Simms' EDGE draft rankings: No. 5 Zion Young
Chris Simms explains why Zion Young's floor is high, analyzing how the Missouri product is a great edge-setter with very few negative plays.
Video Transcript
You know, in full transparency, I mean, we're gonna be talking about Zion Yo- Zion Young here, number five.
He's gonna be the guy.
He's a first-round pick.
I mean, I, I don't think there's gonna be any doubt about that.
The guys that we left off the list that, you know, I, I, you know, just wanna throw some, some love to, right?
Malachi Lawrence at UCF.
Yeah.
I don't know, maybe he ends up in the first round.
You think he definitely is.
He is edge four for me- Yeah if you don't have Reese in the edge ranking.
Yeah.
So in yours, by yours, it would be five- Right 'cause I have Reese over him.
Yeah, gotcha, gotcha.
So- I, I think he's gonna sneak in.
If not, he won't wait long on Friday night.
No, he won't wait long, but it, it's a, it's a guy I just feel like we gotta say h- something about him.
uh- A freakish.
Yeah, freakish.
m- my, my guy at, T.J. Parker, right?
Am I saying that- T.J. Parker from Clemson T.J. Parker from Clemson, another one.
Yep.
Where I'd go, "I really like T.J.
Parker."
I'm telling you, yeah, it's not sexy.
It's more of the big power guy.
Yep.
But he's got bend and all that, so we'll break him down.
But it just, again, just wanted to show them a little love because I feel like there's some years, if we were here, we'd be like, "No, no, no, they're definitely top five," like they're top five.
This is just a special class this year.
So tomorrow we'll be live again- Yeah at 10:00 AM.
We'll get to a lot of the, not even honorable mentions, just guys that are really good- Yeah in this class.
Yeah.
We'll talk about all of them.
But to round out the top five, I love that you have Zion Young, at five.
I had him at three.
Opinions on him, it feels like, are just slowly ascending.
Well, yes.
He- He, he's an awesome player this is the sex appeal that we talk about sometimes.
And it's not like you can watch TV all the time and go, "Wait, who's this guy just speeding-" That's right "around the edge," right?
In, in, in college football, it can be that way to where, yeah, it doesn't pop.
This is more of a, you know, big specimen.
You This is one where you turn on the film and you're like, "Oh, okay, there he is."
Like he- Yeah.
he's the guy that looks totally different than everybody else- Yes, he is on the football field.
In the SEC.
In the SEC.
Yeah.
He's a, he's freak show looking.
He's You know, I, I even write at one point, his body is really maybe Daniil Hunter, but even thicker than Daniil Hunter when he was coming out, and he's way more physical than Daniil Hunter was coming out of LSU.
But the specimen.
And then you go, okay, the specimen.
But sometimes you see specimens like this and you go, they're usually They could be big stiffs that you're like- Yeah "I don't know if he can really play."
You see right away with this guy, he's a good fluid athlete, right?
Has the twitch and all that.
Physical as hell, and that's where, again, he's going in the first round.
He's physical as hell.
I mean, there's just, there's no negatives about him.
He can play standout linebacker.
He can play three technique.
He can play head up on tackles and hang in there, and two gap at times.
So he can do all of that.
You're not gonna have, like, any questions about that.
He's comfortable in the scrum like we, like we always talk about.
I mean, he's people hitting him, whatever, he, "Oh, get out of my way.
I'm gonna make- Yeah the tackle."
yeah, so, you know, that to me just shows again the instincts and loves football, and the physicality of it.
That's why I always try to talk about that scrum.
You know, has good bend for 6'6".
Uh- Right I thought better than David Bailey, the bend.
He tried.
He- You know, he's not as quick as fluid- No and not maybe as explosive and as twitchy as David Bailey, but- It's not as upright, and he's 6'6" yeah.
But, but I, I was kind of impressed with that.
has the speed to power a cost, a course.
And, you know, his first step I thought was actually a, a little bit like I would say with like Bane.
It's a little deceiving.
It doesn't look sexy, but the more you watch it, you start to go, "Damn, that first step is covering a lot of ground."
'Cause they don't always let him.
They don't always let him.
Like, there's a lot of plays with him where it's like head up, read- Right control the blocker.
Exactly.
You gotta sift through it.
He, he doesn't get the, "Hey, just get off the ball and go."
Just get off the glide and go.
Yeah.
He doesn't get all that.
And, and so, and, and then that, that's where teams are gonna love him that way, and that's where you gotta sift through the draft a little bit.
Because I know sometime- I, I You know, people look at stuff like that and go, "Oh, well, you know, he didn't get after the quarterback here."
He's not put in the spot to get after the quarterback.
He's head up on the tackle.
Like, you know, Mesador or Bane, you know, they never have to really do that.
They always got to be out wider-ish a little bit on a passing situation nonetheless there.
So yeah, you know, verse to run, I talked about it.
Inc- incredible.
I mean, his incredible strength in the upper body.
Another one of those guys that's got the heavy hands that we were just talking about a minute ago.
He's gonna be able to do all that, throw you out of the way, go get the ball, do that, gets in weird positions, right?
You know, I told you about Ma- Daniil Hunter.
I just think he's even more physical than Daniil Hunter coming out.
In a lot of ways, too, the way he plays and, and how his he's got the long arms, everything, reminds me of Max Crosby to a degree.
You know, that kind of crossed my mind.
so yeah, this is an- another guy that I think you throw in here and go, "Wait, definite first rounder, freak of nature."
Floor is really high.
Like, the worst this guy's gonna be is like, "Oh, he's our starting defense end for the seventh year in a row."
Right.
You know?
He doesn't get 12 sacks a year.
He gets nine or eight or whatever.
He stops the run.
Exactly.
But you might hit gold, and he might become Daniil Hunter, and you go, "Uh-oh, is he one of the best pass rushers in football?"
And that's where you love Zion Young.
Thought he was one of the best edge setters in the draft.
Totally.
Totally.
I He's just been asked to play a brand of football that relates so much to the pros.
Back to your point about guys' bad plays- Yeah his bad plays are totally fine.
His bad- It's stalemate.
The stalemate.
Go back to the words that we said.
That, that's it.
Yep.
Yeah.
You, you, you know, I, I, I'm, I'm big into that because if you're losing in college against, "Wait, this tackle's not getting drafted?"
Or, you know, like, "What?"
Like, "What?
You're doing that?"
Yeah, that, that just puts my antennas up a little bit.
Sure.
Because I go, the tackle you're gonna be playing next year in the NFL is gonna be a lot better than that.
Right.
Right?
So yeah.
You know, in football, we're all gonna be humbled at some point.
That's gonna happen.
But what does that humble look like?You know, remember Robert Nkemdiche when he came out?
Yeah.
Everybody was, "Oh, he's a freak.
Grr, grr, grr" Because his five best plays- Were- were as good as anyone else's- Exactly five best plays.
His five best plays.
But I, I h- I argued at, at Bleacher Report at the time, I go, "But his 10 worst plays," I go, "He's on skates 20 yards down the field.
I can't buy into that."
No.
Like, I can't.
So yeah, how bad is your negative?
And that, to me, to your point and what you're bringing up, is yeah, his negatives are just like, "Oh, okay, I'm staying right here.
That's it.
we're, we're not moving.
I didn't move you, you didn't move me, but I'm not out of position.
And if the ball came here, I c- could still make the tackle."
And yeah, there's great value in that.
Bears at 25, to me, no-brainer.
Oh.
Like- Totally perfect player for them.
That, that's- Perfect player that would be a perfect player for them.
Yeah.
Man, he'd m- him with Montez Sweat, you know, similar body.
Right.
Montez can teach him a few things there.
Yeah, how to rush a little more.
And oh, I mean, big, long defense like that, y- you know, that's, that's a good call for you.
I, I That might actually hap- Dennis Allen would like him as a kinda- It's a perfect Dennis Allen kinda- He's a Cameron Jordan type- Yeah of defense end kinda guy.
So that, that's a good one.
I would be Yeah, I wouldn't be shocked if that happened.
JamesF5 in the chat is the, the Zion, the president of the Zion Young fan club.
At first he said, "Zion Young could be the best edge in this draft.
He's a steal if he goes in the second round."
But then he said something that I think you bring this up a lot, Chris.
He said, "If Zion Young played for Ohio State or Texas Tech, he'd be a top 10 pick."
Yeah.
I, I, I, I, I know what he's saying.
I, I totally hear you, you know?
he, he would definitely be more hype and viewed differently if he was on those football teams.
And, and But, but beers, you know, pass rusher, I think you get a pretty fair shot no matter what, at least from the league.
You might not get the media hype all the time.
Yeah.
The Ohio States and that, they get a little more, yeah, Miami, they're gonna get the more hype, and especially when you're good and you're in the national spotlight, and that all helps out a lot of, a lot there.
But I do think you can feel good about pass rushers for the most part, where the evaluators in the league don't fall in that trap as much with pass rushers as they do- I agree receivers, right?
You know, or like we talk about, like, where they just go, "Oh, wait, I look at him in this offense," and blah, blah, blah.
And I'm gonna go, "Well, yeah, if you put this guy in this offense here, I'm telling you it's gonna look like that with that space and all that too."
I feel like you get a more fair shake, with this guy.
But, but I, I think the big thing is, like you talked about, because I write this at the end, I just go, "I wish he got more plays where he could just, you know, g- pass rush, get on the edge and really get after them," right?
Because he's, he The more you watch, the more I was like, "Man, yeah, I'm, I'm getting more impressed with his get off and his speed around the corner," right?
You know, and I wrote, "Guys like this usually get better in the NFL.
They realize how they have to play, they realize and learn a few tricks about, you know, using their hands and whatever else," and that's what happened with Deniel Hunter.
Deniel Hunter, his college film, I think if you go back to it, you kinda go, "Eh, I see the potential.
I don't know."
It wasn't, like, dominant- No in any way, shape, or form.
But you get in the NFL locker room, and all of a sudden the, you're with all these alphas, and you're starting to go, "Wait, I just gotta do that to make 20 million a year?"
Right.
"If I just, like, be a little more physical or learn the inside stab move?"
Yeah.
"Like, I, if I just play a little harder, I can get 20 million a year?"
So you get that, and then in the NFL too, you know, usually with D line, you're, you're, you're big boys now, you're all making money, you usually get a, a defensive line coach who's gonna call you out.
You're gonna get called out if you're soft or don't play the right way or don't have the same intensity.
So yeah, he, he's a phenomenal football player, one of the safest guys and, you know, like I said, I just wish you get to see him a little bit more in some of those pass rush situations.
Something that helped a lot with that is he went to the Senior Bowl- Yeah and he whooped everyone's ass in one-on-ones.
Yes.
'Cause it was like that was his chance.
Yes.
And you saw an inside move- Uh-huh which he doesn't always get.
He got to do a little bit in college, but you get to see it in the one-on-ones, so I think that helped scouts and teams a lot, like, "Oh, here he is against, at an all-star event, and he looks like the guy."
He's, he looks like an all-star.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So- Yeah when you're the all-star at the all-star event- Yeah.
I wouldn't be surprised if he's one that I'm wrong about, you're wrong about, like, he's not even on the board at 25.
Right.
He's- Like, I, I wouldn't be surprised.
Oh, the NFL liked him a lot.
The NFL liked him more- He did than we think, and he went at 16 or 17, somewhere in there.
I'll say this, he had really big spring grades.
Yeah.
So when the scouting services do the grades, you know, combination of teams- Mm-hmm he was one of the guys higher on the list.
Mm-hmm.
When I watch him, that's 'Cause that's why I watched him last summer, I'm like, "Damn, he's got big grades."
Yeah.
And he got so much better this year.
So if that carried over, that teams like- Yeah him more than consensus media, it wouldn't be shocking.
No.
Zion Young's a really, really good player.
Really good football player.
NFL usually likes these guys more than the general draft public or the- Right public altogether
