Scout’s Eye with Matt Williamson: Pick by pick again

[Music] Hello everyone, Matt Williamson here. How are you? I'm well. It is Sunday, slept in like crazy. Gonna grill out with my parents and relax a little bit. And then get back into normal operating procedure this week, breaking down the draft, and then hopefully kind of relax on a little bit until mini-camp and whatnot. But had some time to think this draft over. Um, good and bad. Let's just kind of go pick by pick again, you know, just a recap show. I adore the Maxichon Hanna-Turk-Turk pick. Hanna-Turk pick. And I will stand by, maybe I'll be proven wrong, but I am standing by that the Eagles did the sealers a big favor. I would much rather have Hanna-Turk and Jeremy Bernard, then lemon, and whatever tackle they would have gotten the second round. Assuming that's the direction they would went, because it would have been very thin, very thin. Here's my best thing I heard about Hanna-Turk that I'm gonna have to deal from now on. He moves like the great, the great tackles move. And when I heard someone say that I thought, yep, that's exactly it. I'm not saying he's gonna be Walter Jones. I've heard Tauron arm-stead comparisons just athletically. Arm-stead came from this tiny school, took a little while to develop. That was basically the top three left tackle for 15 years or whatever, 12 years. Well, Hanna-Turk does not have bad habits, contrary to popular belief. There's things he needs to work on. And for example, he keeps his hands real high when he comes out of his past protection stance. That's just his style. I don't know if they'll change that or not. But some of his recognition things need work, stunts and blitzes and you know picking things up on the fly. Okay, that's fine. He seems like a very smart energetic guy, or it was around him for a while. The ability is just, I don't say off the charts, I hate that, but it's real, real high end. It's the most ability of any offensive lineman in this class. Some would have a bet on your offensive line coach and we don't have a ton of, we have no history of the C- or Z-line coach in Pittsburgh, but he does have a good reputation. I don't know if he'll start on the right side, left side. I don't think there's going to be any guard in his future. I think this is a home run pick. And even as he's learning, when he's wrong, he still gets people blocked. So I adore this pick. I think you guys knew that was coming. Next up, we talked about Bernard. So first off, here's something I didn't love, but I'm not going to be super critical of. Two trade-ups in this draft. And that's fine. I mean, you kind of knew that was coming, but didn't end up with any additional draft capital from next year's draft. And you could tell throughout the course of this whole procedure, teams were not giving away next year's draft, compensation, which just reaffirms that this draft class as a whole folks really was not very good. It just wasn't. There's a lot of factors there. People stay in school because of NIL, not many quarterbacks, the positions available. So there will be some critical of the Steelers, but this pool that every team was shopping from was not especially rich with fish. So they did trade up twice. Okay, I would have loved to have said, oh, I think I got a fifth round pick next year. They didn't. But Bernard to me feels a big need. Immediate number three receiver. I talked, I'm not going to break down all these players because I did that in the last couple days, but he really goes to ball in his hands. I think he's going to get carries very physical. I enjoyed talking to him and his family, very into it. Good body type, slot and outside capable. I think he immediately plugs in as the three. This isn't his fault, but what I really liked about the pick when it was made, not knowing what the other picks were going to bring us. I thought, boy, this is the perfect guide to plug in at number three on the wide receiver depth chart so you can draft lands or herst or some or or bell, you know, from Louisville. Somebody that needs time and they never did that. So again, that's not his fault, but I would have loved part two of the wide receiver conundrum to be man, we've got we've got the guy we need. Now let's go get the guy that might just hit for us and that part never happened obviously. Yeah, the NFL season's done, but is it ever really? You can still bet online with America's best sports betting site, the Fandall sports book. That includes all current sports, all of this summers coming sports. And hey, for what it's worth, you can get in on NFL action toward the 2026 season already. Never a dull moment, never an inactive moment, the best place to bet on sports, play online games, build your fantasy team, is it Fandall? I really enjoyed talking to Drew Aller. He's very impressive. He looks the part. Maybe he hits and I understand the logic and I kind of got the hunch just hanging around the facility since he got picked that someone in the building and probably the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers watched his tape and thought, man, Penn State screwed with this guy more than they should have. Reeled him in more than they should have. Like there's some things with Aller that are concerning. There's a lot to be honest with you, but and I don't love the pick. I've said that many times. I really doubt that he'll be ever accurate enough. He needs a lot of work with his lower body mechanics in particular, but that's also Mike McCarthy specialty going back to Bill Walsh. You know, like I told the story on the air, Bill Walsh could watch Joe Montana from the knees down only and say, oh, that's complete. That's not that's complete. That's not. And that's where this tree comes from. And that's exactly the kind of coaching and teaching Aller needs. And he recognized it. He even said it when he was sitting there with us. Very aware guy, very impressive young man. But I get the hunt. But the numbers I was referring to are holds a ball in the pocket a long time, but you would think that correlates with a real deep average depth of target. No. And in turn, made very few mistakes. Didn't turn the ball over. I mean, like there's a lot of things you don't like on tape, but it's not because man, that was a terrible decision or what are you thinking or driving the ball into tights quarters. And in turn played really stiff and really robotic. And maybe my hunches and more and more of my hunches my car. He looked at the Penn State coaching staff and said, you got to let this guy cook. And I can fix his feet. So we're going to take him to the third round and maybe he'll be a starter. Okay, I'm open to that. And by that lens, I think that's pretty intriguing. Again, Dalyne Everett, he was also fun to chat with and really looked apart, bigger, better looking body than I had expected. He some things about him that I've uncovered since we they were the podcast since he was picked. He brought it up unsolicited that he played quite a bit of slot at the senior bowl because that's not something that was asked of him is Georgia. And he is a good tackler and he is a good run defender. So initially just based off his Georgia profile, I thought outside corner only, he's probably going to be your number four guy, wait and see. It wouldn't shock me if they start to incorporate him in the slot. Some and I've even seen some people maybe project him to safety. He's definitely big enough and he's a good enough tackler and he's not bashful against the run. And he looks like a man coverage corner and he plays a lot of man, but he's very impatient as a man coverage corner. And what I mean by that is instead of waiting and battling and being real patient in press man, he's real quick to just bail and run because he's fast. So maybe a move inside in the cards. So again, trying to just think as those around you think and maybe the Steelers think of him more than just an outside guy. Jennings Dunker is going to be a guard only. He knows that. He said it. He said, you know, I'm not afraid enough to be a tackle basically. He's a fun guy to be around as you can imagine. Nasty, that definitely is true. His movement stuff in zone based runs are better than I originally gave him credit for. His past protection needs quite a bit of work, but he does give the Steelers a lot of options on the O line. Jumping just the addition of of Max and Jennings. Maths with what you had, even if Jones is so far from playing, gives you a real wealth of young bodies on the O-line that is very, very enviable from the rest of the league. The rest of the crew I broke down yesterday-- go back and listen to yesterday's podcast-- I know a lot of you did. I don't have a ton to change on those. However, trust me, folks, I did not watch East West Shrine game practices. But Weijin, the receiver/bigtime returner from Iowa-- another Iowa guy. And Iowa guy's usually hit Caleb Johnson. I know. I just read some reports that Weijin was pretty impressive running routes at the East West Shrine game. He didn't do the senior bowl. So OK, I mean, he's a sprinter background. He is an awesome returner. If this is the first time you're hearing about him, he's an awesome returner. And that's what he was drafted for. But OK, I mean, he showed promise as a route runner during Shrine bowl practices. I'll buy that. That's fine. OK. Noakowski, the Riley Noakowski, Indiana Hoosier here, tight end. Again, I think he might be as much fullback as tight end. But a couple things here. I just pulled this off for a football focus. He had 7 points, 7 yards after the catch, and he forced 10 mistakels. That's a little better than I would have guessed. So I like him. I just think that he is what he is. I mean, he's 6'2" to 50. Bigger Conner Hayward. More versatile Conner Hayward. More tight-end-ish Conner Hayward. Better lead blocker than Conner Hayward. Hopefully, as good a special teamer as Conner Hayward. The last two picks I like a lot. I mean, other than the top two picks, I think my favorite two picks for where they're picked are Robert Spears Jennings, the Oklahoma Safety, and our guy Eli Heidenrake, which what's not to like about that? I really don't much more to add to Eli. I'm hoping he plays more receiver than running back. But we'll see. He's going to be useful no matter what. But as for Spears Jennings-- again, I pulled some of this stuff off of Pro Football Focus, which he had a really good run defense grade. And he certainly is not afraid to mix it up. But what was most interested was 281 snaps as a deep safety, 204 snaps in the box, 92 snaps in the slot. OK. That's a nice distribution there, to be honest with you, for a player with his dimensions 6, 2, 2, 5 that can really run maybe-- again, I'm stretching here-- maybe he's a deep guy. Maybe he's also in the mix as a big slot, I mean, along with his rookie teammate, along with Eccles, along with Ramsey. And I would imagine with his physicality, size, traits, he too should be a really good special teamer. So I knew this would be the case. I mean, when I recorded those first three podcasts, I'm pretty exhausted. I mean, it's a late night. I come home late. I've been on the air a million times. And I might be a smidge grumpier, not after round one. I wasn't-- you know, it's my love affair for Max. But especially after day two and reaching for a basically a returner only on day three, I was pretty down this draft. And I don't love it. I would give it a C plus. Maybe it'd be minus because, dude, if you get a Pro Bowl left tackle two years from now, that makes the whole draft in itself. And I do think Bernard's going to be useful. And I think the later picks will be useful, these versatile special team first guys that we talked about. But there are some things that I would love a redo on. I often talk about when Wes and I do a mock draft on the drive, would you take it in the end or would you go fish? I probably would go fish and throw all these guys back and go on another fishing adventure. But if I got shut out on Max, I wouldn't be happy about it. And if they went and took lemon on me instead of Max, I'd be real unhappy about it. Because I definitely think the picks following, especially round two, would not have gone as well. So again, I thought they-- my doubts about Aller, I think, he really reached on a basically returner only and then ended up getting a really good returner with your last pick, which they didn't know. And I would have loved the scene, the high upside swing for the fences, fast, wide receiver, added after Bernard. And it wouldn't have brought my heart if he grabbed some sort of pick for next year. But maybe that was never offered or available. So overall, that's what I take. I'll let it marinate some more, though, of course. [MUSIC PLAYING]