How strong will the 2023 NFL draft class be? | You Pod to Win the Game
Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson, Dan Wetzel and Charles McDonald dissect this year's class of incoming prospects and whether it could be a disappointment for NFL fans. Hear the full conversation on the You Pod to Win the Game podcast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
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CHARLES ROBINSON: I am not hearing good things about the draft.
CHARLES MCDONALD: Yeah.
CHARLES ROBINSON: I heard, like, straight up, dude was like this draft is, like, it's going to be a very middling, mediocre draft. And like you said to me, the tight ends-- I was talking to the evaluator. He's like, the tight ends are the strength of the class. That is never really a great thing. He's like, unless it's Gronk, Kelsey, Antonio Gates, he's like, and it ain't.
CHARLES MCDONALD: Right. He's like, that's the strength of the class. And he's just like, it is a-- it's going to be a bad--
DAN WETZEL: Michael Myers' no joke.
CHARLES MCDONALD: He's a stud.
CHARLES ROBINSON: No, no, look, there's going to be--
DAN WETZEL: But that's it.
CHARLES ROBINSON: There's going to be some guys, no doubt. But like if you have multiple first round picks in this draft and you don't see the quarterback you can package and-- offload, offload, trade down. Get picks next year.
DAN WETZEL: I don't love the quarterbacks. I don't love the quarterbacks. Bryce Young is-- he's just an incredible football player and a great guy. He's smaller though.
CHARLES MCDONALD: I'm rooting for him.
DAN WETZEL: It's impossible not to root for Bryce Young, great dude, winner. Just good at football. Right, like that kind of--
CHARLES ROBINSON: Like a thin framed guy.
CHARLES MCDONALD: Yeah.
DAN WETZEL: Just good at football. But he's thin. He's a little small. We're going to see what that height really is. CJ Stroud, to me, is inaccurate on passes you can't be inaccurate on. He just throws a little behind.
He's a little-- like in the NFL, you cannot miss on a screen pass, like, just enough. Maybe he proves me wrong. Everyone's excited about a couple games he had.
CHARLES MCDONALD: The Georgia game, yeah.
DAN WETZEL: The Georgia game. But I mean, he had incredible wide receivers. I like CJ Stroud, I just--
CHARLES ROBINSON: It's the year of Ohio State quarterbacks.
DAN WETZEL: I'm just not sitting there going, man, CJ Stroud. He's just a little inaccurate. And then you're getting to like this Will Levis and like, I don't know.
CHARLES MCDONALD: Anthony Richardson.
DAN WETZEL: Anthony Richardson's like really interesting talent and got some.
CHARLES MCDONALD: He's who I would draft if I had job security.
DAN WETZEL: And like-- yeah, but not in the top 15. Although, I don't know. I mean, it just seems like we're trying to find this quarterback. Bryce Young I get, he's a winner. He's a straight. But yeah, I mean, it's going to be some defensive guys.
CHARLES MCDONALD: It's tough with Bryce.
DAN WETZEL: Will Anderson and things like that. I mean, Bijan Robinson is-- I know he's a running back. And no one wants to take a running back. He's a hell of a football player.
CHARLES MCDONALD: Yeah. I think when you look at like pure talent, Bijan might be as good as like Will Anderson and Jalen Carter, just at the top of the draft.
DAN WETZEL: Bijan has a chance to be that-- yeah that like next level running back that you know-- hey, you can always get a running back. I don't think you can get him.
CHARLES MCDONALD: Right, right.
DAN WETZEL: But again, this is what we're talking. It's not stacked. It's not a great one to have a million picks.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Richardson, really interesting. When I was at the Senior Bowl, I was having dinner with a guy. And he said, he would argue even like the top line talent, the ceiling is not the same as Lamar Jackson. He said, but watch.
He was like, if he ends up being a guy who teams look at it. They love everything, it's there, but they're just scared. Like you said, it could be a job security type thing.
Because maybe it's a guy you don't think-- he's going to have to come in, sit for a little bit, add someone else who kind of-- said, hey, maybe it's like Jordan Love. Like don't like-- what if Jordan Love comes out and he plays really well. What if Jordan Love needed-- he had immense skills.
He really needed to sit for a while, and work out the kinks, and not have people staring at him and wondering, like, do, produce now, produce now. So he kind of-- so I've had sort of these different comparisons that all kind of push him down to the bottom of the first round. But he was like, look--
CHARLES MCDONALD: If he wins.
CHARLES ROBINSON: He said, it's going to be like a Baltimore. It's going to be like a team, if he starts a slide, where it'll be like a John Harbaugh. It'll be a long time personnel department who will sit there and go, you know what? [BLEEP] it. Let's take the kid.
CHARLES MCDONALD: Right.
CHARLES ROBINSON: And let's sit him and we'll figure it out. And maybe he comes in, like Lamar, and you're instantly, like, oh, my God, no, no. This is the dude. Like I mean, we can make this work right now. But yeah, I mean, it'll be interesting.
CHARLES MCDONALD: I--
CHARLES ROBINSON: That LSU game was sick.
CHARLES MCDONALD: It's like when you get down to it, with Anthony Richardson, it's kind of like planet theory stuff. There aren't that many guys that are 6'4", 24--
DAN WETZEL: Can run like that.
CHARLES MCDONALD: Can run like that and have a pitcher's arm attached to their body. Like that's why I tend to think he might go a little bit higher once these guys sit down and they start really going through things. Like, well--
DAN WETZEL: Pro Day is going to be like--
CHARLES MCDONALD: What if?
CHARLES ROBINSON: Oh his Pro Day is probably going to be sick.
CHARLES MCDONALD: It's like the-- I forget. I can't remember what show it is right now. But it's that meme on Twitter. It's like, it doesn't always work for everybody else, but, hey, it could work for us this time.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Is it "Arrested Development?"
CHARLES MCDONALD: Yeah, "Arrested Development," yeah. But yeah, he's built in a lab. And if you have a chance-- like maybe I'm too potential, athleticism focused. But if I'm sitting there at 9:00, and I just hired Frank Reich, and I can get a veteran quarterback to come hold the fort, I might roll the dice there. And say, hey, if this doesn't work, we'll give you another shot at maybe a more cleaner prospect. But let's try this thing out for a year or two.