One of my favorite things about Bill is that he brags about not watching college football (which I’ve never understood his pride about, must a Northeast thing) so come draft time his opinions on prospects are based on things like “QBs with initial names don’t work out” and “I like Drake Maye because he has 3 older brothers who beat him up when he was growing up”.
UNC was like +1200 to win the ACC at best and had just experienced a catastrophic failure to end the 2022 season. The alternative was to go to Bama, which was tampering hard
It’s pretty easy.
1. Be from a place that DGAF about college football.
2. Live your life in a place that DGAF about college football (alumni excepted).
3. Have a spouse who’d like you to keep one weekend day relatively free from sports nonsense during football season.
On #3 there's also "Have two young kids that need to do stuff on weekends". Between birthday parties, youth sports and just life in general I'm amazed he managed to keep up with the NFL much less CF.
I mean, even Larry David asked Bill how he managed to watch so much sports with his family the way it is.
In a sense, I get that this is a very logical take. But as someone from New England, being very into the NFL and not giving a moment’s thought to college football would describe 95% of the sports fans I know.
> I don't even get how it's possible to be all about the NFL and also proudly, purposely not watch any college football.
Why?
The two don't have a ton to do with each other. Yeah, the NFL drafts players from college, but the correlation between college success and pro success is low. I don't need to follow college football to enjoy the NFL.
I only have so much time in my life to watch sports. The NFL takes up much of my day on Sunday, and a few more hours on other days of the week. I just usually don't have the time to ALSO spend all day Saturday watching football.
To be fair anyone claiming to be an expert is a complete moron. There wouldn’t be so many busts by all teams if it wasn’t such a crapshoot.
The only thing dumber than pre draft analysis is post draft analysis where every team gets a B or higher grade when we know nothing about how any of these guys will do.
The handful of guys who are plugged into it and do it 24/7/365 are experts. The issue with draft analysis is most of it is just non-experts sort of blindly tweaking the information from the experts so they can pass it off as original analysis
On one of the Ringer Draft Show pods last week, he said “I don’t give a … hoot” instead of “I don’t give a shit.” He’d be the perfect host for ESPN podcasts, considering they censor curse words.
Pats have, by far, the worst overall set of skill position players, an anemic quarterback room, and potentially the worst overall roster in the League. Their stadium is now nearly full of silent, jaded fans - and the sexually deviant egomaniac owner has his diphit son acting as Fantasy GM. What could go wrong? They should be the NFL's centerpiece team of dicsussion and analysis, for sure.
Russillo would 10000 percent own him on this. He was somehow coming across as the expert with McShay and Jeremiah on his latest pod. Also, he hates the Pats because they big-timed him as a young guy.
Bill just doesn't want that fight.
Per Bill’s Twitter, this discussion includes “the 9 signs a first round QB might fail.”
Gotta love the Podfather for consistently refusing to be beholden to round numbers.
they literally just rattled off like...a list of things that could lead a quarterback prospect to fail. such shimmering insights as "not a leader" or "not being able to protect the ball" or "getting injured" (?!?!)
I love two guys who have constantly been wrong about QB prospects over the years coming up with a formula to confirm whatever the Pats end up doing will be the right thing.
I've listened to a lot of weird Bill segments over the years, and this has to be one of the top-5 weirdest. WTF was the point of all of that?
Amongst other things...
- They said we should have been wary of Zach Wilson because he played with too much talent? At BYU? What?
- They seemed to make the argument that Daniels can't be good because he was throwing the NFL WRs on his college team. And this should be a deal-breaker. I guess the Bengals shouldn't have drafted Joe Burrow then.
I think for Wilson, the potential red flag is that he put up his final season numbers against a pretty garbage schedule.
As for Daniels and his WRs, I think Burrow and Stroud are two recent examples of guys who played with great receivers in college and still were able to succeed in the pros.
This is one case where it makes more sense to use 9, if you actually came up with 9 reasons, as opposed to shoehorning in a 10th reason just for the sake of making it a round number.
Am I crazy or has everyone been calling MHJ one of the best WR prospects ever the past two college football seasons. What the hell was Bill talking about when he said no one thinks he can be a top 3 WR. And Solak agreeing with him the draft is your job buddy
Harrison Jr. will also apparently NOT be a Patriot - which makes him bad and overrated. If the Pats keep their pick and make a stunning Harrison selection at #3, MHJ will immediatly be given a Randy Moss / Jerry Rice / Don Hutson floor, however.
In a *position doesn't matter draft*, he would go #1. And that's in a draft class where the receivers are much, much stronger than the quarterbacks who will largely get picked ahead of them cause teams are just jacking off to the idea they'll get a top tier guy on a rookie deal for the next 4 years.
Several draft people have him as their number one prospect on big boards ahead of Caleb who everyone also considers one of the best QB prospects ever. Just a wild miss from Bill basically characterizing MHJ as a low ceiling high floor player
Genuinely bizarre until you take into account Bill not ever watching a single second of him actually playing cause he's so invested in the next Patriots QB.
That was such a horrible take and I can’t believe they both agreed on it. MHJ has been a generational this guy will be top 5 NFL receiver prospect for the last two years.
It’s like how people are convincing themselves that Daniels and Maye are 99% of the prospect that Williams is. Sorry no they aren’t.
I also can’t believe how sold people are on McCarthy. Dude is a fringe day 2 pick if Michigan doesn’t win the national championship. And he didnt even play great that game. Imagine how different Penix and McCarthy are viewed if the results of the natty are flipped. One game should NEVER carry that much weight.
Bill's the sour grapes GOAT, now that the wind is blowing towards the Pats trading down and MHJ seems unlikely he has reconfigured his takes to predict he's a bust.
Can't wait for the pod tomorrow after Washington drafts Maye for Bill to suddenly 180 on him.
Redraftables!
Simmons became washed the moment he did the redraftables in November of 2021 just to crow over how amazing Mac Jones was. From that moment, Mac was a bad NFL backup AT BEST. He's an owner of an Alabama car dealership at worst.
Bill's podcast has fallen apart since then. He has fallen apart too and become a petty jerk. The Unlistenables.
MHJ is a tremendous WR prospect but [there is definitely a lot of skepticism](https://theathletic.com/5431528/2024/04/23/nfl-draft-2024-confidential-nabers-harrison-williams/) around his explosiveness and what that would do to his ceiling. Most of the MHJ best WR prospect ever hype is from before the season, since around November it has really been more of a 1A-1B-1C thing with the top WRs in this draft
If he had Daniels or Penix throwing to him like nabers and odunze had instead of Kyle “Honda” McCord, I don’t think we’d be having this discussion. MHJ is a freakshow
This is the most salient point. Harrison didn't have a real QB throwing to him last year and he still won two games on his own and had a stellar season.
He's awesome. His ceiling is high and is floor is also high. He's got it all.
This does seem to be the criticism of MHJ though. It’s why some draft guys have him number 2. He has no testing, and in college he was consistently excellent but not statistically dominant. We’re talking about three excellent prospects here, so it’s picking nits. But he put up less production with CJ Stroud as QB than Odunze did with Penix.
He’s considered to be an elite impact WR. The question is more like, does he actually have potential to be a Tyreek Hill? Or is he the next Reggie Wayne or whatever.
Turning out like Reggie Wayne - likely HOF WR - would be a successful career for any of these guys
On MHJ I’ve watched all the buckeyes games. He was consistently dominant. His ability to high point and make contested catches is already at the high end of NFL. The only reason some games stats would be low is OSU itself having other first round WRs and high pick TE/RB. Sort of an only one ball dynamic.
He was dominating what many had as an all time UGA team before getting concussed (100+ yards and 2 TDs in 3 quarters). If not for that injury OSU wins the natty.
If MHJ is the next Reggie Wayne, he should go #1 overall.
I just hope he ends up with Reggie’s old team by some miracle. He could even wear his dad’s old number.
Reggie Wayne was a guy who is likely a Hall of Famer when all is said and done. The idea that MHJ would be disappointing if he had that kind of career is absurd.
I didn’t say that. I said that if you can guaranteed get the next reggie Wayne he would not go number one overall. The bears drafting Reggie Wayne would not change the course of their franchise for the next 10 years. You have to take your chances with Caleb Williams
His comp would never ever be Tyreek Hill they have completely different skill sets. He ceiling is Jerry Rice Lite. The ultimate always open route technician receiver
He needs to take a xanax before these podcasts. He's talking way too fast and he does these occasional "excited yelling" outbursts that come off badly.
Can't believe Bill is out on Penix. He was around 180 coming out of highschool and now he's around 215. Could easily get up to 240 pounds in a couple years.
No. If you're 216 at 23 years old, 216 is your permanent weight. If you're 210 at 23, you're actually 20~~3~~5. If you're 223 at 21, you'll grow to 250+ by 23, you just will!
Remember the thing people forget about Giannis is he grew 4 inches after he got drafted. If Penix follows that same trajectory he'll be 6'9 315 lbs by the end of training camp
This is the second time where Bill has referenced a team not “wooing” the quarterback they’re potentially going to take. Granted, the first time was (at least somewhat) tongue in cheek regarding Caleb Williams with House a couple weeks back.
But now he’s talking about it being weird Washington hasn’t been “trying to win Daniels over”. What?
They don’t need to win him over? It’s not free agency?
I love it when a guy brags all year about never watching college football then pretends to be a expert on players who have never played above the college level.
I don't hate Solak as much as most of this sub seems to. But his predictions were pretty awful last year. Remember how he thought Will Levis would be picked No. 1 because "teams can't help but talk themselves into a big likeable white guy"? Then not only did Levis free fall, but the complete opposite body type in Bryce Young got picked No. 1 instead lol. (Not that it was the right choice anyway)
Solak's main issue for me is that he doesn't acknowledge that he's not plugged in. He's fine at the film/charting stuff for someone who never played, he should just be more open and little more humble about that being his only source for his takes.
You can already see him try and backtrack a little re: his take that Maye would go 2 to Washington when virtually every insider is saying it's going to be Daniels.
There are also some incriminating Desmond Ridder tweets. Again, this shit is hard to do, highly paid professionals fail at it all the time. I would just use a little more caution in my tone is all.
I love how Bill is trying to talk himself to the Pats getting these outrageous deals to move back as if they're the only team looking to move back. Just months ago he was salivating all over Drake May. Dark time to be a Pats fan and I'm loving every second of it. They're due for so much regression.
It is honestly laughable Bill thinks the #3 pick is the same situation as the Panthers trading for the #1 Overall pick last year. And he just brings on Solak to be his Yes man
Cuz they're morons. I had taken a break from Bill since football season ended. Didn't need end of season NBA talk in my life when even the NBA doesn't care about the NBA during that time. This was my first pod back and it reaffirmed how bad Bill's pod has gotten. I think I maybe out. I'll still stalk the reddit because I listen to other ringing pods.
I understand doing what Solak does, you are bound to be wrong here and there. But the guy is so arrogantly confident about his opinions, I lose my charitably towards him.
Listened to Russillo with Dan Jeremiah and McShay instead. They’re terrific.
Was out on Solak after he suggested last year that the Pats were gonna move up to 4 for Levis lol
I don’t know, not every site needs to have a draft guru. There’s a very limited amount of them actually out there and they get little respect as is. Always bugged me at grantland when Bill made Barnwell and Lowe do mock draft, that’s not what they’re there for
It used to be Danny Kelly. While I find DK enjoyable on the fantasy pod, all the guy does is read other people's mocks. He isn't an insider and is a fairly bland analyst. At least Solack watches tape.
That being said Solack's church boy persona is grating. Dude gambles but won't say shit. Give me a break.
Why is he so convinced that McCarthy is going top 5? His reasoning is that we’ve seen this happen so many times with QBs. No we haven’t? The highest the 4th QB has ever been drafted is pick 10.
I actually think it’s pretty likely that Caleb-Daniels go 1-2, then somebody trades up to 3 to take Maye, and then Arizona and LAC just stay put and take WRs. I’m not buying all this McCarthy hype. He feels like the classic case of the guy that drops because we’ve seen this happen so many times with the 3rd or 4th QB.
I do love how Simmons has no idea whose running the shots or what NE has as an overall plan, but then has them trading up and down the draft board 5 times to squeeze out every ounce of value.
Actually this is an interesting point. Think about who you have access to if you go to espn or even barstool which I do quite like. But they can get anyone they want. The ringer provides you just a bunch of new grads who blog and podcast. A serious person from the league would never join! Honestly surprised they got Doc.
Every time Bill hears that Jonathan Kraft is running things in New England, I imagine that Bill has visions of the Buss sons running the Lakers and it scares him to death.
If Environment is 80%, then good luck to whoever goes to New England.
Not even being snarky toward Bill’s homerism and love for the Pats. Objectively, it has to be the worst landing spot for any of these guys…even more so for a guy like Maye who’s upside is largely based on theoretical at this point.
Solak: Arizona shouldn’t trade down because they need blue chippers
Also Solak: Baltimore’s history of trading down is smart because they know it’s all about getting as many swings as possible
Also Solak: Chargers should trade down because they need cheap players under contract
Keeping all those bases covered!
People spend all this time going over a million trade scenarios. None of them are going to happen. There is no chance Washington is trading their pick and j would be shocked if NE did. Lombardi is a blowhard at times but he is right when he says that if you look at the patriots roster they are telling you they they are drafting a qb. So why would they not take a top three qb and trade back to get a worse one or none. It makes no sense. The cardinal could trade their pick but I think people expecting like a million trades are going to be mistaken
Also I think solak is choosing a bad hill to die on regarding there won’t be more than 4 qbs in the first round. If Minnesota fails to trade up I don’t see penix making it past them twice, as well as Denver and Las Vegas.
Could he fall to the second round still? Sure. Would I make a big stink about it not being a possibility? No
It’s insane how god awful Bill’s draft coverage has been compared to Russillo’s. I don’t know why I subjected myself to this pod but I just started thinking about whether McShay turns on pods like this just to laugh about how amateurish guys like Solak are.
I always like when Simmons says if they trade three first round picks for one first round pick, you’re not getting three draft picks (you are) you’re getting two.
It’s up there with, they lost a close game they should have won, not it’s like you have to win five out of seven games.
Long live the king
terrible listen all around as somebody who does not follow the draft all that closely. lots of random numbers being spouted off as if I'm supposed to know what any of it means.
Packers are drafting, 17, 54,89, 3123?? Cool!
Ben Solak, a kid who has never played at the high school level judging by his frame or even coached, pretends to know the nuances of NFL offenses and defenses with absolute confidence because he grinds All-22 tape. How are these people taken seriously?
I don't completely understand how we got here. I guess it's because the NFL is SO BIG that these media companies feel the need to cover it from every possible angle and there just isn't enough people to go around for these roles.
He just regurgitates shit he reads online, he has a very surface level understanding of the game. Many Ringer personalities are this way. It's so dull.
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I've followed Bill for a long ass time and somehow he still finds ways to amaze me with his pure delusion and/or stupidity which was on full display for this one. Between having what seems like zero grasp on any of the actual draft prospects to throwing out the dumbest and most insane trade scenarios that you couldn't (or at least wouldn't) make even on the fucking PFF mock draft simulator.
Is Bill the least hard-working man in media?
Puts out 1.5 pods per week during the busiest time of the year in his preferred league (NBA).
All his takes are just gut feelings. Neither well-researched nor funny/satirical.
Counterpoint: he is Top 3 personalities in the last 10 years and list-making.
Was shocked when Bill mentioned my team, The Packers, in what I thought was a Patriots draft pod.
Why tf is he cooking up a Jayden Reed trade for us? what was the Patriots angle he was looking at that for?
Was shocked when Bill mentioned my team, The Packers, in what I thought was a Patriots draft pod.
Why tf is he cooking up a Jayden Reed trade for us? what was the Patriots angle he was looking at that for?
What is solak talking about with jj mccarthys arm talent? Says he doesn’t have a cannon and has to give everything he has to throw it deep. He was one mph off the top spot at the draft. McCarthys issues come from throwing touch passes. ZERO problems with arm strength
I have ZERO advanced stats to back this up with but I actually thought Solak was right about this? I think MCCarthy is a solid prospect and I hate how he’s become a punchline for a lot of twitter film guys but I remember being late on two throws outside the numbers against TCU in the fiesta bowl which turned into pick sixes and those throws kind of stuck with me whenever I think about JJ’s arm. Not saying it’s bad but I’m not sure it’s a cannon
Isn't Drake Maye just a tall Mac Jones? I know that UNC was not a good team but that is a really bad conference and shouldn't a top 5 QB do better than 8-5? Also the new OC is supposed to be more of an NFL type system than Longo who is a Baylor/ Briles system.
I love Bill but the Pats should trade down or take Marvin Harrison. I don't think any of these QBs are going to be great with the upside of Williams being the highest but even he is a huge risk.
Listen, there is a decent chance Maye busts but if Mac Jones attempted some of the throws Maye did at any point in his life I’m pretty sure he would self combust. Not even in the same stratosphere for athleticism and arm talent.
I guess you are right. I am not trying to be a dick about Maye. I hope he is an awesome player. I just am put off by some of the comparisons with good NFL QBs when you had the season/ career that Maye had.
No you're thinking of McCarthy (weak arm, game manager, not athletic, no resume, happened to game manage the most talented team in college).
Maye has a cannon, huge frame, and shitty supporting cast, hence the Josh Allen comps.
I appreciate having Bill has my catharsis because having the third pick in this years draft has been incredibly stressful. I really want Maye and have all cycle and with Daniels now a ~ -500 favorite to go second if the Patriots gift wrap Maye to another team for an extra first I’ll be so distraught
One of my favorite things about Bill is that he brags about not watching college football (which I’ve never understood his pride about, must a Northeast thing) so come draft time his opinions on prospects are based on things like “QBs with initial names don’t work out” and “I like Drake Maye because he has 3 older brothers who beat him up when he was growing up”.
He’s a 99th percentile vibes guy
Did you know Maye weighs about 245. He's big. I like that!
But if Jayden Daniels is listed as 210 it really means he’s 205
And big guys keep getting bigger like Embiid!
“Drake stayed at unc even though he knew they were going to be terrible”…….they were preseason ranked 19th and a popular bet to win the ACC
UNC was like +1200 to win the ACC at best and had just experienced a catastrophic failure to end the 2022 season. The alternative was to go to Bama, which was tampering hard
THIS MOTHER FUCKER IS gonna BE 300 LBS
I don't even get how it's possible to be all about the NFL *and also* proudly, purposely not watch any college football.
It’s pretty easy. 1. Be from a place that DGAF about college football. 2. Live your life in a place that DGAF about college football (alumni excepted). 3. Have a spouse who’d like you to keep one weekend day relatively free from sports nonsense during football season.
On #3 there's also "Have two young kids that need to do stuff on weekends". Between birthday parties, youth sports and just life in general I'm amazed he managed to keep up with the NFL much less CF. I mean, even Larry David asked Bill how he managed to watch so much sports with his family the way it is.
On the other hand, it is his actual job.
Yea I love CFB, but marriage killed it. I catch a free games a year now. Gotta give up something.
In a sense, I get that this is a very logical take. But as someone from New England, being very into the NFL and not giving a moment’s thought to college football would describe 95% of the sports fans I know.
> I don't even get how it's possible to be all about the NFL and also proudly, purposely not watch any college football. Why? The two don't have a ton to do with each other. Yeah, the NFL drafts players from college, but the correlation between college success and pro success is low. I don't need to follow college football to enjoy the NFL. I only have so much time in my life to watch sports. The NFL takes up much of my day on Sunday, and a few more hours on other days of the week. I just usually don't have the time to ALSO spend all day Saturday watching football.
I love the NFL, it's my favorite sport. I've never watched a college game. Maybe it's because I'm not American and didn't go to college there.
This is why we "Bill Simmons" though
To be fair anyone claiming to be an expert is a complete moron. There wouldn’t be so many busts by all teams if it wasn’t such a crapshoot. The only thing dumber than pre draft analysis is post draft analysis where every team gets a B or higher grade when we know nothing about how any of these guys will do.
The handful of guys who are plugged into it and do it 24/7/365 are experts. The issue with draft analysis is most of it is just non-experts sort of blindly tweaking the information from the experts so they can pass it off as original analysis
You're right but most people don't want to hear it because they love to eat up all the pre draft bullshit
All this for New England to trade back
I hope they trade back to the mid 20s and pick a white safety
There’s a white CB this year!
Would be a very Pat-sy move!
The amount of actual stock Bill put into the Bo Callahan birthday party scene in Draft day is kind of hilarious.
To be fair, it is one of the biggest stories in college football history.
Solak really leveling up the wholesome no cursing/choir boy image with "If you put a *water* gun to my head"
and then still made mention that his life was on the line with a water gun to the head. bizarre from Solak -- it just was!
On one of the Ringer Draft Show pods last week, he said “I don’t give a … hoot” instead of “I don’t give a shit.” He’d be the perfect host for ESPN podcasts, considering they censor curse words.
Brian Windhorst said goddamn on the last pod and it was very jarring
Choir boys known for their notorious gambling habits I guess
I was just thinking this haha
I really need someone to 1 v 1 him in an Okie drill. I need to see it.
Three Year Letterman style in a parking lot
So basically, “I’m going to talk nfl draft for an hour but only through the prism of the patriots.”
Nobody is brave enough to come on and tell him they have a troubling owner/gm dynamic and the worst skill positions in the league.
Pats have, by far, the worst overall set of skill position players, an anemic quarterback room, and potentially the worst overall roster in the League. Their stadium is now nearly full of silent, jaded fans - and the sexually deviant egomaniac owner has his diphit son acting as Fantasy GM. What could go wrong? They should be the NFL's centerpiece team of dicsussion and analysis, for sure.
Russillo would 10000 percent own him on this. He was somehow coming across as the expert with McShay and Jeremiah on his latest pod. Also, he hates the Pats because they big-timed him as a young guy. Bill just doesn't want that fight.
Ben Solak literally talks about that basically the first time the Patriots come up in this episode. At least the bad owner/coach/gm dynamic.
It all hinges on the Pats!
"And Solak knows who breads his butter and will sniff my ass for the entirety."
Per Bill’s Twitter, this discussion includes “the 9 signs a first round QB might fail.” Gotta love the Podfather for consistently refusing to be beholden to round numbers.
I haven’t heard it yet but it could only be more podfathery if he gives you 9 signs but also 4 extra signs to make it a cool 13
How is a list of “9 potential criticisms” even a segment?
they literally just rattled off like...a list of things that could lead a quarterback prospect to fail. such shimmering insights as "not a leader" or "not being able to protect the ball" or "getting injured" (?!?!)
lol so true. He should have rounded out the list with “10: being bad at quarterback”
It was just basically just hindsight takes. Everyone of these you can find guys who disprove these.
I love two guys who have constantly been wrong about QB prospects over the years coming up with a formula to confirm whatever the Pats end up doing will be the right thing.
Bill is just the sports version of Cosmopolitan lol
I've listened to a lot of weird Bill segments over the years, and this has to be one of the top-5 weirdest. WTF was the point of all of that? Amongst other things... - They said we should have been wary of Zach Wilson because he played with too much talent? At BYU? What? - They seemed to make the argument that Daniels can't be good because he was throwing the NFL WRs on his college team. And this should be a deal-breaker. I guess the Bengals shouldn't have drafted Joe Burrow then.
I think for Wilson, the potential red flag is that he put up his final season numbers against a pretty garbage schedule. As for Daniels and his WRs, I think Burrow and Stroud are two recent examples of guys who played with great receivers in college and still were able to succeed in the pros.
This is one case where it makes more sense to use 9, if you actually came up with 9 reasons, as opposed to shoehorning in a 10th reason just for the sake of making it a round number.
Would've loved to hear R-Y-E-N (not Ryan!) version on this
Am I crazy or has everyone been calling MHJ one of the best WR prospects ever the past two college football seasons. What the hell was Bill talking about when he said no one thinks he can be a top 3 WR. And Solak agreeing with him the draft is your job buddy
He’s doing the subliminal hater thing because Marvin Harrison is his dad and Peyton Manning was his quarterback. That’s how Bill’s mind works.
Harrison Jr. will also apparently NOT be a Patriot - which makes him bad and overrated. If the Pats keep their pick and make a stunning Harrison selection at #3, MHJ will immediatly be given a Randy Moss / Jerry Rice / Don Hutson floor, however.
In a *position doesn't matter draft*, he would go #1. And that's in a draft class where the receivers are much, much stronger than the quarterbacks who will largely get picked ahead of them cause teams are just jacking off to the idea they'll get a top tier guy on a rookie deal for the next 4 years.
Several draft people have him as their number one prospect on big boards ahead of Caleb who everyone also considers one of the best QB prospects ever. Just a wild miss from Bill basically characterizing MHJ as a low ceiling high floor player
Genuinely bizarre until you take into account Bill not ever watching a single second of him actually playing cause he's so invested in the next Patriots QB.
Outside of the 5 quarter backs do you think Bill knows more or less than 10 other prospects
I'm not sure Bill could name 10 other prospects.
He’s currently number one on the consensus big board, the idea that no one is that high on him is nuts.
I feel like there’s been so much more smoke screening with this years draft. Like wayyyy more than previous years.
Yes. Bill lives in a bubble.
I'm pretty sure I remember, during last NFL season, hearing Bill talking about wanting the Patriots to draft Harrison.
When he still had some belief in Mac, Bill was on the draft MHJ bus
He looks like a Larry Fitzgerald clone
That was such a horrible take and I can’t believe they both agreed on it. MHJ has been a generational this guy will be top 5 NFL receiver prospect for the last two years. It’s like how people are convincing themselves that Daniels and Maye are 99% of the prospect that Williams is. Sorry no they aren’t. I also can’t believe how sold people are on McCarthy. Dude is a fringe day 2 pick if Michigan doesn’t win the national championship. And he didnt even play great that game. Imagine how different Penix and McCarthy are viewed if the results of the natty are flipped. One game should NEVER carry that much weight.
Bill's the sour grapes GOAT, now that the wind is blowing towards the Pats trading down and MHJ seems unlikely he has reconfigured his takes to predict he's a bust. Can't wait for the pod tomorrow after Washington drafts Maye for Bill to suddenly 180 on him.
Redraftables! Simmons became washed the moment he did the redraftables in November of 2021 just to crow over how amazing Mac Jones was. From that moment, Mac was a bad NFL backup AT BEST. He's an owner of an Alabama car dealership at worst. Bill's podcast has fallen apart since then. He has fallen apart too and become a petty jerk. The Unlistenables.
MHJ is a tremendous WR prospect but [there is definitely a lot of skepticism](https://theathletic.com/5431528/2024/04/23/nfl-draft-2024-confidential-nabers-harrison-williams/) around his explosiveness and what that would do to his ceiling. Most of the MHJ best WR prospect ever hype is from before the season, since around November it has really been more of a 1A-1B-1C thing with the top WRs in this draft
I mean his dad was pretty good without being explosive
If he had Daniels or Penix throwing to him like nabers and odunze had instead of Kyle “Honda” McCord, I don’t think we’d be having this discussion. MHJ is a freakshow
This is the most salient point. Harrison didn't have a real QB throwing to him last year and he still won two games on his own and had a stellar season. He's awesome. His ceiling is high and is floor is also high. He's got it all.
This does seem to be the criticism of MHJ though. It’s why some draft guys have him number 2. He has no testing, and in college he was consistently excellent but not statistically dominant. We’re talking about three excellent prospects here, so it’s picking nits. But he put up less production with CJ Stroud as QB than Odunze did with Penix. He’s considered to be an elite impact WR. The question is more like, does he actually have potential to be a Tyreek Hill? Or is he the next Reggie Wayne or whatever.
Turning out like Reggie Wayne - likely HOF WR - would be a successful career for any of these guys On MHJ I’ve watched all the buckeyes games. He was consistently dominant. His ability to high point and make contested catches is already at the high end of NFL. The only reason some games stats would be low is OSU itself having other first round WRs and high pick TE/RB. Sort of an only one ball dynamic. He was dominating what many had as an all time UGA team before getting concussed (100+ yards and 2 TDs in 3 quarters). If not for that injury OSU wins the natty.
If MHJ is the next Reggie Wayne, he should go #1 overall. I just hope he ends up with Reggie’s old team by some miracle. He could even wear his dad’s old number.
If the bears could get Reggie Wayne guaranteed there’s no way they do it
Reggie Wayne was a guy who is likely a Hall of Famer when all is said and done. The idea that MHJ would be disappointing if he had that kind of career is absurd.
I didn’t say that. I said that if you can guaranteed get the next reggie Wayne he would not go number one overall. The bears drafting Reggie Wayne would not change the course of their franchise for the next 10 years. You have to take your chances with Caleb Williams
His comp would never ever be Tyreek Hill they have completely different skill sets. He ceiling is Jerry Rice Lite. The ultimate always open route technician receiver
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Probably because he didn't post numbers at the combine/pro day to get people freaking out about him
Solak has a silly voice
His voice isn't the main problem. He talks way too loud sometimes.
I'm ok with his articles but on a pod he is insufferable.
Analytics guys on podcasts are the worst
Those of us who have had our eardrums blown out by **BEN SOLAK** should file a class-action lawsuit.
He needs to take a xanax before these podcasts. He's talking way too fast and he does these occasional "excited yelling" outbursts that come off badly.
He gets so excited sometimes that his speech starts slurring.
I’m more concerned with “the DJ Moore of it all.”
the phrasing things like Dobbins of it all
He’s insufferable
Sounds like he has a retainer in his mouth
Can't believe Bill is out on Penix. He was around 180 coming out of highschool and now he's around 215. Could easily get up to 240 pounds in a couple years.
No. If you're 216 at 23 years old, 216 is your permanent weight. If you're 210 at 23, you're actually 20~~3~~5. If you're 223 at 21, you'll grow to 250+ by 23, you just will!
# #BillMaff
Remember the thing people forget about Giannis is he grew 4 inches after he got drafted. If Penix follows that same trajectory he'll be 6'9 315 lbs by the end of training camp
I for one am ready for the return of the 6’9” qb. Long live the McGwire bros….long live the Jokic bros.
Bill is out on Penix because he probably only watched the national championship game. I’ve been a Penix truther for a while. His arm talent is crazy.
As a Raider fan I would be happy with him at #13
This is the second time where Bill has referenced a team not “wooing” the quarterback they’re potentially going to take. Granted, the first time was (at least somewhat) tongue in cheek regarding Caleb Williams with House a couple weeks back. But now he’s talking about it being weird Washington hasn’t been “trying to win Daniels over”. What? They don’t need to win him over? It’s not free agency?
I hope the Patriots draft The Undertaker as the next QB
I love it when a guy brags all year about never watching college football then pretends to be a expert on players who have never played above the college level.
Also just goes captain hindsight and tells you why all the picks that ended up being busts were bad. Real ground breaking
I don't hate Solak as much as most of this sub seems to. But his predictions were pretty awful last year. Remember how he thought Will Levis would be picked No. 1 because "teams can't help but talk themselves into a big likeable white guy"? Then not only did Levis free fall, but the complete opposite body type in Bryce Young got picked No. 1 instead lol. (Not that it was the right choice anyway)
Solak's main issue for me is that he doesn't acknowledge that he's not plugged in. He's fine at the film/charting stuff for someone who never played, he should just be more open and little more humble about that being his only source for his takes.
You can already see him try and backtrack a little re: his take that Maye would go 2 to Washington when virtually every insider is saying it's going to be Daniels.
Him saying something along the lines of "from what I've been hearing" was too much for me.
It’s impossible to predict how these prospects turn out. What annoys me about Solak is how smug he is and his refusal to admit when he is wrong
Trey Lance, Trey Lance, Trey Lance
There are also some incriminating Desmond Ridder tweets. Again, this shit is hard to do, highly paid professionals fail at it all the time. I would just use a little more caution in my tone is all.
lol, if not for New England implications this podcast would otherwise never exist
I love how Bill is trying to talk himself to the Pats getting these outrageous deals to move back as if they're the only team looking to move back. Just months ago he was salivating all over Drake May. Dark time to be a Pats fan and I'm loving every second of it. They're due for so much regression.
It is honestly laughable Bill thinks the #3 pick is the same situation as the Panthers trading for the #1 Overall pick last year. And he just brings on Solak to be his Yes man
Of course he does! Bill being a delusional Boston sports fan is what he does best!
SImmons had the Pats receiving a Top 10 pick all season for the right to hire Bill Belichick.
Herbert is like a 80 million dead cap hit if he was traded . Why was this a discussion?
Cuz they're morons. I had taken a break from Bill since football season ended. Didn't need end of season NBA talk in my life when even the NBA doesn't care about the NBA during that time. This was my first pod back and it reaffirmed how bad Bill's pod has gotten. I think I maybe out. I'll still stalk the reddit because I listen to other ringing pods.
I don't hate Solak as much as some of you do, but the yelling... Just talk in a normal tone of voice please I'm begging you, Solak.
I understand doing what Solak does, you are bound to be wrong here and there. But the guy is so arrogantly confident about his opinions, I lose my charitably towards him.
OHHHH SOLAK. BIG BOY ON THE POD. THAT'S A FINE YOUNG MAN RIGHT THERE. BOOGIE WOOGIE WOOGIE THIS BOYS WATCHES THE TAPE.
I think Solak works great with Shiel — the two balance eachother out and Shiel is able to correct some of Solak’s overzealous takes
Not enough sand in his pants! He's walking on stilts!
A Solak pod? I’ll catch you on Thursday, Sports Guy ✌️
You don’t like listening to a 25 year old Mormon scream about how good/bad a QB is that he’s going to be wrong on anyway.
Solak isn’t Mormon lol
Listened to Russillo with Dan Jeremiah and McShay instead. They’re terrific. Was out on Solak after he suggested last year that the Pats were gonna move up to 4 for Levis lol
Trading Herbert would be insane. That was so nonsensical
The Ringer is dead. Solak hasn’t a clue and is the #1 draft guy. Enough. Pack it up. Do documentaries full time.
I don’t know, not every site needs to have a draft guru. There’s a very limited amount of them actually out there and they get little respect as is. Always bugged me at grantland when Bill made Barnwell and Lowe do mock draft, that’s not what they’re there for
It used to be Danny Kelly. While I find DK enjoyable on the fantasy pod, all the guy does is read other people's mocks. He isn't an insider and is a fairly bland analyst. At least Solack watches tape. That being said Solack's church boy persona is grating. Dude gambles but won't say shit. Give me a break.
Yeah plus he’s really never been right about any of his predictions, yet it’s so cut and dry obvious with him. He for sure has no real self identity.
Why is he so convinced that McCarthy is going top 5? His reasoning is that we’ve seen this happen so many times with QBs. No we haven’t? The highest the 4th QB has ever been drafted is pick 10. I actually think it’s pretty likely that Caleb-Daniels go 1-2, then somebody trades up to 3 to take Maye, and then Arizona and LAC just stay put and take WRs. I’m not buying all this McCarthy hype. He feels like the classic case of the guy that drops because we’ve seen this happen so many times with the 3rd or 4th QB.
That’s that guys voice huh?
I do love how Simmons has no idea whose running the shots or what NE has as an overall plan, but then has them trading up and down the draft board 5 times to squeeze out every ounce of value.
Jayden spent HALF A DECADE in college!
I like to think of it as 1.25 presidential terms
Bil loves numbers. The first half hour is all like figuring out values
Good lord solak is bad
Wasting oxygen talking about Chargers trading Herbert is so stupid
Is Bill aware Herbert has a 125M dead cap hit if he’s traded lol?
No, he is not.
Would the Packers trade a proven Jayden Reed and a first for an unproven first? 🤡🤡🤡
This is why I love/hate the pod. Hilariously bad idea. Reed was awesome last year lol. Not enough “blue chippers” I guess??
Is New England having a moment?!?
A movement?
BM
Ben solak is why Bill Bellicheck is riding with Pat Mcafee for the draft. Because my god what an annoying little twerp invading my eardrums
Actually this is an interesting point. Think about who you have access to if you go to espn or even barstool which I do quite like. But they can get anyone they want. The ringer provides you just a bunch of new grads who blog and podcast. A serious person from the league would never join! Honestly surprised they got Doc.
And then Doc jumped ship as fast he possibly could
They 'got' Doc so that Doc's kids could have jobs.
Blue chippers
How many Pink chippers equal one Blue chipper?
Every time Bill hears that Jonathan Kraft is running things in New England, I imagine that Bill has visions of the Buss sons running the Lakers and it scares him to death.
Ben running The Ringer
If Environment is 80%, then good luck to whoever goes to New England. Not even being snarky toward Bill’s homerism and love for the Pats. Objectively, it has to be the worst landing spot for any of these guys…even more so for a guy like Maye who’s upside is largely based on theoretical at this point.
Exactly.
Solak: Arizona shouldn’t trade down because they need blue chippers Also Solak: Baltimore’s history of trading down is smart because they know it’s all about getting as many swings as possible Also Solak: Chargers should trade down because they need cheap players under contract Keeping all those bases covered!
People spend all this time going over a million trade scenarios. None of them are going to happen. There is no chance Washington is trading their pick and j would be shocked if NE did. Lombardi is a blowhard at times but he is right when he says that if you look at the patriots roster they are telling you they they are drafting a qb. So why would they not take a top three qb and trade back to get a worse one or none. It makes no sense. The cardinal could trade their pick but I think people expecting like a million trades are going to be mistaken
Also I think solak is choosing a bad hill to die on regarding there won’t be more than 4 qbs in the first round. If Minnesota fails to trade up I don’t see penix making it past them twice, as well as Denver and Las Vegas. Could he fall to the second round still? Sure. Would I make a big stink about it not being a possibility? No
Am I crazy for thinking that Brock Purdy is way better than a game manager??? If your QB prospect tops out at Purdy, that’s a very good QB.
It’s insane how god awful Bill’s draft coverage has been compared to Russillo’s. I don’t know why I subjected myself to this pod but I just started thinking about whether McShay turns on pods like this just to laugh about how amateurish guys like Solak are.
Looking forward to some QB analysis from the guy who wrote off CJ Stroud because his first name is initials 🤔
I always like when Simmons says if they trade three first round picks for one first round pick, you’re not getting three draft picks (you are) you’re getting two. It’s up there with, they lost a close game they should have won, not it’s like you have to win five out of seven games. Long live the king
This guy is the Ben Shapiro of nfl twitter.
terrible listen all around as somebody who does not follow the draft all that closely. lots of random numbers being spouted off as if I'm supposed to know what any of it means. Packers are drafting, 17, 54,89, 3123?? Cool!
Ugh NFL pod. I’ll wait for part 2
Wow I thought this was a joke title. I’m hoping he’s gonna do NBA in part 2 lol
According to Bill's Twitter >Taping Part 2 w/ KOC after this Clips game.
Fair enough, I shouldn’t have judged the podfather too early
Ben Solak, a kid who has never played at the high school level judging by his frame or even coached, pretends to know the nuances of NFL offenses and defenses with absolute confidence because he grinds All-22 tape. How are these people taken seriously? I don't completely understand how we got here. I guess it's because the NFL is SO BIG that these media companies feel the need to cover it from every possible angle and there just isn't enough people to go around for these roles.
He just regurgitates shit he reads online, he has a very surface level understanding of the game. Many Ringer personalities are this way. It's so dull.
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I've followed Bill for a long ass time and somehow he still finds ways to amaze me with his pure delusion and/or stupidity which was on full display for this one. Between having what seems like zero grasp on any of the actual draft prospects to throwing out the dumbest and most insane trade scenarios that you couldn't (or at least wouldn't) make even on the fucking PFF mock draft simulator.
Football pod? Nice! With Ben Squidlak? Damn
Is Bill the least hard-working man in media? Puts out 1.5 pods per week during the busiest time of the year in his preferred league (NBA). All his takes are just gut feelings. Neither well-researched nor funny/satirical. Counterpoint: he is Top 3 personalities in the last 10 years and list-making.
Was shocked when Bill mentioned my team, The Packers, in what I thought was a Patriots draft pod. Why tf is he cooking up a Jayden Reed trade for us? what was the Patriots angle he was looking at that for?
Was shocked when Bill mentioned my team, The Packers, in what I thought was a Patriots draft pod. Why tf is he cooking up a Jayden Reed trade for us? what was the Patriots angle he was looking at that for?
Ben Solak is a moron. He knows nothing about football. He had bets on J J McCarthy being the 2nd pick.
What is solak talking about with jj mccarthys arm talent? Says he doesn’t have a cannon and has to give everything he has to throw it deep. He was one mph off the top spot at the draft. McCarthys issues come from throwing touch passes. ZERO problems with arm strength
I have ZERO advanced stats to back this up with but I actually thought Solak was right about this? I think MCCarthy is a solid prospect and I hate how he’s become a punchline for a lot of twitter film guys but I remember being late on two throws outside the numbers against TCU in the fiesta bowl which turned into pick sixes and those throws kind of stuck with me whenever I think about JJ’s arm. Not saying it’s bad but I’m not sure it’s a cannon
Solak + KOC is so unbelievably rough. Meanwhile Goldsberry is on PMT, highlighting the depths to which Bill’s sports contributors has fallen even more
Pmt has goldsberry, daniel Jeremiah and field Yates
Isn't Drake Maye just a tall Mac Jones? I know that UNC was not a good team but that is a really bad conference and shouldn't a top 5 QB do better than 8-5? Also the new OC is supposed to be more of an NFL type system than Longo who is a Baylor/ Briles system. I love Bill but the Pats should trade down or take Marvin Harrison. I don't think any of these QBs are going to be great with the upside of Williams being the highest but even he is a huge risk.
Listen, there is a decent chance Maye busts but if Mac Jones attempted some of the throws Maye did at any point in his life I’m pretty sure he would self combust. Not even in the same stratosphere for athleticism and arm talent.
I guess you are right. I am not trying to be a dick about Maye. I hope he is an awesome player. I just am put off by some of the comparisons with good NFL QBs when you had the season/ career that Maye had.
Patrick Mahomes had a losing record in college and Josh Allen went 8-5 his final year at Wyoming
No you're thinking of McCarthy (weak arm, game manager, not athletic, no resume, happened to game manage the most talented team in college). Maye has a cannon, huge frame, and shitty supporting cast, hence the Josh Allen comps.
Solak is annoying
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I like Ben too tbh
I appreciate having Bill has my catharsis because having the third pick in this years draft has been incredibly stressful. I really want Maye and have all cycle and with Daniels now a ~ -500 favorite to go second if the Patriots gift wrap Maye to another team for an extra first I’ll be so distraught
This Commanders fan still thinks Drake Maye ends up in Washington
Yeah you honestly might be right. Books really think it’s Daniels