Tag: Mike Tannenbaum

Former Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum says Caleb Williams will be a Chicago Bear

One former NFL executive has a firm opinion on the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL draft.

Before the NFL draft, Caleb Williams is a hot topic. Mike Tannenbaum had something to say about Caleb. Who is Mike Tannenbaum? Longtime NFL observers know and recognize him as the former general manager of the New York Jets. He spent many years in the league and has strongly-held opinions about various matters.

Jets Wire recalled one episode from Tannenbaum’s tenure with the Jets:

After taking D’Brickashaw Ferguson with the No. 4 pick, the Jets were on the clock again at No. 29. While the pick originally belonged to Denver, the Jets received it via Atlanta, in exchange for John Abraham.

Tannebaum recalled feeling relieved when the Jets turned in the card that read, “Nick Mangold, center, Ohio State.” That’s when he received a phone call from former Baltimore Ravens executive Ozzie Newsome, who referred to Tannebaum as the “luckiest man in the world.”

Here is Tannenbaum talking about Caleb Williams and where he thinks the USC quarterback will land at the 2024 NFL draft:

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Mike Tannenbaum proposes ridiculous Daniel Jones-DeShaun Watson trade

Former NFL general manager Mike Tannenbaum proposes the New York Giants make a ridiculous Daniel Jones for DeShaun Watson trade.

Deshaun Watson a New York Giant?

Don’t laugh. Former New York Jets general manager and current ESPN NFL analyst, Mike Tannenbaum, is suggesting the Giants trade for the troubled Cleveland Browns quarterback in a deal that would include Daniel Jones.

Speaking on the ESPN show Get Up this week, Tannenbaum outlined a deal that would send Jones to Cleveland in exchange for Watson and a second-round pick.

“Hear me out: If you’re the Cleveland Browns, you have Dorian Thompson-Robinson, you have Joe Flacco and now, a 27-year-old Daniel Jones who has one year left of guaranteed money for $36 million and an enormous amount of flexibility moving forward,” Tannebaum said, via the New York Post.

“If you’re the Giants, you’re getting Deshaun Watson, who’s 29, who’s making $46 million a year for the next three years and a second-round pick. To me, you need a front-line, difference-making quarterback. Right now, if you’re the Giants, how in the world do you win the NFC if you have to beat San Francisco, Green Bay, Dallas, Philly, and Detroit with Daniel Jones?”

The Giants, of course, would never even entertain such a trade, especially for Watson, whose troubled past would surely bring even more negative light on the team.

Jones may have been inconsistent and unavailable due to injuries during his five-year Giants career, but he is a model citizen. General manager Joe Schoen knows the Giants’ ownership wouldn’t go for it, either, so he’s not even thinking about Watson right now.

With the sixth pick in the upcoming NFL draft, the Giants — if they are serious about moving on from Jones — would use that pick to do it.

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Veteran executive Mike Tannenbaum explains Isiah Pacheco’s slide to the 7th round

Veteran executive Mike Tannenbaum explains #Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco’s slide to the seventh round of the 2022 draft.

The decisions made in the offseason regarding the lead-up to the NFL Draft are critical for every franchise as they seek to get younger and better at specific positions. Making these problematic decisions falls on the general managers and front office personnel keen on picking up the best available talent on the board.

Chiefs Wire’s Ed Easton Jr. recently talked with former NFL executive Mike Tannenbaum to get his thoughts on the Kansas City Chiefs NFL Draft seventh-round selection steal of running back Isiah Pacheco in 2022. Tannenbaum spoke on behalf of The 33rd Team during a special media availability, providing insight into a general manager’s mindset during the late draft rounds.

“He said they did a ten-year study on draft picks that hit and miss, and it was very interesting,” Tannenbaum explained. “He’s like if we just went with our grades literally that were like from this time of year like you watch the games period, end of story.

“Everyone’s gonna get some right, people get them right and wrong, but they’re more accurate when you don’t have the Senior Bowl, the (NFL Scouting) Combine the interviews and all the other things that we put a lot of time effort and money in.”

The Chiefs selected Isiah Pacheco without much fanfare in 2022 and watched as he immediately made an impact through training camp to become the starting running back eventually. He led the team in rushing this season, becoming one of the most essential parts of the offense.

“It’s kind of interesting because when you look at Brock (Purdy), a four-year starter at Iowa State, he was a good player, but it’s not going to test well, obviously,” said Tannenbaum. “(Isiah) Pacheco, [went] a little bit different under the radar at Rutgers, but when you put on the film, they’re really playing the same way they played in college.

“Coach (Bill) Parcells always had an expression like in the late rounds, you want to draft an attribute, and that attribute can be production. And certainly, like in [the] previous case, like you’re drafting experience, so not all late-round picks are gonna work out as we all know, but like that, to me, like Purdy, a really good example of the Casserly lesson of just go by the film and ignore everything else.”

Purdy was selected to his first Pro Bowl this season, while Pacheco continues to prove that general manager Brett Veach knows precisely what Kansas City needs moving forward.

Former GM: Cowboys, Prescott ‘can win any game’ in playoffs, even at San Francisco

From @ToddBrock24f7: Front-office veteran Mike Tannenbaum says Prescott is far and away the best QB in the NFC and is able to lead the Cowboys to a win anywhere.

The NFL calendar may say it’s Week 18 of the regular season, but as far as the Dallas Cowboys are concerned, the playoffs start now.

Granted, they’ll be in the tournament no matter what happens in the nation’s capital on Sunday, but a win lets them start the one-and-dones at home, where they’re undefeated in their last 16 contests. A loss to the 4-12 Commanders would send them on the road, where the team has played like Forrest Gump’s famed box of chocolates.

But in the mind of one former NFL executive, the Cowboys have one massive advantage over every other team Dallas could face between here and Las Vegas.

“They’ve got the best quarterback in the NFC, and, candidly, I don’t think it’s that close,” said Mike Tannenbaum. The ESPN analyst and founder of The 33rd Team think-tank spent nearly two decades in NFL front offices.

That proclamation may come as a bitter pill for fans of Jalen Hurts, Brock Purdy, and Matthew Stafford, who all look to do some damage in the playoffs. But Tannenbaum has made a career of evaluating talent.

At the assistant GM position or higher, Tannenbaum helped guide the Jets to six postseason appearances, getting as far as the AFC championship twice. Then as EVP of football operations with the Dolphins, he saw them go from last place in the AFC East to a playoff berth the next year.

And from that big-picture vantage point, Tannenbaum says Dak Prescott is what would worry him the most if he were preparing to face the Cowboys in January.

“Dak’s playing really well,” he told Cowboys Wire this week. “You go back to the Dolphins game: the amount of tackles he broke, or passes he completed where people were draped on him, [Chuma] Edoga had a really bad day at tackle that game. I think he’s playing really good football. I think they can win any game, including on the road at the 49ers, if it comes to that in the playoffs.”

That would be a true reversal of fortune, as the Cowboys have seen back-to-back trips to San Francisco end in disappointment, including last year’s divisional-round loss and an October blowout that wasn’t as close as the 41-20 final suggests.

But the Cowboys are arguably a much different team now and better equipped to handle another do-or-die visit to Levi’s Stadium. Prescott’s play surged to MVP-worthy levels, CeeDee Lamb has gotten over his Week 5 funk and broken franchise records, and the defense- while not as overpowering as early in the season- is still capable of creating turnovers and keeping teams out of the end zone.

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The dropoff on Dan Quinn’s side of the ball has been noticeable, and the finger can be pointed in several different directions. But Tannenbaum pins a lot of it on one midseason departure to a key leader of the unit.

“We can talk about injuries. It’s a great equalizer; every team’s had injuries. But [linebacker Leighton]Vander Esch was a critical injury for them,” Tannenbaum offered.

Vander Esch went down in that same Week 5 outing in San Francisco with a neck stinger. He hasn’t played since. And although the club rotated existing pieces in to fill his spot, the veteran’s presence has proven very hard to replace.

His absence has prompted Cowboys opponents to use a ground-heavy rushing attack and repeatedly challenge the younger and largely inexperienced linebackers in the middle level of the defense.

“Markquese Bell and Damone Clark are just undersized,” Tannenbaum said, “and we’ve seen some teams stay patient with the run; Miami certainly was one of them.”

He points out that the strategy obviously works best when the score is close. In the eight games Dallas has won by 20 points or more, no opposing player has rushed for over 66 yards.

“It’s hard to do that when you’re behind,” Tannenbaum explained. “And I’ve said this on the record: the best way to help the Dallas defense right now is to score points, because they’re so good rushing the passer.”

Let the best quarterback in the conference rip to put up points early and force the other team to take to the air, and then defensively shut down those passes. That’s a winning formula for the Cowboys, from a front-office mainstay who’s glad he doesn’t have to try to combat it.

Tannenbaum isn’t convinced anyone else will be able to, either.

“I think they’re going to be really hard to beat come playoffs.”

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Former Dolphins GM shares how Miami might use rookie RB De’Von Achane

They’ll play to his skill set.

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When the Miami Dolphins used a draft pick on a running back in the 2023 NFL draft, it wasn’t all that surprising. However, when they did so was just a bit.

Miami used their third-round selection on Texas A&M running back De’Von Achane, and it was the first time that they drafted a running back that early since selecting Kenyan Drake back in 2016.

Once the pick was made, it wasn’t hard to see why they did it, as Achane has the skills that are necessary to make him a weapon in Mike McDaniel’s offense.

In fact, former Dolphins general manager Mike Tannenbaum, who’s now the co-founder of The 33rd Team, has ideas for how Miami will use the former Aggie in his rookie season.

“There’s not a linebacker in the league that can stay with [Achane] man-to-man.” Tannenbaum told Josh Larkey on a recent podcast (transcribed by the Miami Herald). “What you can do with De’Von, is pre-release, meaning he’ll have no pass protection responsibilities as the way to get the ball to him quick. They are going to have him [pass] protect at some point. But at his size, that’s not going to be his strength.

“They’ll be creative, meaning there will be some jet motion, jet sweeps, getting him the ball behind the line of scrimmage where you can get the ball in his hands and try to get him in space.”

Playing to Achane’s strengths will help him get on the field right away and allow him to build his confidence. He may be able to work with running backs coach Eric Studesville and some of the veterans on the team to develop as a blocker in the future, but at his size, he’s fighting an uphill battle.

For now, he needs to focus on doing things with the ball in his hands and getting the playbook down. However, when he does get adjusted to the NFL game, he can be a scary piece for Miami.

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Former NFL general manager predicts Saints will pick first-round DT

One former NFL general manager predicted the New Orleans Saints will pick first-round defensive tackle Bryan Bresee out of Clemson:

One former NFL general manager predicts the New Orleans Saints will pick a first-round defensive tackle in the 2023 draft. Longtime Minnesota Vikings GM Rick Spielman contributed to a mock draft with The 33rd Team with his peer Mike Tannenbaum, and he likes the Saints to add more depth to their roster at defensive tackle.

Despite having signed a couple of veterans, he sees more snaps to go around, and a rookie like Clemson prospect Bryan Bresee could be a good fit. Spielman wrote of the move:

The New Orleans Saints lost a couple of defensive linemen to free agency this offseason. On 2021 tape, Bresee plays like a top-10 pick. Last season he went through tragedy with his sister passing away and was also coming off an ACL injury. However, he’s athletic and can play multiple positions on the defensive interior.

The Saints did sign Khalen Saunders and Nathan Shepherd, but they’re both guys who will just help as Bresee comes along.

Defensive tackle is very much a position of need for the Saints. They couldn’t field a five-man rotation if they had to play a game today — Saunders and Shepherd are joined on the depth chart by backups Malcolm Roach and Prince Emili, neither of whom have extensive pro experience (Roach played a career-high 315 defensive snaps last season).

As far as that goes, Bresee doesn’t have a ton of reps behind him, either. He missed most of the 2021 season recovering from a torn ACL and was limited to just 330 snaps in Clemson’s rotation last year. It would be worthwhile to sign another veteran like Poona Ford or Matt Ioannidis after the draft to bolster the room even after adding Shepherd and Saunders. Like many other recent Saints draft picks along the defensive line, he has a lot of unrealized potential but a lengthy injury history, too.

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Former NFL GM: Cowboys ‘desperately need’ TE; trading up ‘makes sense’ for 1 of these 2

From @ToddBrock24f7: Mike Tannenbaum says the Cowboys have a real need to improve at tight end, provided they can land one of the top two prospects.

Mike Tannenbaum saw his fair share of draft days. A longtime executive with the Jets and the Dolphins, he has been on the decision-making side of just about every kind of on-the-clock scenario a team can be faced with.

And he says he doesn’t envy the Cowboys this year.

“First thing I’d do is pray,” he told Cowboys Wire this week with a laugh. “A hundred percent of the time, if you’re picking at 18, there’s 15 players you love. If you’re picking at 25, there’s 18 to 20. It’s never going to not be that way.”

Dallas is sitting on the 26th overall selection. But as predicted by the founder of the football think tank The 33rd Team, there are just “15 to 18” prospects who have been given first-round grades by the Cowboys.

That leaves the club with a few options:

  1. Trade up to make sure they get one of those 15 to 18 favorites.
  2. Trade down, even out of the first round. If they can’t get a first-round-graded guy, at least slide back and get an extra pick or two.
  3. Stay put and just take the best player available, even if he doesn’t have a first-round grade.

Tannenbaum says that, for the Cowboys this season, the correct answer is obvious.

“I think this team desperately needs a tight end to replace Dalton Schultz. I think the guys behind him [second-year risers Jake Ferguson and Peyton Hendershot] are okay, but they’re really projections.”

Tannenbaum believes Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid is the best at his position in this year’s class, with Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer not far behind. (Mayer’s actually ranked above Kincaid on The 33rd Team’s big board.)

“They would love Mayer or Kincaid,” Tannenbaum says his team sources have told him. “I don’t know if either one of them would make it that far. I think the Giants and the Cowboys could be competing for Mayer, depending on how things play out, despite [Darren] Waller being there for the Giants. I think trading up a little bit makes sense if you can get one of those two guys.”

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While not as needy at the position as teams like Detroit and Green Bay (both of whom pick ahead of Dallas) and Miami (who could trade into the first round to get there), the Giants pose an extra problem, given their draft slot one spot before Dallas and their obvious division rivalry. If Big Blue scoops the Cowboys’ targeted player, he’ll be thorn in their side twice a year.

(New York did add Waller in March, but the 33-year-old veteran is coming off consecutive injury-shortened seasons and is seen by some as being on a steep decline.)

If Kincaid and Mayer are gone before the Cowboys turn in their card Thursday night, Tannenbaum says there’s likely no one else he would work a deal for, even if the Cowboys get the inevitable urge to make a sexy Round 1 splash.

“I do think they can use another running back, but I think that’s something [for] down the line,” he said. “I’m sure there’ll be some temptation with Bijan Ribinson and the excitement and the tie-in with Texas. Boy, if you had him and a healthy Tony Pollard, you’d probably play a lot of two-running-backs. You talk about explosiveness.”

The thought alone led Tannenbaum to decide that the Joneses would think long and hard about it.

“I don’t think you can eliminate that either.”

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Former NFL general manager projects Hendon Hooker as top-five pick

A former NFL general manager projects former Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker as a top-five overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft.

The 2023 NFL draft will take place April 27-29 in the plaza outside of Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri.

Round 1 of the 2023 NFL draft will take place April 27 (8 p.m. EDT), rounds 2-3 will be held April 28 (7 p.m. EDT), and rounds 4-7 are slated for April 29 (noon EDT).

Ahead of the 2023 NFL draft, Tennessee held its annual pro day Thursday at Anderson Training Center.

Former Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker did not participate in on-field drills during pro day as he continues to recover from injury. He suffered a season-ending torn ACL in his left knee at South Carolina on Nov. 19, 2022.

Hooker met with NFL teams Thursday on pro day. All 32 NFL teams were present for Tennessee’s pro day.

Ahead of the 2023 NFL draft, former New York Jets’ general manager Mike Tannenbaum released a mock draft on ESPN. Hooker and former Vols Jalin Hyatt and Darnell Wright are projected in the first round. Tannenbaum’s first-round mock draft is listed below.

Vikings land physical cornerback in recent Mike Tannenbaum mock draft

The latest mock draft from ESPN has the Minnesota Vikings getting a top cornerback.

Although the Minnesota Vikings added cornerback Byron Murphy during free agency, their cornerback room is relatively thin.

Outside of Andrew Booth, Jr. and Murphy, the Vikings don’t have another established starter, and defensive coordinator Brian Flores prefers to use three cornerbacks.

ESPN’s Mike Tannenbaum released a mock draft earlier this week and gave the Vikings another starting cornerback in Penn State’s Joey Porter, Jr. 

The Vikings could not stop opposing quarterbacks last season, allowing the third-most passing yards per attempt in the NFL (7.7). Now they’ve lost their best cornerback in Patrick Peterson. They did sign Byron Murphy Jr., who can play inside and out, but the Vikings could use another corner in Brian Flores’ man-to-man scheme. Porter is tough and physical, and he has rare 34-inch length for the position at 6-3 and 193 pounds. And despite zero interceptions, Porter did break up 11 passes last season for the Nittany Lions.

Porter makes a lot of sense in Brian Flores’ defense, especially considering his ability in man coverage. His length should allow him to play press-man on the outside, and he should be able to cover most wide receivers in the NFL.

Drafting Porter would also allow the Vikings to move Byron Murphy to the outside. Although Murphy can play on the boundary, he’s best utilized in the slot, where the Vikings currently do not have an established option. Porter would solve two problems in the Vikings’ secondary.

Ex-NFL general manager’s mock draft has Saints making a splash at wide receiver

Ex-NFL general manager Mike Tannenbaum’s mock draft has the New Orleans Saints making a splash at wide receiver in April’s first round of picks:

Who better to forecast what may happen in the 2023 NFL draft than a former general manager? Mike Tannenbaum made a guest appearance for ESPN and shared his take at what the first round of this year’s event might look like from a month away, and it brought an interesting prospect to the New Orleans Saints.

Sure, they drafted Chris Olave in the first round of last year’s draft. Rashid Shaheed seems poised to break out into a bigger role. And Michael Thomas is working to reestablish himself as one of the game’s best receivers. But Tannenbaum can’t shake the idea of how appealing USC Trojans prospect Jordan Addison would look in the Saints’ offense, writing:

With Derek Carr joining this offense, I’d want to add octane to the receiver room. The Saints re-signed Michael Thomas, but it is a one-year deal, and Thomas has missed 40 games since his record-breaking season in 2019.

Addison produced at an All-American level in two places during his college career, with 219 catches and 3,134 yards over three years at Pitt and USC combined. He is an elite route runner who could emerge as a fantastic option opposite Chris Olave.

Addison didn’t exactly light it up at the NFL Scouting Combine, and he also didn’t really improve on his pedestrian numbers at USC’s rain-drenched pro day. But his tape speaks for itself. He helped Kenny Pickett get drafted in the first round a year ago while spearheading the Pitt Panthers offense. Then he transferred to USC and continued to play well in a new offense against a higher level of competition.

He separates from opposing defensive backs with ease, he doesn’t drop the ball when it’s thrown to him well, and he fights harder on contested targets than his slight frame (5-foot-11 and 171 pounds) would suggest he can. He shares a lot of qualities with DeVonta Smith, who the Saints graded as the best receiver in the 2021 NFL draft not too long ago. It’s easy to see them calling his name at No. 29 overall if they’re able to address more-pressing needs along the defensive line ahead of the draft.

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