What’s More Likely: Rich Talks Rams, Cowboys, Raiders, Bears, Bucs, Eagles, Jets and More

What's More Likely turned into a referendum on the first round, with Rich, Chris Brockman, and TJ Jefferson hashing out Ty Simpson's draft slot, the Micah Parsons trade in hindsight, and which New York fan base woke up happiest the morning after night one.

The Ty Simpson question drew the most heat. Asked whether Simpson at thirteen this year or Michael Penix Jr. in 2024 was the more head-scratching first-round quarterback selection, Brockman went Penix. Rich went the other direction and refused to soften it. "It's about the position and the location of their pick," Rich said. "If Ty Simpson had the entire world saying about him what Dan Orlovsky said about him, if he had a resume of significance, we wouldn't be batting an eyelash." Rich pushed the logic further: if Simpson were truly that good, the Jets would have taken him second overall. "Why didn't he go second? Because he's not. That's why I'm saying it's about the player."

The room moved on with Brockman pointing out that Penix is already nursing a knee issue, an injury history that drove some of the original concern about his draft stock.

On the Cowboys, the panel converged. Asked whether Jerry Jones now looks like a genius for trading Micah Parsons or whether the deal still feels questionable, Rich landed in the middle. "They've done a very good job of turning this lemon into lemonade so far," Rich said, ticking off Rashan Gary, Kenny Clark, Quinnen Williams, the Malcolm pick from the original first-rounder, and Caleb Downs as cumulative returns from the trade tree. He stopped short of calling it genius and flagged the way the deal originally surfaced as a separate problem. "You shook my hand in my office, all right, that's not genius," Rich said.

Value picks split three ways. Rich liked the Bears landing Dylan Feeney as a plus-nine value relative to Daniel Jeremiah's board. He noted the Jets got Omar Cooper Jr. at thirty against a seventeenth-overall ranking, a plus-thirteen value, and that Tampa Bay's selection of Ruben Bain at fifteen sat eight spots higher than where the board had him.

On the New York fan base question, Rich went Jets. He pointed to the trio of David Bailey, Kanyon Sadeeq, and Omar Cooper Jr. and to a structural milestone on the horizon. "If the Jets hold on to all three of their first-round draft choices, they will be the first team in NFL draft history to have three first-round picks and use them in two straight years," Rich said.

The segment closed on Ohio State's first-round quartet, with Rich picking Carnell Tate over Sonny Styles, Caleb Downs, and Ar'vell Reese for Rookie of the Year because the receiver does not have to split a vote three ways on defense.