a better hire at their respective
11:13school? RG three at Baylor or Phil rivers, Phillip rivers at NC state. I don't get the RG three one.
11:20I mean, I know that he probably wants, wants the job and it'd be cool for him to coach his
11:25old
11:25school, but he doesn't have like any coaching experience. Phillip rivers at least does, you
11:29know, he coached the high school level. Um, if you want to call him, whatever he was last year
11:34in the player coach or whatnot, he got an NFL interview. Um, you know, got interest for,
11:40for maybe taking an NFL gig. I, I, I liked the idea of Phillip rivers. And I think that the
11:44interesting thing with him at NC state is his son is currently committed. It would keep him committed.
11:50Um, and it would bring a lot of energy to the program. If they made the right hire with the
11:55right GM, I think that you could do, do some serious damage at NC state. You just need to make
12:00a move and you have the opportunity to make a move, um, to make a splash and, and generate buzz
12:07around the program. It's hard to do that. It's certainly risky because the stuff hasn't exactly
12:11worked with the former player track. But I think that when you've got a guy, a legend like that,
12:16that wants to get into coaching and it has dabbled with it a little bit, it's worth taking
12:20that, taking that opportunity and seeing what the return is. Joe, great stuff as always, buddy.
12:26We appreciate you. I know you look forward to the next maybe year of JJ McCarthy versus Jackson
12:32dart. It sounds like fun. Now it'll be a special level of hell. Not next October. It's already hell.
12:40Well, enjoy hell, my friend.
12:44Joe Daly on there. A to Z sports joins us every single Tuesday.
