Tyree Wilson or Will Anderson as first DE drafted?
Jay Croucher, Drew Dinsick and Chris Simms analyze the market for first defensive player taken in the NFL draft breaking down why Tyree Wilson should be the favorite over Will Anderson and others.
Video Transcript
JAY CROUCHER: Let's go to the defensive side of the ball. Right now, Will Anderson is the heavy favorite to be the first defensive player drafted. He's -250. But Tyree Wilson is +225.
CHRIS SIMMS: Still?
JAY CROUCHER: Yeah. Which is a little confusing to me. I know you've got Tyree as your number one edge prospect. Do you think that teams are going to share that sentiment and Tyree ultimately goes before Will Anderson in the draft?
CHRIS SIMMS: I do. Again listen, I've been pretty good in my history with my defensive end ranks. All that, right? I know I've had some controversial ones in all my rankings. Right? Where I'm the one I'm the guy that like Zach Wilson over Trevor Lawrence. And I knew I was in the minority there. But there was some things I liked about him. And I knew, OK, most of the NFL going to like Trevor, but I liked Zach and what I saw there. And again, until about week seven of last year I was right. And then things changed. And now I'm an idiot. But either way, this is one where I came away watching film of all the edge guys, and this wasn't like, oh, it's really close. I just think I like Tyree Wilson more. This was like, what? This is a slam dunk. Are we even seriously having a conversation here? We're talking about a guy that's 250 that 4.6 and has 1.6 10? And there's really not that many impressive individual like, wow, he beat 'em type of sacks in college football. That's the number one pick? No way. There's no way. Tyree Wilson is Myles Garrett. He's Nick Bosa. He's the freak that comes around like once every five or six years. So that's where I don't even see that being a conversation.
And then you add Jalen Carter into the conversation? Where I go, Jalen Carter is arguably the best defensive lineman I've ever evaluated in my life. I mean, there's a reason everybody was saying he's going to be the number one pick to the Bears before all the stuff went down. So I have a hard time. And I will add this to this Jay and Drew. And again, it's not foolproof. But when I got done doing D-ends, I texted some of my friends around the NFL like, wait. Am I missing something with Will Anderson? And the response I got back was like, no. We're all wondering the same thing. What is everybody-- why is he the number one pick? So again, it only takes one, but I would be shocked if he's the first defensive guy off the board.
DREW DINSICK: That's funny that you're hearing that.
- Houston have been-- it feels like Houston have been more linked to Wilson than Anderson. And the Cardinals have been more linked to Wilson than Anderson. And the other teams picking second and third who are locks to potentially take a defensive player. But what do you think, Drew?
DREW DINSICK: I have gotten the same mail as you guys. Cardinals and Texans, I have heard both have Wilson over Anderson on their boards. So if those teams stay where they are and take defensive players, Wilson would be your first defensive player off the board. I think the only scenario Anderson goes first defensive is if the first four picks are quarterbacks. And that requires some trades. And if you're making bets in the draft market, assuming there will be trades, I have bad news for you. You are going to lose money. Because it is a very, very, very terrible idea to make a bet assuming there will be a trade. A lot of times those things do not materialize. I will say that, shoot there are people that made bad bets after the trade happened with Carolina up to number one, assuming it was for Stroud. But all that said, the issue with Will Anderson in your mind, is it bend?
CHRIS SIMMS: Yeah. It's just lack of overall elite explosiveness to be in that conversation for the number one pick. Or if you're going to be that guy, you need to have such great power that, OK, we can take a little off for the lack of bend or great explosive speed there. Right? His numbers were very similar to Khalil Mack. OK? As far as this combine testing numbers. But Khalil Mack-- if you saw Khalil Mack next to Will Anderson, they're not the same human. Khalil Mack's a guy when you see him, you go, wait. If I stuck a knife in him, the knife's going to bend. It's not going to hurt Khalil Mack. His arms and neck are like this. He's 265. He was on film throwing linemen down like. Roar, roar!
So that's Will Anderson. There's not that there. Tyree Wilson there's that there. And then there's also like, whoa, who the hell was that just flew around the edge? And like, whoa, who was that the just blew up a double-team block and then made the tackle 20 yards away? He's a can't-miss prospect. And that's where-- even like what you said, Drew, with the top four picks maybe being quarterbacks-- I think if the top four picks or quarterbacks, Pete Carroll is going to put a piece of gum in his mouth and run to Kansas City to hand in the Jalen Carter card or the Tyree Wilson card. So I'd still be shocked. Anderson is not a pure lock pass rushing star in the NFL. I think he's a little bit stand up linebacker-ish slash defensive end. And that to me is not the number one pick or top guy off the board.
DREW DINSICK: OK. There's not a lot of bets you can make that are plus-money right now. But I'm against the market here on Will Anderson for a lot of the reasons you've already stated. Over 3 1/2 is plus-money. I don't get it. Somebody out there is against me. That's fine. Under on Tyree Wilson I think is a decent bet, as well. And that could make or break my name. We'll see.
CHRIS SIMMS: I'm with you, too. And I might throw some damn money down on this, too. I'll tell you. Here's what-- I'll tell you the one thing that scares me just to a degree. It's Arizona. Monti Ossenfort, their GM, I would think he sees it the way I do. But New England guys always scared me, because they'll be like, well, he never had a mental mistake in four years. So I'm going to make him the number three pick because of that. And this guy had three mental mistakes. So we're going to drop him a round. And that used to drive me crazy in New England. I'd be like, what? But that guy made 1,000 plays that guy didn't do jack-diddly-crap on, but we're going to give this guy the edge because of three brain farts? Right? And that's where I just like-- that's the little inkling that scares me in the whole conversation, Drew.
