special episode today we're going to get back into the trenches we just did the offensive tackles now we're to the edge rushers a lot of like depth in this class if you want to call it depth i think there's a lot of guys that are on day two that might be better than some of the day one guys. And John and Ollie have like legitimately the best football podcast on Earth over on the substack. I don't miss a single episode of it all. John, first tell us more about your, what you have going on with Ollie. And then second, what are you just looking for as edge rushers just in general? Yeah. Well, that is high praise coming from you and all the content that you are Craig got on a regular basis, my friend, because you are doing it like nobody else in the business. So I really appreciate that compliment. We love to do it. So I appreciate the support as always. I think the biggest thing when you're looking at

this position, oh, by the way, you can find all my rankings. If you want to see these are written form. Audibles and analytics is the name of my substack. And so you can go check out that. You can check out all the podcasts, all you and I do that Hayden's talking about here, just the, the, the, every position group kind of broke it out. It's like 30 minutes per prospect. We're going to go here fast

because this is YouTube

We're going to

go here fast because this is youtube we're trying to fire through some things if you want the 30

minute version of this per player you go over there i got to get yeah i got to get my notes in order

for this thing but yeah you can find all my rankings over there and um i think the number

one thing you're looking for with past rush pass rush players uh which is really what this is. And run defense matters, by the way. It matters a lot. But you're going to live with it. If a guy can rush the passer, that's just the way that it is. And every team in the league is doing this now because the value is so much on what you can do from a pass rush perspective. And so I think the biggest things is just what kind of athleticism you have.

So that's burst off the ball, a speed up the arc, that's bend and inflexibility at the top of the arc, and that's change a direction or stop start ability as a rush ride. How do you decel, excel, as an edge rusher? Those are the four pillars of pass rush athleticism is basically what I call them in my nerd, nerd scouting world. And so those four things matter a ton to me when I'm watching. I try to start there with my evaluation process of edge rushers. Then there's more things like what's the bag look like? How deep is the bag for each player? What's the run defense look like? Technique, awareness, passion for that part of the game. In general, in general, the energy level, you know, how much do they convert speed to power? A lot of those traits go hand-in-hand with a lot of these things, but that's kind of where I start the evaluation process from. Yeah, everything is just about juice getting after the passer and just, as a reminder, and free agency, there's a lot of, like, edge-setter run stuffer types, and they just don't cost all that much money.

The guys that get paid a lot are the guys that could rush the pastor. So let's stick through that lens. Let's start with R. Val Reese. Do you think he's an off-wall linebacker, a legit edge rusher or somewhere in the middle? I think he's an off-ball linebacker for me and that's where I evaluated him as. I will say, I think he's extremely talented,

and he has unbelievable natural athletic gifts and physical gifts. And if he wants to become an edge rusher, I'm not going to roll it out. I don't think it's impossible that that could be the case for him because I think he's that talented. I just think he's already a really good linebacker. So I don't really feel the need to move in positions. I think he can be a tier one linebacker in the league.

So I think he could be a really one linebacker in the league.

So I think he could be a really special player at that position. So sort of how I see it. I really, really love the player. He's actually a number one player on my board. But I would say that just I prefer him at linebacker right now. It isn't to say that he couldn't develop and become an edge rusher. I just don't think he is one right now.

So it would remain to be seen whether he can make that full transition. Because a lot more to it than just being a good athlete. It's also functional athleticism to your position. He hasn't shown it or had the opportunity to show it a whole lot yet, but he's such a special mover that I think he could potentially be one of those rare guys that figures it out in the league. So I'll still be excited to watch him if he's an edge, but I haven't graded as a linebacker. Just what about like the modern NFL? Like how much is like an offball linebacker like already either threatening to rush the pass or actually walking up and rushing the pastor already? Like even if he is a like offball linebacker, especially because a three four is kind of rotating up like you're going to get some pass rush juice out of Like even if he is a like off ball linebacker, especially because of a three, four,

he's kind of rotating up. It's like, you're going to get some pass rush juice out of him, even if he's like more of an off ball linebacker, right? Especially in today's league. I mean, there's just so many of these pressure scheme oriented defenses that are kind of taken over the league. And there's always going to be more than one way to do things. So not in every defense maybe will we be able to be used super creatively but you know you think about him in a role

obviously i'm not comparing the two one-to-one as players, but Caden Ellis and just what he was able to do for Atlanta last year, you think about how some of the Minnesota guys under Flores have been able to be utilized. And so there's a lot of these teams, right? You go through and you're like, man, he could be like, you know, a player that I think is more of, there's basically two ways in today's NFL, right?

Linebackers are used. There's the guys that are truly special, right? The Fred Warner types that can be read and react or an attack piece. And then everybody else kind of fits in the bucket of you're an attacking piece player like Frankie Louvre, for example, whose profile rose,

the more he was used as a point and shoot attack type of player. He has a skill set set set for that. He's not as good when you ask him to read and react and sit back type of stuff. And then there's the read and react guys, right? And I think Reese has a potential to be one of those few guys in the league that do both. I think Zach Bond does both.

Not at the level of Fred Warner maybe, but like I think he does both.

And you kind of see that on his tape. But there aren't a lot of guys like that. And so you're looking, hunting for the guys who could maybe feel be that special tier of a player. And I think that's sort of the tier he could fit into. And if you can't accomplish that, that's going to be kind of like the, just the positional value stuff because everyone looks at the current linebackers. There's not a lot of guys being paid like that. But I think to your point is there's not a lot of guys that can do both. If you can do both, throw the positional stuff out the window. That's a really, really valuable player. And I think you and I seem the same way where I think that he could break that into

that mold.

I think Sunny Stiles could get up there as well. I think he's just more violent player. And I think that's why you have this kind of a hybrid thing going on. Absolutely. Yeah. There's just a lot of places for a player like that in today's NFL to excel, which is another reason why I have number one, I think, is that even if he doesn't reach the lofty standards I kind of have in my head, the floor for him is like still really super impactful player in any of those rules, even if the, he's not quite on the Fred Warner level of overall player. Yeah, he had that clip with Solac today where he's like saying he doesn't even know like pass rush moves and stuff. He just like diving out there and he's still affected. It's crazy. That shook me a little bit, actually, because I was like, hold on. You don't even know what this is called.

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