I swear, he says “National Football League” like he swore a blood oath to saying it.

I don't know about Caleb or Drake but just know that Merril, before the 2017 draft, said he wouldn't draft Patrick Mahomes in the first round.

He’s just being safe. Reality is most quarterbacks don’t turn into anything special. It’s pretty rare to turn into something special.

There were a lot of experts who didn’t like CJ Stroud last year. The experts are often wrong.

When there’s no repercussions for being wrong, these “experts” can always have a hot take and say anything they want.

He lost me when he said u can win a SB with Kenny Pickett

Do the green bars jumping around add value.....?

He also doesn't believe in CTE.

I watched a Kurt Warner breakdown of Caleb and that was my take. Of course Kurt doesn't say anything like that he just points out mistakes and good choices...but he just did not seem able to process fast enough for college. Noticed a lot of first reads where he just didn't let the ball go. I'm not an expert but the games only gonna get faster. If you can't let it go to your check down on the blitz well it probably ain't gonna be pretty.

Meril Hodge was a running back with 90 concussions. 😂

Merril Hoge thinks CTE is a hoax. Let THAT sink in!

I just checked - he did have C.J. Stroud his only 1st rounder last year. He said he could hit every throw. And Bryce Young wasn't a 1st rounder. Right on both.

I watched a bunch of tape on Caleb and I have to agree with Merril, I do not see anything special about him. I DO NOT see him processing and throwing on schedule. He also runs from a fairly clean pocket WAY too often. He also rarely throws over the middle.

Kenny Pickett is trash

Merril “in the National Football League “ Hodge

Merrill is totally right. I watched Cam Newton for years and I kept thinking he would evolve as a passer and improve his touch and decision-making. Never happened.

I'll agree with the Williams statement. Honestly I think JJ McCarthy is better than Williams. I also think Bo Nix is underrated at this point in the stocks.

Every year, they rank these USC QBs so high-

Wasn’t this the same guy who said the Colts should take RG3 over Andrew Luck? What a joke.

Does anyone in the media say "NFL" anymore? Everything is always "National Football League " Stop it!!

Colin Cowherd and Skip Bayless are in a competition to see who can be the worst sports commentator of all time.

Lincoln riley qbs are great in college and average in nfl

His kenny pickett analysis aged like milk.

Five takeaways - A QB succeeds when: [1] He does pre-snap reads; [2] He processes through progressions; [3] He stands his ground in the pocket, and only scrambles to evade sack or gain yardage; [4] He focuses on “moving the sticks” through high conversion routes - short and immediate; [5] He-accurately-distributes the football to playmakers (RPO or designed pass play). That is why Mahomes & Co., Purdy & Co., Hurts & Co., Burrow & Co., Tua & Co., Stroud & Co., Goff & Co., etc. succeeded; however this is why 1st Round QBs such as Jordan Love (until last season), Sam Darnold, Kenny Pickett, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, and Bryce Young struggled! I think Drake Maye is gonna struggle, while Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and J.J. McCarthy will do fairly well in their year.

People don't get that Mahomes went to an elite situation with some of the best offensive minds in football; plus he had to sit. That's different from what's going to happen with Williams in Chicago. Not saying Williams won't be successful, but situation is the biggest determining factor when it comes to NFL success.

Ask this guy what he thinks about the last 10 drafts. He will tell you he only would have drafted the ones that didn't bust.

I typically disagree with Hoge but I also don't think Caleb will be as good as everyone says. I think the Bears will whiff again.

i'm conflicted, i hear people saying good things about CW and Maye, but then i always think back to what Hoge said about Johnny Manziel "if you run around and you have no business running the ball, it should have come out, you win heisman trophies in college, in the NFL you come back to the huddle with 5 angry grown men" and he basically said the same thing about CW. I'm officially worried.

This interview is only a month old as of today and it didn’t age well at all. The defensive players on the Steelers were recruiting Russell Wilson to come to the team, which says the team didn’t believe in Kenny Pickett at all.

I agree with hoge

I like the Hodge guys perspective!

Merril Hodge is probably gonna be eating crow on at least one of these guys. Of course QBs are the most difficult to scout & project. The physical traits & arm talent are important in scouting QBs but their most vital attributes like mental acuity, processing ability, etc along with things such as work ethic & the actual effort they put in to working at their craft are hypothetical guesses or projections. This is why we all know QBs are all risks & many top picks often don’t pan out. Around this time scouts, NFL analysts & GMs all fall into the hype train of rocket arms & combine numbers which mean little in the grand scheme of whether a QB will succeed at the NFL level. I could see 1-2 of the top trio of QB prospects in Williams, Maye & Daniels succeeding while the others falter. Also I can see some of the “Tier 2” QB prospects like Penix, Nix & McCarthy actually becoming better NFL QBs in a few years over the top 3. The Bears have a good problem in choosing between Field or Williams which is a difficult one but they have to pick Williams. They passed on Stroud last year & cannot be the team who also passed on Williams. Field improved a lot & I hope the Bears do right by him & trade him to a good team & situation like the Steelers. There is a lot of talk about Fields & the Falcons which is a good match but I think the Steelers are a better fit. Anyway this draft is going to be interesting to see it unfold. So much intrigue & possibility especially with the Top 10 picks. I wonder which team will have a shocking pick. Hopefully not my Giants. I hope they go Odunze or Nabers. Only 9 more weeks until the draft but it can’t get here soon enough.😆🙄

Mahomes works because it's actually Mahomes Reid. Without Reid Mahomes wouldn't be Mahomes. Buffalo almost had it with Allen Daboll that duo was just as deadly as Mahomes Reid. Brian Daboll should be the HC in Buffalo. They would have been in the Super Bowl already. The greatest QB isn't the greatest with out a brilliant OC because Reid is the OC.

I look at Williams on the field, it's not about Hoge. Williams is not the 2nd coming. Let's start with the fact that Lincoln Riley is not the "quarterback whisperer." Riley had some interesting schemes when he went to Oklahoma that worked. But he never taught the fundamentals of mechanics and leadership to any of his "award winning quarterbacks." I'll reveal I am an Oklahoma alum, but set that aside. Baker Mayfield was "fully formed" when Riley arrived. Riley didn't take him under his wing. Kyler Murray was in the same quarterback room as Mayfield and benefited from film study and schematics but he was an original talent on his own. And Jalen Hurts? His time at Alabama gave him the fundamentals to lead an offense. All he needed to do was improve his passing skills. We couldn't tell much about Williams in his freshman year because Riley was off interviewing with Southern Cal. We thought he was good, had good potential and we were looking at bright days ahead until Riley snuck out of town before the break of dawn. I watched every Southern Cal game that was available both years Williams was at So Cal. I didn't see any development in discipline in utilizing the pocket or in developing complex timing routes. What I saw was a quarterback that either didn't see his "reads," didn't like them, or wasn't confident to deliver the ball in tight windows. I saw a quarterback that was quick to pull the ball down and begin to scramble pell-mell without any rhyme or reason. The passing play suddenly became street ball where he was waving receivers open down the field or he was tucking and running instead of forcing the defense to defend against the pass. The thought went through my head that "this kid is going to get eaten up in the NFL" without the discipline to stay in the drive concept on a fresh set of downs. Whether he started at his own 20 or his opponents' 40 yard line, Williams was erratic and undisciplined. Without question he wasn't coached properly and I was not surprised to see the Trojans crater in 2023. Lincoln Riley, for all his bally-hoo, isn't a seasoned head coach. Bob Stoops, the man he replaced, was the CEO of the Sooners. He only won 191 games against 48 losses. Riley will never coach that many Division I games. We should be glad he was exposed as a fraud in college football. Had he been hired to coach an NFL team he would be roadkill. Every NFL team should be wary of Williams. He's a raw talent; the skills are there to develop but he definitely is a "project" to learn the pro game. I laughed my butt off when I heard he wanted a percentage of the Bears' ownership in his rookie contract. The kid has had too much money, too many slaps on the back and too many hours admiring himself in the mirror. Is he still teachable? Good question.

I'm not sure Wilson fits with Pittsburgh, but Kenny Pickett? Heh...

Hodge is clueless,he’s not a quarterback expert, the year Mahommes came out he said he would not draft him in 1st round 😂😆

I wish he spoke on which other quarterbacks in this draft that he thought would be better suited for the transition to the NFL.

Meril Hodge said Mahomes was not a 1st rnd pick and has about 700 hundred other awful predictions....dudes a tool.

You have to respect Hoge for having an opinion. Everybody else always washes everyone with positives.

Caleb playing for an established team sounds good, but we saw how he acted when he loses….things could go bad very quickly if the Bears start losing badly. Players have said, it’s easy to get into Caleb’s head on the field, he shows his emotions.

Caleb Williams is a superior talent, but he has to learn how to play quarterback in the NFL and get better in the pocket. Having bad offensive lines in college, he may have developed some bad habits.

Agree. Most of the college QB draft evaluation is hype. This year's QB class is shaping up like the 2021 class with Caleb being Trevor Lawrence, and the rest should not be taken in the top 15

didn't know Bill Murray watched so much ball

Caleb is going to fall flat on his face. You heard it here.

what does picket do in any of these games to make the other players and coaches think they can win a superbowl let alone start. Other than have a nice late game drive when the defense keeps the game low scoring. Anybody would take any of the 4-5 qbs in this draft over him right now. Steelers are a horrible franchise if they have former players rushing to his defense like this than having picket earning the spot

Merril Hope said Lamar Jackson wouldn't thrive and do well in Todd Monkens offense last year and Lamar won MVP! Take what he says with a grain of salt. He's full of it!!! these QB's will do great! He's probably getting paid and his pockets lined to give bad commentary on these QB's to effect their draft status. This guy is a clown!!!

Lets also consider most top 10 QBs are drafted into horrible situations. They are already put into a situation to fail. Mahomes was drafted by my Giants, his career would have been tremendously different.

Lead off with the whole Kenny Pickett can win a championship part so I don't have to waste 11 minutes listening first.

I agree with him about the height. I’ve been saying it for 30 years. You have to be tall enough to see over and through your lineman.

It’s a strange one. Chris Simms has the exact same evaluation of Drake Maye but he completely disagrees on Caleb Williams. He believes Caleb Williams is an incredible prospects and clearly the No.1 pick.

I saw how good cj was going to be in the georgia game. he alone kept his team in that game even though they lost. without cj it would have been a blow out.

Mike Tomlin is a defensive coach that's why he's given up 31 or more points in his last 5 playoff games which were all losses and averages allowing 40.5 points per game in those 5 losses. 31-22, 42-19, 48-34, 45-28, and 36-22. Sounds like a real defensive minded guy!

Maye ain't ok-JJ is ok . what's you say?

I also didn't know Mahomes was a QB, TE, WR, G, OT, DE, DT, S, CB, P, K, LB, LS, to the guy who said Mahomes doesn't need anybody else to be successful. If you don't know what those abbreviations mean you don't know football

As a Broncos fan, the Russell Wilson trade has destroyed the Broncos.

This is the same dude that said Patrick mahomes wasn't very good, and now he just praised Kenny Pickett....why are we still giving this bum any air time?

Bryce Young was measured at the combine. He is 5’10 1/8’’ tall not 5’9’’. He is OVER 5’10’’. Russell Wilson is 5’ 10 5/8’’ tall.

Hoge would have passed on Herbert.

Sam Darnold tested and was anyalized way better than this group of qbs. None of them will be more than average.

The chance Caleb is going to be a bigger bust than Dolly Parton is Ginormous

the same fools that touted Trey Lance as great, all the while his fundamentals are garbage, are telling us what?

I think this qb draft Is weak. If I'm chicago I trade out the 1st overall pick

History says only 1-2 of these QBs pan out and there’s 6-8 QBs in this draft people are talking about

Colin "Let Them Eat Cake" Cowherd

So disappointed in Hoge. We are lock step with Maye, but I'm confused how you talk about not evaluating players were they are, but projecting to where they CAN be...then knock Caleb for his style of play in college. I'm not saying Caleb is guaranteed to do anything, but like any prospect you look at what tools they have (Physical, Mental, & Technique) and project what can they combination of tools be molded into given the right circumstance. You acknowledge his accuracy can be elite, you acknowledge his elusiveness is elite, but you knock him for the plays he makes/didn't make in college. Haven't we learned our lesson from Mahomes? Josh Allen? Aaron Rodgers? The job of the staff is to hone all the tools into the best version of the player and the player has to meet them half way by being willing to develop. We don't just judge them on the college player they were, but what pro player they can be. Lastly, completely agree about pocket play...it is so undervalued in common football discussions, but I want to throw out there that Caleb has elite spatial awareness too. That is very rare in QBs. One of the reasons I was a huge fan of Burrow coming out.

LOL so called expert says Maye isn't good and Caleb Williams has issues ALSO SAYS Steelers "still strongly believe in Kenny Pickett" Kenny Pickett now plays for the Eagles. Yeah, gonna have to go with "talking out of the ass" as my answer here 😮😅

Williams AVERAGED 300 total yards and 2.5 TD's A GAME! He has a quick wind-up flip of the wrist release throw and is accurate. He can see open WR's not only right after the snap but after the play breaks down. Obviously, he is great at extending plays with his legs "to pass the ball not necessarily run for the first down like Fields." If he goes to Chicago and plays all 17 games, Williams will break the most yards and most TD's by a Chicago Bear QB.... as a rookie. If drafted he would easily be the best QB the Bears have ever drafted and has had on their roster. Don't get me wrong... obviously, last year's Chicago Bear roster, Williams would have had more trouble, but this year were seeing upgrades across the offensive positions. So it makes for longer time to throw the ball and with the addition of Allen, Everett and Swift a better "catching" offense already. Not to mention Waldron will be better than Getsy. We still have some drafts too. If I'm Williams, I'm hoping Chicago drafts me where I could be a living legend in a great city!

Bears fans convinced hes the second coming..after 3 years of saying that very thing about Justin Fields

I agree with him . I think Rattler and Nix are 2 of the best in this draft.

If you think Williams has any prospect of being a successful pro, you're a hopeless casual. He's completely devoid of the skills necessary to be professional QB.

This is just being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian. Caleb Williams has all the ingredients. The question is will his coaches know how to prepare a meal.

This analysis makes it sound like Penix should be a top pick. Pre-snap read, pocket presence, processing, accurate, and tall. Oh- and he played in an NFL style offense. We’ll see.

Truth bomb 💣

Panthers still have 2 years to figure out if Bryce Young can be a good QB. Also, Kyler Murray is similarly small...BUT, Murray is cat-like quick and elusive. Either way, small QBs just have so much going against them, that there is so little upside. But, there have been plenty of 6'4" + crappy QBs too!

Jaden Daniels was more accurate than Caleb Williams was last year. Caleb in 2023 completed 68.6% of his passes. Pretty good huh? Jaden Daniels completed 72.2% of his passes in 2023. In 2022 Daniels had a 68.7% completion rate and in 2022 Caleb had a 66.6% completion rate.

There are not enough QBs to go around the league. So teams without a franchise QB have no choice but to draft one, cross their fingers that the pick may work out OK. 32 teams with just one QB coming out in the draft who is elite every three or four years. It's never enough.

IF YOU DON'T HAVE A GREAT OFFENSIVE LINE IN FRONT OF YOU IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW GREAT A QB OR RB YOU ARE. GOOD EXAMPLE WAS KIRK COUSINS IN MN. NO OL IN HIS YEARS THERE. YOU SHOULD LOOK FOR AN ACCURATE PASSER.

Remind me one more time, did you say National Football League?

RonCalis93 what he saying a good coach and staff with a great defense and run game I guess Trent D. Example no hall game no great single game just a super bowl win anything can happen

If Caleb sucks it's the Bears coaching people will say and he'll demand to be traded. It could be really ugly fast if he starts slow because he'll be blaming everyone else. I wouldn't be surprised if the bears pass on him and trade for either one of the other top 3.

The best question is, why is Merrill Hoge the only person who feels this way?

Actually listening to him on this podcast he made more sense than his original statement. Caleb only played 2 1/2 years and he does need to grow as a passer in the pocket. But you do need to put it in context that USC had the worse D in power 5. SC had to score 40plus to win. But I highly doubt he wont be able to develop as a passer in the pocket. Just like Daniel made huge strides in his 5th season. HE couldn't throw the deep ball then this year he showed he could. Caleb will be a top 5 QB in the league within a few years. Book it!

Whatever.....everyone is entitled to their opinion. Williams has a special skill set, and I'm aware of his shortcomings as I've seen him play 25 games, but if the Bears pass on him (they won't) they'll regret it for years. A lot of us thought Stroud was a much better prospect than Young, so I wouldn't bust my hand patting myself on the back. All the QB's have ?, but the fact that the highest praise in this vid is for a player who washed out, found the right system which is nothing like the NFL, who rarely goes to a second read or pushes the ball downfield says everything you need to know.

That Pittsburgh take sure didn't age well. 😕😕😕

You never know until they play in the NFL. Having said that, I would take Jayden Daniels. He possesses all the tools and is a great kid.

I said the same thing about Bryce and CJ. CJ was the only first round talent last year.

The Wilson/Pickett analysis didn’t age well. I also prefer Maye to Caleb, but qbs are definitely the hardest to evaluate.

There is no known formula to foresee if a college QB will be effective in the NFL.

Hoge makes some good points but he also said Joe Flacco was better than Tom Brady at one point so let’s take it with a grain of salt 🤣

First Hodge predicts RFK will win the election in a landslide and now Cowherd is jumping on that Bandwagon?

ANY team with the first pick in the NFL draft should trade it for as much as they can get.

I was kinda lost on the Pickett take also when it came to skill set , I viewed him as a QB without a lot of physical skills but enough if he was extremely intelligent he might work. I don’t think Pittsburgh is going anywhere with either QBs if Watson and Burrows is healthy I think they are last in their division.Tomlins been sneaking into the playoffs by just barely winning enough games I think that’s coming to a end this year.The Wilson move is just another attempt to keep Tomlin from getting fired I don’t see it leading to a championship.

I saw thT someone had Pennix in the 2nd round I think he will be a way higher pick

if you say really outlandish statements - once in awhile you will be right - that is what Merrill is trying to do.

Merril come on man!!!

He's telling the truth... Like people are acting Like Caleb is so good in the pocket. He's telling the truth

That Pickett take didn't age well...

I certainly don't agree with his assessment of Kenny Pickett. Maybe it is a hometown assessment?

He really nailed the Pittsburgh situation…

Here WE go with another "GREAT WHITE HOPE" while forgetting the hype around Will Levis, Mitch Trubisky, Mac Jones, Sam Darnold more busts than a Vegas strip club!