Podcast: Reliving the Worst Draft Takes This Cycle

A very tired Football & Other F Words crew got together today for the go-home show before the 2024 NFL Draft. It was quite a cathartic experience for me. To be honest, at this stage in the game, there’s not much left to say. We just gotta roll through the next 24 hours so these picks start happening and we have some fresh new topics to discuss. But, Mike, Zach, and I really let things out – we talked about yesterday’s press conference and how Chad Brinker has apparently wrestled control of the Tennessee Titans away from Amy Adams Strunk. Then, we got into the draft talk…what we’re feeling the Titans do at 7, various outcomes on each day of the draft that would have us popping champagne, some players/positions that the Titans CANNOT neglect this weekend, and of course, we churn through some of the worst draft takes we’ve heard this cycle. Only one more day of #NoSleepTilDetroit!

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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.

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My Favorite Players in the 2024 NFL Draft

Alright, folks – the hay is in the barn now. If you haven’t already, go check out our 2024 NFL Draft Guide at Stacking The Inbox. There, you’ll get full in depth write-ups on all of the prospects I’ll be mentioning here today. At this point, I’ve written evals on 300 players, and I’m just combing through highlight videos of any prospects I might’ve missed just to have some sort of walking knowledge about ’em should they land with the Tennessee Titans this weekend. So, I thought it’d be a fun exercise to take the analyst hat off for a second and share with you guys the prospects that I thought were just particularly fun to watch and/or just plain had some exciting tape.

My Favorite Players in the 2024 NFL Draft

WR Rome Odunze, Washington – He’s #1 on my big board, and he’s my absolutely favorite player in this draft to watch. He’s a technician with buttery smooth start-stop speed variance, and is versatile enough to do it all.

EDGE Dallas Turner, Alabama – Elite length. Elite moves. He is the Demogorgan from Stranger Things.

CB Quinyon Mitchell, Toledo – Watch him give Northern Illinois hell in 2022. Watch his highlights from the Senior Bowl practices. This dude is a stud and he’s built like a machine.

OL Troy Fautanu, Washington – I called him “ECW Taz” because he looks like he’d be up for suplexing someone through a table. He’s a feisty offensive lineman that has position versatility and moves well in space.

OL Graham Barton, Duke – An absolute wrecking ball in space, and will clamp down with a titty twister on anyone trying to penetrate against his assignment. Watch him and Jared Verse go at it.

OC Zach Frazier, West Virginia – His game against Penn State was some of my favorite tape. This guy’s an ass kicker that plays his ass off until the clock hits triple zeros.

OL Dominick Puni, Kansas – Never allowed a sack in his life. He’s one of the few guys in this OL class that I think has true 5-position versatility.

CB Max Melton, Rutgers – Listen to The OTP interview Melton at the Senior Bowl. His attitude is infectious and it shows up on the field, where he’s willing to punch the shit out of someone.

WR Malik Washington, Virginia – Not a lot of talent on that Virginia offense, but it was fun to watch Washington kind of put that unit on his back and do some electric things.

LB Edefuan Ulofoshio, Washington – A traitsy guy that has the range to be a play-maker in the NFL and should be a Day 3 value add. Every time I watch him, I find something new I like about him.

DL Gabe Hall, Baylor – He’s not the most powerful, but man, he’s a twitch monster with a winning spin move and it’s fun to watch him in those moments when he’s really firing on all cylinders.

S Evan Williams, Oregon – Plays the position like Jeff Hardy jumping off a 20 foot ladder. Grimy, instinctive defensive back that does what it takes to make a play.

OT Travis Glover, Georgia State – A Combine snub that has what it takes to play in the league. His game against LSU was fantastic stuff.

RB Emani Bailey, TCU – I don’t care about the RAS. Bailey is a spark plug that runs hard between the tackles and is fun to watch wiggle through traffic to make a play.

DL Evan Anderson, Florida Atlantic – He’s a hog molly at 319 pounds, but man it’s fun to watch him just completely engulf running lanes. The Clemson game was fun because the Tigers clearly showed him some respect in consistently double teaming him. But, Anderson won several of those reps anyway.

WR Odieu Hiliare, Bowling Green – I know we’re getting a little deep here, but there’s something fun and feisty about Hiliare. If nothing else, go watch his 246-yard two-touchdown game against Toledo in 2022. I think the highlights are up on YouTube.

Happy Draft Week, folks!

The SoBros Mailbag 286: My Last Meal and Draft Talk

Let’s face it – every day we are routinely bombarded with questions. When you’re an emerging media company in Nashville, people just want to know what your opinions are on everything. It’s only natural. And, since our duty is to serve the people, well, we have no choice but to be present. That’s the SoBro Way. Also, aren’t mailbags just a barrel of laughs anyway? Welcome to the newest weekly recurring feature up in this bitch: The SoBros Mailbag. As always, hit us with those mailbag questions @SoBrosNetwork on Twitter, email ’em to me anonymously at thesobrosnetwork@gmail.com. And, holy shit, I need to update this terrible intro paragraph that I’ve been using literally ever since I started writing this column…

Question:

How do you feel about Funko Pops being referred to as Precious Moments dolls for millennials?
— el hijo del gary (@thebrettclark) April 23, 2024

Answer:

You know…I totally get it. They really are like Precious Moments for millennials. I take no offense. Hell, if anything, it’s been the kick in the pants I’ve needed to get my collection trimmed down. Why? Have you seen what Precious Moments are worth these days? I gotta get out of these Funko Pops before I’m stuck with a bunch of inventory that isn’t worth shit!

Question:

What team makes a move first on Thursday and with whom? For whom?
— McCash (@MC_Cash75) April 23, 2024

Answer:

I’m still leaning Minnesota because they do have the ammunition to actually move up. I think they jump up to 3 after Washington goes with Jayden Daniels, trade with New England, and get their guy (Drake Maye).

Question, from Sean on Instagram:

Where are the top six quarterbacks going?

Answer:

Here’s how I have ’em ranked in the Stacking The Inbox Draft Guide:

Caleb Williams – Chicago
Drake Maye – Minnesota
Jayden Daniels – Washington
JJ McCarthy – New England
Bo Nix – Denver
Michael Penix Jr. – Las Vegas

Question:

So what’s gonna be the grub of choice to nosh on during three days of the NFL draft? Is it gonna be something safe or might you try new food choices?
— Ed Helinski 🇺🇸🇵🇱 (@MrEd315) April 23, 2024

Answer:

I’m going to be at the 440 Sports Draft party Thursday and Friday night – sounds like we’re having Edley’s and Lockeland Table, but honestly, last year, I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off watching the draft, so I have no idea if or when I’ll even eat. It might be one of those “Whataburger at midnight” situations. On Saturday, we’re going live for the entirety of the draft. I can already see myself eating an entire pizza from Papa John’s after we’re finally done. Nice and safe choices – I’m just trying to get by, Ed! I’m saving the new stuff for when my wife and I can have a nice date night after all of this draft work blows over.

Question, from John on Twitter:

Question for the mailbag: If trying to produce a competitive on-field product in 2024 to maintain momentum of the team & franchise as well as a young QB1’s confidence—while also trying to build a roster from a “big picture”/long-term perspective—the concept of drafting BPA is lauded and encouraged, while seemingly difficult to unwaveringly implement.

Without strictly going by football’s Wins Above Replacement equivalent in an Expected Points Added metric from a prospect’s college production or predicted pro profile, what are some prospects/picks that you feel could most materially impact the franchise with a 4-year rookie contract in mind, were this to be a “Super Bowl window”? (Obviously tough to project without a feel for either side of the ball’s scheme, but just figured it’s what Brinker’s algorithm and the entire league is shooting for).

TLDR: Posit a few key “BPA” draft picks with some freedom to try and pick from a ~4 year perspective and long-term fit as opposed to as much pressure to immediately improve as many are understandably doing in their own mock iterations. One qualifier you may feel free to rebut: I still feel the primary objective has to be to definitively answer the question of whether you have the QB of the future on your roster, so as to either protect that investment accordingly or move on to take your next stab at face of the franchise and building depth across the rest of the roster.

Answer:

What a fantastic question, John, and I think you’ve hit the nail on the head in terms of the sweet spot that this regime will be looking to hit in the draft this weekend. Ultimately, I think that’s why setting expectations are so important. I’m sure they’ve done that with Amy Adams Strunk, but they’ve also been dropping a hint or two with fans that they’re hoping we’ll all be patient with this rebuild. Now, that doesn’t mean they’re going to ignore need, but here’s the part that is working in their favor: it’d be really fucking hard to draft a player at a position they don’t need help at. That’s how bad the roster is! Unless they spend a draft pick on a quarterback, I’m not going to really complain about any position they choose to attack in this draft.

I actually think they’re in an awesome spot. It is imperative that they get at least one offensive tackle that is capable of starting in 2024, but other than that, they can be pretty fluid in this thing. It’s the exact opposite of how we usually say “they’re just drafting best player available!” Usually, it’s like the roster is so good and deep that a team can’t go wrong. In the case of the Titans, the roster has so many holes that it’ll be hard to draft someone that doesn’t fill one of them.

For me, when I’m factoring in ways a guy can help immediately and also be a solid building block for years to come, I’m looking at versatility. I know that Taylor Lewan famously said something along the lines of “the more you do, the less you get paid.” But, I’m looking at this particular situation with the Titans as “the more you do, the more likely you are to stick around for awhile.” For example, when tackling the defensive line, there’s room to draft a guy that can line up inside and fill run gaps and that can line up outside and rush the passer. There’s room to draft a defensive back that can play safety, nickel, or maybe even outside too! That way, as holes open up due to injury/free agency, there’s already a pipeline of guys that can step in and help out in multiple ways. With that in mind, these are some of my BPA unicorns that can play multiple spots in this class:

OL Troy Fautanu (Day 1)
OL Dominick Puni (Day 2)
OL Graham Barton (Day 1)
OL Delmar Glaze (Day 3)
OL Brandon Coleman (Day 3)
RB Kimani Vidal (Day 3)
WR Luke McCaffrey (Day 3)
TE Tip Reiman (Day 3)
DL Darius Robinson (Day 1-2)
DL Gabe Hall (Day 3)
LB Marist Liufau (Day 3)
DB Kool-Aid McKinstry (Day 1-2)

Question, from McCash on Instagram:

What would your last meal be?

Answer:

I’m starting with a gin and tonic. Then, I’m going medium tenders from Hurts Hot Chicken, fries, with extra pickles and extra sauce. For dessert, it’s the olive oil cake I just had from Sixty Vines on Saturday night.

Keep the questions coming – catch y’all next week!

#VicksFlicks Special Edition: Challengers

Challengers

4.5 out of 5 stars

Luca Guadagnino’s sexy, sweaty, and sultry tennis ménage à trois drama is a grand slam and arguably the best of his career thus far. He and writer Justin Kuritzkes serve up a relentless, riveting romance for the ages that’s structured and paced magnificently. The amazing camerawork and editing, along with an explosive Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score make for an undeniably pulse-pounding experience.

Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor have electric chemistry while delivering three tremendous, tantalizing performances. They play people who constantly get off on competition, vying for everything and where nothing is out of bounds. Though their entrancing emotional entanglement is totally toxic as it’s designed by adoration, power plays, obsession, desire, manipulation, and codependency – it seems they can’t get enough of it.

Faist and O’Connor are ridiculously charming but in different ways. As Art and Patrick respectively, they’re playing for keeps in a physically and psychologically grueling game with twists and turns. And what a year it’s been for Zendaya and it’s only April. In her best performance to date, she is fucking fierce as Tashi. Her pitting two best friends against each other whilst having both by the balls has never been so gratifying to watch. She’s cool and cruel and is never not in control. She puts every single fiber of her being into coming out victorious by any means necessary. Zendaya is a proven powerhouse after seeing what she achieves here.

If you can’t tell by now, this is not your typical sports film. While the on-court action is exciting, Guadagnino isn’t really depicting tennis at all. He’s using it as more of a metaphor to highlight the deeper themes he’s erotically exploring off the court that do come to a head when it’s match point time.

Challengers is incredibly intense, intelligent, and intoxicating from the first swing to the last.

Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association and the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.

Podcast: No Sleep ‘Til Detroit

It’s finally here – draft week. We’ve been grinding hard here on our coverage of the 2024 NFL Draft. If you haven’t already, go ahead and grab a copy of the Stacking The Inbox Draft Guide – 313 pages, 275 players, ratings, rankings, and more. It’s a doozy. I hope you guys don’t mind, but I practically took the week off from The Unofficial Titans Podcast. I feel like we’ve talked about every angle possible for the Titans at 7 up to this point. So, it was hard to come up with a show itinerary for the most recent episode. Instead, I did the lazy thing and let you guys write the show for me. That’s right – with me running on fumes, I hit record and simply answered all of your questions on this week’s show.

If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to The Unofficial Titans Podcast on Apple Podcasts, follow us on Spotify, or wherever you take in your podcasts!

Listen to “Ep. 167: No Sleep Til Detroit” on Spreaker.