It's the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. What's up everybody? This is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the lockdown podcast network. And if you haven't heard yet, we started a club and we would love for you to join. It's called the every day or club. And one of the things that you get as a member is an ad free version of the podcast that you're listening to right now. It works with whatever podcast app you already use. Same episodes every day. Just know ads. There's also a members only group chat for fans of your team plus a lot more. You can check it out by tapping the every day or club link in the show notes. There are two edge prospects in this class that have close connections to the bills coaching staff. Do they make sense for the bills at 26 or exploring that today unlocked on bills? You are locked on bills. Your daily Buffalo bills podcast part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. What's up bills? Mafia it's Joe Marino on today's episode. We are continuing our work in building the Buffalo bills 2026 NFL draft board and we are discussing more edge rushers. Already covered six. We have six more today. We have six more coming. There are a lot of edge rushers worth talking about. So we're going to get to them all. On today's episode, there's a couple of guys that the bills have close connections with in terms of their college coaches are now coaching for the Buffalo bills. That makes them very interesting. Again, we're going to go through these prospects. I'm going to tell you their size, their athleticism, some career production, their age, why the bills should consider drafting them, why there are concerns, and then of course my personal valuation. And these will be players today that are really day one and day two targets. There's a lot of good football players. We're going to discuss today on this episode, but I want to just kind of give you the menu, right? Like just different prospects at different points that make sense. And that way we can be really familiar with what is available for Buffalo in a couple of weeks. And the need here at Edge to me is pretty obvious. You have, of course, Bradley Chubb and Greg Russo and Michael Hoyt coming back off of injury, Javon Solomon, Andre James. Ultimately, I think the bills need to diversify this group with an option that provides a little bit more athleticism. And I also think they could use guys that profile well to playing that true five technique position in odd front. So there's an obvious need to invest in this front seven. And we'll tell you about some players that would make good selections. Let's start with Gabe Yakis out of Illinois. And you will see that Gabe's last name is spelled J-A-C-A-S. The J is silent. So it's Akis. He's six four, 260 pounds, 33 inch arms, 10 inch hands. We don't have verified athletic testing for him. So no relative athleticism score. 2,175 snaps at Illinois, 35 and a half career tackles for loss, 27 career sacks, a 2025 pass rush win rate of 14.9 percent and a 2025 run stuff percentage of 7 percent. He's 21 years old and will turn 22 in May. So why should the bills considered drafting Gabe Yakis out of Illinois? Well, he has a really nice blend of. Frame like the size and body composition, power and motor. I would say that Yakis is the most relentless player I've watched for this class so far in terms of just pure energy and competitive fire on every single snap. It's awesome to watch. And he's a really powerful dude, super firm, heavy hands and just overall good contact balance that shows up. And you like the way you slap together at six four, 260 with 33 inch arms, 10 inch hands. It's he's a he's a well built dude with a body engineered for playing edge in the NFL. I think he's a really smart football player. The processor is good. I think he understands blocking schemes, how to respond. It all feels very natural. Looks like a guy that's been well coached. The hands are violent. You know, he is coming with heavy weight type punches and he's got that ability to jolt and knock back dudes. And then from there, he can really take control of reps, especially when you consider he's got good length at 33 inch arms. There is some flexibility here. I wouldn't call him, you know, Von Miller or anything like that, but he's loose enough to reduce and flatten. And so, you know, what I mean by that is being able to kind of get the edge, reduce the surface area that's so you're not allowing that offensive lineman to grab and really get into your frame. And then when he once he has that angle, grease, he can flatten and finish. And so there's there's enough flexibility here to be excited about. And then he's, he's pretty explosive. And we'll talk a little bit more about that in just a moment, how he can maximize that explosiveness. But when he gets going, he can really eat up ground and he's quick up the arc. So what concerns are there about forecasting Gabe Yakis to the bills is, well, he's got to fix his stance and his get off. You'll watch him play. He's super wobbly and it's, he just never gets set consistently with whether it's two point or even a three point stance. You can just tell us feet are just moving and he's got to be able to get himself in a good position so that he can consistently uncoil and get off the ball. He gets moving in kind of an unorthodox way, but once he's going, he is going. And so fix that stance and be cleaner with how you get off the ball. And I think that the explosive part of his game would really come to life. And you could see him blend this power component, this length component, this football IQ component, the size component with more burst. And I think you can have a heck of a player. I also feel like he can develop more rush variety. He's definitely a guy that wants to play through your face. And that's good. I think, as I've said before, powerful rushers are more valuable than finesse rushers. But I think there's room to really expand his rush profile. Part of that is fixing the stance and the get off. But I think there's more working for him that he can deploy to beat blockers. I think he's got really all the physical upside to do more as a pass rusher. And I'm looking for him to continue putting that all together and take a big step. But I'm a big fan of Gabe Yacuz. I give him an early second round grade. And if he was the Bill's pick at 26, I totally understand it. And I'd be pretty excited. I'm not going to tell you that he's one of my most preferred options at 26. But he'd definitely be a player that I wouldn't really take much exception with. I think he's a good football player with a lot of upside at a premium position. And I think he's going to be a really good NFL starter. The connection here to the Bills is that Terence Jamison, the Bills defensive line coach. Well, that was his defensive line coach at Illinois. So they should know him quite well. All right. Coming up next, we're going to talk about Armace and Thomas. That's another prospect who was coached by one of the Bills current coaches in college. So we'll talk about him. And a prospect I think is a little overrated and one that I think is pretty underrated. So we'll do that next, folks. Be sure to stick with me. It's tax time, but for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes is a lot. Trying to book an appointment. That's not the most convenient sitting in a waiting room with a stack of papers. E-mailing back and forth and wondering if they really get your situation. But this year, you're getting a major upgrade into it. TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. You can meet face to face with a real tax expert and your documents get uploaded straight to your TurboTax app on the spot. And just like that, you're done. Your TurboTax expert works to get you every dollar that you deserve while you get real time notifications as you go about your day. It's a relief of walking in and meeting a real person and walking out, knowing your taxes are being handled right. So head to TurboTax.com local to find a store near you and book your appointment today. All right, welcome back. Let's talk about our Mason Thomas side of Oklahoma. Six, two, two hundred and forty one pounds, thirty one and five eights on the arm length, eight and seven eights on the hand size, a relative athleticism score of a seven point two two. So that's a good score. That's not a great score. One thousand two hundred and forty snaps, twenty five and a half career tackles for loss, seventeen career sacks, a twenty twenty five pass rush win rate of twenty point three percent, a twenty twenty five run stuff percentage of six point two. He is twenty one in turns twenty two in August. So why should the bills consider drafting our Mason Thomas out of Oklahoma? Well, he's explosive and flexible. I mean, if you want burst and bend, here you go. That's what this guy really offers. He's loose. He's really loose. The ankles have terrific flexion. His hips are bendy and the upper body is twitchy and he can reduce and really limit his surface area. He has burst and flexibility that you're looking for. And I think ultimately it comes down to this with our Mason Thomas, when he can win with speed up the arc, he can make a lot of plays. He can do a lot of damage. He can be very disruptive. Now, the other side of that we'll get to in just a moment, because if he doesn't win with speed up the arc, there's just not a lot of his disposal that he can use to be effective on a certain, you know, given reps. I do think he reduces angles well. And so that combination of burst and bend, it shortens paths and puts a lot of stress on offensive tackles to stay square and frame him up. He's got a big time motor. You'll love the way he plays. Pursuit effort is consistently outstanding and he plays with good leverage. He doesn't play tall. He plays low. And so this this idea that he needs to keep his pads clean with whatever he has in terms of speed and flexibility, he does a good job of making it difficult for blockers to get their hands on him. And that's the way it has to be when you're 240 pounds and you have relatively short arms. So what concerns are there about forecasting this player to the bills? And again, this player is Armacen Thomas out of Oklahoma. I try to say that a few times so that way you can always kind of be dialed in on the player I'm talking about instead of just saying it at the beginning, maybe you missed it. I try to say the name in school, you know, three or four times throughout talking about a prospect. Well, very similar to the Caches Howell conversation. He is missing length. He is missing mass. Now he's got longer arms and Caches Howell, but the same real concerns apply where the lack of a power component to your game just limits you and it limits you as a pass rusher. It limits you as a run defender and it limits the amount of snaps so you can be effective and not a liability for your defense. And Armacen Thomas does not hold up as an edge setter, right? Like that is just not what he's going to do. He's not going to be able to rush through you. Everything has to be about attacking edges and being able to win with burst and flexibility around them. And so there's rush variety that's missing. I think he can develop his hand usage more. And again, just ultimately, if he doesn't win with speed, there's no other clubs in the bag. And so it's super fun to watch him win with speed and burst in bed. Like it's awesome. That's just not always translatable, right? You've got to have more in your bag. This is national football league. These tackles, they're going to get their hands on you. And the problem is if Armacen Thomas has hands on him, he's pretty ineffective. And so you just have to know what you're signing up for. It's the cash is how Armacen Thomas conversation is. But they're very similar. They're very similar. You have to know what you're signing up for. And a lot of that is good. But a lot of that is limiting. And so how comfortable are you when's the right time to make that type of investment? I want the bills to have this type of player. I do. But is it the most logical thing at 26, especially when you consider some pretty similar guys that you could probably have in the third round? So it's a challenging conversation. All right, let's get to TJ Parker next. So my valuation on Armacen Thomas is a second round grade. TJ Parker out of Clemson is next. He's 64, 263 pounds, 33 and an eighth inch arms, nine and a half inch hands. A relative athleticism score of a 9.38, which is awesome. 1,553 career snaps, 41 and a half career tackles for loss, twenty one and a half career sacks, a 20, 25 pass rush win rate of 15.4 percent, a 20, 25 run stuff percentage of seven point six percent. He is 21 in turns, 22 in September. So why should the bills consider drafting TJ Parker out of Clemson? Well, I think he's got good pop in his hands, overall good upper body power. And he certainly has long arms. I think he has a lot of upside to be a powerful type player, whether that's setting firm edges and squeezing gaps and defending the run or as a power style rusher that can use his length, that can use his mass and really compromise the width of the pocket. I think he's a high motor guy and plays hard. So long, powerful, good motor. That's a good foundation to work from. Now, I think there are some concerns with him and for some of the mock drafts that I see that maybe has him as like a top 20 pick that to me, that's that's rich because I think there's some limiting factors here. I think for as much physical upside as he has, right? Size, the testing was really good. Length is really good. I haven't seen him use that physical upside to lead to physical advantages when trying to win against offensive linemen. I don't think he's explosive off the ball with any level of consistency. So like cool 40 time, but if you can't get up the arc and get off the ball with explosiveness, it doesn't really matter. I think it's hard for him to disengage with blocks at the apex of his rush. And so he'll get to the top and even he might have a step on the offensive tackle. But there's just not hand counters. There's not enough balance. There's flexibility that's missing. And so he just kind of gets ridden past the peak of the pocket or he's trying to flatten and turn and he can't find the balance and he's kind of stumbling and just loses all of that momentum. So I think there's some concerns with that. And just overall, he offers a lot of surface to blockers. And you're wondering like, where's the twitch? Like I see that you have some explosive testing metrics, but where's that initial burst on tape? Where's that twitchiness that's going to give you a better chance of being a more consistent beater of blocks? And so there's some appeal here. I think he's a little overrated, though. And I struggle with a lot of these Clemson prospects. I think for the like the last seven years, I feel like I've been watching Clemson prospects that are like highly touted and they're big time high school recruits. And then they just never lived up to it. They never really came together. And so you're watching them as prospects and you can see some upside, but just like, where's the where's the development bed? And I don't believe in helmet scouting, but there's been enough of that across like multiple positions at Clemson where you just like wonder is what is going on at Clemson? We're just not developing talent. Second round grade for me, there'll be some players that I'll have higher than him. I'll have Gabe Yacuz higher than then T.J. Parker. And I don't think that's a very consistent thing that you'll see in the space. So I think he's likable, but I think there's some some some real work required here with T.J. Parker. All right, let's get to a guy that I think is underrated. And that's Kieran Crawford out of Auburn. 6'4, 253, 32 inch arms, nine inch hands. Don't have any athletic testing on him. I'm sure it would be awesome. Super dynamic athlete at in college, one thousand six hundred thirty two snaps. I believe he started his career at Arkansas State and then finished up at Auburn. 24 career tackles for loss, 11 and a half career sacks. A 20 25 pass rush win rate of 18.3 percent. A 20 25 run stuff percentage of 6.1 percent. He's 22 in terms, 23 in October. So why should the bills consider drafting Kieran Crawford out of Auburn? Twitchy and explosive, flexible. He can corner, he can flatten, he's got Bend. He's springy when working laterally. He can work outside, cross your face and work inside and show that springiness and that flexibility, he's got good closing speed. So this is kind of what I'm talking about. Like do we do you want to pick our, our Mason Thomas at 26 or would you just get a guy like this at 91 or something like that, if that's truly something you could pull off? You know, I got a lot more to say about Crawford, but, you know, those are similar things that we would say about our Mason Thomas or even cash is how I think his hands got some pop to him. You know, he's he's 253 pounds. He's not like the biggest pass rusher, but he's ability to generate some force with his strikes is is pretty impressive. Physical player, assertive play demeanor. You'll love the way he battles and pursues and, you know, he doesn't take any plays off or there's never any moments where you're disappointed by the effort on film. I think he plays the game the right way. So like obviously I just complimented his motor, but you'll see him do the little things if he's got a tight end that's trying to release into space. He's very deliberate about chipping. I like how he gets his eyes in the right spot to deal with pollers. He does those little things that are important. So it's not just about him selling out and making place. He's functioning and doing his role within the defense that's necessary for the defense to function as one unit, as opposed to you see some of these defensive linemen, they'll kind of freelance a little bit. And sometimes that leads to a splash play and sometimes that leads to a crease or a rush lane that's unoccupied and in an easy escape valve for a quarterback. So I think this is a very disciplined player that that does things the right way. And he's also a guy that has a little bit of coverage upside. And not that I would want him to major in that, but I saw plenty of zone drops where he's smooth moving in space and really a lot of coverage, getting to his landmarks and reading the backfield and working laterally. He's he's got a lot to his game that I think is pretty appealing as a rush outside linebacker that can do a lot of different things for you. So what concerns are there about forecasting Kieran Crawford out of Auburn to the bills? Well, he's he's I guess this isn't necessarily a concern, but it's worth pointing out he's only played football for five years. And so there's still a blending together of all of the physical traits and finding tuning techniques and really becoming a quick processor that I think is still a work in progress. And I think that's actually something that's appealing. But I think you got to be mindful of that. I'm looking for him to develop a little bit more when his initial rush like doesn't go the way he wants it to. How do we recover? What counters do we have to continue battling and be effective? Like his effort is really good. But what what additional tools do we have in the box that we can deploy? Hey, when that initial idea doesn't really work, we got to get to some counters. You got to get to him quicker and he's got to have them. Right. So I think that's important. And while I think he's a very competitive, physical, assertive run defender, I mean, there's going to be times against bigger, more powerful blockers that he's not going to be a consistent edge setter and there's going to be some movement. And so he's something he'll have to overcome and something that a defense will have to kind of scheme around. But I give him a third round grade. And if a team picked him early in the third round, you know, I think that'd be a fine selection. So I'm a fan. I'm a fan of Kieran Crawford and I think he's kind of slept on him and Gabe Yakis are two guys that just really impressed me that I'm a fan of. We got more players to get to, including an edge rusher out of Tennessee. And then I got to tell you my thoughts on a Ruben Bain who is going to go early. We'll do that next, folks. Be sure to stick with me. Workplace chaos deadlines are stacking up. The inbox is overflowing in the one position you have to fill is still sitting open when the pressure is on and you need to make the right hire. This is a job for sponsored jobs. Indeed sponsored jobs helps you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for skills, experience, location, so you're not just hoping the right candidate stumbles across your posts. And here's a stat that says it all. In the minute I've been talking to you, companies like yours, they 27 hires on Indeed, according to Indeed data worldwide. So if you're hiring, spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes with Indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners of this show, we get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job. The premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. All right, welcome back, folks. Let's talk about a couple more prospects here. Next up is Joshua Josephs out of Tennessee. 6'3", 242 pounds, 34 and a quarter inch arms, 10 inch hands. You love that. Career snaps, 1,000. Well, no athletic testing here for Joshua Josephs. I'm sure it would be really good. His career snaps, 1,127, 22 career tackles for loss, nine and a half career sacks, a 2025 past rush win rate of 21.3 percent, a 2025 run stuff percentage of 8.2 percent. He's 22 and will turn 23 in December. So why should the bills consider drafting Joshua Josephs out of Tennessee? Burst in length. He's got it. He's absolutely got it. And I like how explosive he is up the arc and he has the length to really build his rush profile in some creative and unique ways. And so that foundation is really exciting as a past rusher. He's twitchy with his upper body. You see him shake and wiggle and, you know, you see an offensive lineman try to strike and he can reduce and dip his shoulder. And now all of a sudden those strikes aren't landing, which is awesome. He's more firm against the run than you expect. 242 pounds, like, and don't don't get me wrong. There's limitations there. But I was impressed with his ability to play with some extension to be firm, to have some good contact balance. He's a very tenacious player. You like the motor, the competitive temperament is really good. And I'll just say this, like his high level reps are high level. There's some big time flashes here. There's some concerns which we'll talk about in a second. But when you see him at his best, the guy can really go. And there's a lot of traits that are appealing that that play at the next level. What concerns are there about forecasting Joshua Joseph's out of Tennessee? Well, for all the appeal that he has in terms of burst and length, I don't think he has natural bend at the top of his rush. And so some guys with this type of profile can just kind of run circles around people. But I don't think he's got that ability to really, really bend his hips and naturally turn. And so he's going to have to develop more moves at the top of the up at the top of the rush to get through those angles. Now, the good news is he's got some stuff here. He's got long arms. He's got over 34 inch arms. He's got more power than you expect. And so let's put that all together and become a better sack artist as opposed to just being a really good pressure player. I think you can look at this like his past rush win rate is 21 percent. And he only has nine and a half career snacks as a guy that was for Tennessee, a guy that they prefer to have on the field on those long and late downs. And so I think where he becomes more of a, hey, we're going to get home and finish is if we can work our length with our burst and develop some of those counters of the apex of the rush, that way we can overcome that that bend that we don't have. And look, when you're 242 pounds and you can't really bend, well, that that ability to power through the angle now becomes required and you don't have the mass to really do it. So we have to figure out ways to to grease that angle and use our length a little bit more effectively. And ultimately, he's 242 pounds. So I like the temperament against the run. There's going to be limitations. He's not going to be able to hunker down and set firm edges with consistency against the on Dawkins and Spencer Brown. Like that's just how you have to do it. You have to really what I like to do is really ask myself those types of questions. All right. This skill set, this player. All right. Now you got to do it against, you know, whatever, insert NFL offensive linemen. Do you have a chance? Right? And that's what you have to think about to really get the picture. All right. Let's talk about Reuben Bain. If the bills, if he's at 26, the bills should pick him. I'll tell you that. I don't think he's going to get anywhere near that. All right. Reuben Bain out of Miami, 6 to 263 pounds. Short arms here, 30 and 7, 8. So that's a very unique, that's a very unique situation. Normally these guys, you don't, you don't see them having that short arms, like 32 inch arms. OK, 30 and 7, 8. We're talking sub 31 inch arms. It's kind of weird. 9 and an eighth inch hands. Don't have any athletic testing on him. I'm sure it would be awesome. His career snaps 1,656, 33 and a half career tackles for loss, 20 and a half career sacks, a 2025 pass rush win rate of 23 and a half percent, a 2025 run stuff percentage of 6.9 percent. He is 21 in terms, 22 in September. So why should the bills consider drafting this player or basically why is some team going to draft this player in the top 10? Boy, he's fun to watch, violent and powerful. He just really is. He's a player that dictates reps on his terms. He brings the fight, he controls, he tells you how we're going to play. And he invites you to a brawl and you better show up and punch back or else you're going to be embarrassed. The hand power is exceptional. The hand placement is exceptional. And that's really important for a guy that doesn't have a lot of length and ability to play with extension is having powerful hands, being able to really time and place your hand moves. And he's got a lot of variety, counters on top of counters. And he actually sometimes can use his lack of length to his advantage with how those like those those shorter levers. So there's more of a mechanical advantage. You could see him really generate some force to get his pads clear and get hands off of him. And he blends this power, this violence, this technical piece of his hands. With explosiveness, you know, this guy, guys got juice, he's got changed direction. He's slippery through edges, just a very technical, physical, powerful, explosive dude. And those are guys that go high, right? You just wish he had length. And I think he just works it all together. He works all of the gifts that he does have together to make an impact. And I I I I think sometimes we can like overstate these types of things. But this is a guy that was coached by Jason Taylor. And you just kind of can tell you can just tell there's a level of technique with him and even his running made a key Messador who we'll talk about in our next episode. He's awesome, too. They're just a technical refinement that is notably different than a lot of his peers. And as a run defender, he's a very powerful type edge setter with all the. All the requisite functional strength to be a really good run defender. So what concerns are there about Ruben Bain out of Miami? Well, short arms that reduces his margin for air. It's required for him to be super technical to make sure that he's got a chance to keep his pads clean. And of course, it's, you know, reduces his wingspan as a tackleer, those types of things. I do think he gambles a lot against the run. So he is he is more than powerful enough to set edges and squeeze gaps. But he's definitely a guy that will sell out a little bit and go sell out to make a play and then all of a sudden he's out of his gap and now we've got a crease. Right. So there's some of that that you'll have to live with. And then I do think he's got some some good flexibility in his hips and in his upper body. I think he's got some tightness in his ankle. I don't think the ankles are super flexible. And, you know, when you're talking about being a good pass rusher, you got to get those toes pointed at the quarterback. And I don't think he's very consistent at getting those those feet aligned and then being able to really get that foot to catch outside of his frame and then like plant and pivot off of it. Right. I think there's some some stiffness in those ankles that takes away from that. But this is a first round talent for sure. I think it was a good chance. He's my number one edge rusher and I hope he doesn't go to the Jets, Tollfans or Chiefs. So there you have it. All right, folks, lots of edge rushers. We got more to cover, including some guys that I think are very much in play for the bills like Amalekai Lawrence, Zayan Young and the King, Messador. So we'll get to six more on this final edge preview. We'll tie it all together and then we'll start to get into some prospects at other positions as we get ready for this 2026 NFL draft. All right, folks, that'll do it for us here today. As always, I thank you for being here. I kindly ask that you share, subscribe, rate and review. Have a great rest of your day. Go Bills and I look forward to catching up with you again real soon.
