XFALpha Breaks Down the NFC East Draft

Another week and another division goes by as we go deep on the NFC East Draft. Also, we go over our top-10 two-sport athletes of all-time, and I make two controversial cases, although I stand by both of them. Finally, we end the episode with Jonah's 26-30th best states, and his list continues to be garbage, but at least I got to talk about a state that is near and dear to my heart.

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LeBron saying he would have liked to play for the Cowboys.

Two-sport athlete 

Must have gone pro or pro equivalent (Olympics, world championships, etc.). Just college doesn’t count - sorry, Jim Brown.

Two sports must be distinct

Michael Phelps doing freestyle and backstroke doesn’t count. And neither does Henry Cejudo winning a gold medal in wrestling and two UFC belts. Finally, sprinting does not count as a second sport.

More important to excel in two sports than just dominate in one and dabble in another so Walter Payton’s single Trans-Am race does not put him on this list for two-sport greatness.

Finally, and maybe most disappointingly, pro wrestling does not count as a second sport

1. Deion Sanders - Maybe the greatest cornerback ever. Also, his baseball career was pretty damn impressive for a part-timer. In basically half a season worth of at bats, he led the league in triples with 14. He also nearly slugged .500 that season so it’s not like he was a total slap hitter.
2. Stephen Neal - World Champion Heavyweight Wrestler in 1999 and nine years as an above average guard. Also had a 27 yard kickoff return.
3. Herschel Walker - Three-sport athlete with MMA and olympic-level bobsled in 1992. He was so good for the Cowboys that the Vikings decided to build a dynasty for Dallas in order to get him.
4. Bo Jackson - Baseball and football - not enough of a track record - Never had 1000 yards and his highest touchdown total was 5. He retired when he was 28, Barry Sanders was 30. People always wonder what Bo could have done if healthy, but it was more what Bo could have done had he had a normal path to the NFL and not held out so he didn’t have to play for the Bucs. Good baseball player but struggled with average due to high strikeouts.
5. Brian Jordan - three years with the Falcons and a really good baseball player with a fifteen year career. 
6. Carlton Haselrig - All-pro offesnive lineman, 3-time NCAA Champion and competed internationally but his only real success was at the junior level so he switched to football instead of trying to topple Bruce Baumgartner.
7. Ed Too Tall Jones - Hall of Fame defensive lineman and 6-0 as a boxer.but only fought one legit opponent who may have knocked him out had he not gotten ammonia after being knocked to the mat. Beat up five cans.
8. Danny Ainge - Three-year baseball career along with 15 years in basketball.
9. Marquise Goodwin - Olympic long jumper / NFL Wide Receiver. 
10. Tom Candiotti - Hall of Fame bowler (celebrity wing) and knuckleball pitcher

Jim Thorpe - anybody could play pro football back then, and his Olympics win, although impressive was against 28 nations, and like a quarter of the athletes were from Sweden. 

Babe Didrikson Zaharias - Again, lack of competition, also I’m not going to call golf a sport.

NFC East

Dallas - Damnit, it’s great

1st Round - CeeDee Lamb - Lamb gets a ton of DeAndre Hopkins comparisons, which I think is a tad lofty, but most had him as the best receiver in the class, and they not only were able to get him but prevent a division rival that badly needed receiving help from getting him. He averaged over 20 yards per catch and had 14 touchdowns so there’s a lot to like there.

2nd Round - Trevon Diggs - I like him, Jonah loves him. Big and fast at cornerback and good enough to play for Alabama.

3rd Round - Neville Gallimore - Big name defensive tackle from Oklahoma who didn’t really produce much and isn’t that great of an athlete. I don’t see him making a big impact. 

4th Round - Tyler Biadasz - Offensive lineman from Wisconsin, usually a pretty good decision.

5th Round - Bradlee Anai - 13 sacks for Utah last season, and even if he’s not a great athlete, I’ll take a chance in the fifth round. 

Undrafted - Azur Kamara - Kansas edge rusher - Good speed and explosiveness, can’t change directions, not related to Alvin. 

New York Giants - A whole lot of meh.

Round 1 (4): T Andrew Thomas, Georgia - Even though Thomas had fell to fourth on most people’s boards for offensive tackles, there wasn’t much separating any of them. Had Wirfs and Becton not gotten so much love, Thomas would have gotten a lot of credit for his numbers at hte combine which were very good, but not blow your mind amazing. You would have loved to see them trade back and pick up some draft capital, but that trade may not have been there. 

Round 2 (36): S Xavier McKinney, Alabama - Considred the best safety in the class, out of Alabama, which has done fairly well producing guys in the secondary. 

Round 3 (99): T Matt Peart, Connecticut

Round 4 (110): CB Darnay Holmes, UCLA

Round 5 (150): IOL Shane Lemieux, Oregon

Round 6 (183): LB Cam Brown, Penn State

Round 7 (218): Edge Carter Coughlin, Minnesota

Round 7 (238): LB TJ Brunson, South Carolina

Round 7 (247): CB Chris Williamson, Minnesota

Round 7 (255): LB Tae Crowder, Georgia

Undrafted - Case Cookus - A quarterback out of Northern Arizona. 

Philadelphia Eagles - Hurts so good?

Round 1 (21): WR Jalen Reagor, TCU - Reagor is an explosive athlete that played with poor quarterbacks at TCU so there could be some big time upside with this pick. 

Round 2 (53): QB Jalen Hurts, Oklahoma - Explosive athlete at quarterback, but he’s never been a great passer. Still, he scares defenses enough with his legs that things can open up with his arm. I never like win-now teams spending big time draft capital on backup quarterbacks, but this may work as he could provide different looks for defenses to worry about. 

Round 3 (103): LB Davion Taylor, Colorado

Round 4 (127): CB K’Von Wallace, Clemson - Safety for Clemson that can play in the slot immediately and with the addition of Darius Slay earlier in the offseason, the Eagles turned in an extreme weakness in the secondary into a strength. Could play in the slot or replace Malcolm Jenkins. 

Round 4 (145): OT Jack Driscoll, Auburn

Round 5 (168): WR John Hightower, Boise State

Round 6 (196): LB Shaun Bradley, Temple

Round 6 (200): WR Quez Watkins, Southern Mississippi

Round 6 (210): OT Prince Tega Wanogho, Auburn - Very cool name, not sure how good he is. 

Round 7 (233): Edge Casey Toohill, Stanford

Undrafted - Khalil Tate - How was this man not invited to the combine? How was this man not drafted? Khalil Tate was so amazing as a freshman for Arizona. Things got worse and worse, but when a guy shows that much at any point, you take the risk. He still made some incredible plays, and if he finds the right situation, he could provide a team a very fun offensive weapon. I’m more excited for him that Jalen Hurts. 

Washington Redskins - they got Chase young and not a whole lot else.

Round 1 (2): EDGE Chase Young, Ohio State - Chase Young is stupid good. He is a damn game changer.

Round 3 (66): RB Antonio Gibson, Memphis - He’s big and fast but not sure if he’ll actually be a good running back. 

Round 4 (108): OT Saahdiq Charles, LSU - Athletic lineman out of LSU. 

Round 4 (142): WR Antonio Gandy-Golden, Liberty - He’s an explosive athlete, but he can’t change directions so more of a big possession receiver as opposed to a big time game breaker even if he can do back flips. 

Round 5 (156): IOL Keith Ismael, San Diego State

Round 5 (162): LB Khaleke Hudson, Michigan

Round 7 (216): S Kamren Curl, Arkansas

Round 7 (229): Edge James Smith-Williams, NC State

Undrafted - Thaddeus Moss - Randy Moss’s kid - but he ain’t Randy Moss. 

Breaking Down the Chicago Bears Fourth Round Pick: Northern Iowa Defensive Back - Deiondre' Hall

The NFL Draft has come and gone, and it appears that the Bears have a plan in place. Did I agree with that plan at every twist and turn? No, not really, but I also really enjoyed some of their moves so it all balances out. And they were active, and that definitely made for an exciting weekend. But what's done is done. The picks I like will obviously work out, and hopefully my genius fails me on the picks that I didn't like. So far, I have had the chance to break down:

First Round Pick: Leonard Floyd, Linebacker, Georgia
Second Round Pick: Cody Whitehair, Offensive Guard, Kansas State
Third Round Pick: Jonathan Bullard, Defensive Lineman, Florida
Fourth Round Pick: Nick Kwiatkoski, Linebacker, West Virginia
Fourth Round Pick: Deon Bush, Safety, Miami

And today we move to the Bears final fourth round pick, a guy near and dear to my heart hometown state, Deiondre' Hall, a defensive back from the University of Northern Iowa. The first thing that you may notice is that I'm using the vague term of defensive back instead of cornerback or safety, because it's still unclear where he might fit in. He's not only 6'2", but he is long. I mean, just look at that picture up top. He is Stretch Armstrong come to life (with a little bit of a tan as well). He fits the mold of the big corner, but he did dabble at safety last year as well, so his role is still up in the air. For a mid-round pick, Hall is actually a very good athlete. His 40 time at the combine was only 4.68, but he was able to run a 4.55 during his pro day, and I think had he done that at the combine, he may have gone a round earlier. Thanks to Draft Breakdown, I was able to check out his games against Portland State and North Dakota State. One of these is not actually a state. Unfortunately, it's impossible to know which one.

If you want a safety who is going to lay a punishing hit on anybody coming over the middle, well, Hall probably isn't your guy. He's a bit of a Deion Sanders tackler, as he seems to avoid the big contact and goes for the ankles of running backs. Sometimes it works better than others.

I will admit that he did seem more willing to lay a hit on people during the Portland State game, but there were still examples of him trying to make the tackle with as little contact as possible, and that's not a recipe for tackling success.

He had 13 interceptions in college, but it was tough to judge his coverage skills as Northern Iowa played a lot of soft zone coverages where Hall gave guys plenty of cushion. I can't say whether this was by design or he was super cautious, but I would assume it was more the former than the latter. What I did see was a guy who had a good backpedal and appeared to be fairly fluid in turning his hips when necessary. With that, I think he fits better as a safety than he would as a corner as he seems more used to playing in a zone than man coverage.

Overall, well, it's defensive back tape. There wasn't a whole lot there. He seems like a fairly fluid athlete, and since he played both corner and free safety in college, it wouldn't be too surprising if the Bears saw him in a similar role where he could fill in where they were weakest. I think he's a depth guy to start out, and hopefully he can develop into a starter down the road.