Louisville football podcast: Mekhi Becton just beginning of Cards NFL potential

The Big Red Podcast returned to discuss Mekhi Becton’s big night and how he’ll fit with the Jets as well as look ahead to how many Louisville football players could be drafted in 2021.

Louisville stars being drafted to play in the Big Apple has been a trend over the last month. Just a little under two weeks ago, Louisville basketball stars Jazmine Jones and Kylee Shook went back-to-back in the 2020 WNBA Draft to the New York Liberty – while on Thursday night, Mekhi Becton joined them when the New York Jets took him 11th overall in the 2020 NFL Draft.

It seems like an eternity since we’ve had live sports, but thankfully the WNBA and NFL Draft have supplied us the much-needed content. As always, the NFL Draft was a spectacle to behold – but for reasons never seen before.

The in-home draft room setups that ranged from small offices to a $225 million yacht, celebrations with family at home, girlfriends being dominated by Mom’s, the meme’s & gifs, the sad stories, wifi delays for commentators, weird people (and good boys) in coaches’ houses – all of it was amazing.

You name it and it probably happened during this year’s draft, the first to ever be held remotely. While we would’ve loved to have seen Becton take the boat across the water at one of Las Vegas’ most notorious hotels, it was almost even better to get to see him and all of the other players’ rawest moments at home.

As Alex Stengel and I discussed during this week’s episode of the Big Red Louie Podcast (which you can listen to below or anywhere you get your podcasts) we’ve known for quite some time that Becton was going to be a first-rounder. From the day he stepped on campus his size, athleticism, and pure dominance was evident and thanks to one year with Dwayne Ledford, Becton was able to take that last step in becoming an NFL left tackle.

The “flagged” combine sample and weight issues may have caused Becton to fall a bit, but it didn’t take away from the celebration with his family after he was drafted at no. 11 and it actually put him a spot to succeed right away.

Presley Meyer spoke with The Jets Press this week about Becton’s fit in New York, and it sounds like he’ll be the starter day one and will help an offense that features former top 10 pick, Sam Darnold, at QB as well as star running back Le’Veon Bell. We saw what he did for Louisville’s running offense in 2020, allowing just one sack while mauling grown men like it was nothing. I expect that same type of play, even in the NFL.

Read more: How Mekhi Becton fits in New York 

Part of the fun of the Draft is looking into the future, and shortly after the draft, I wrote about the 2021 Draft which could feature several Louisville football players being drafted. Believe it or not, Scott Satterfield’s roster will feature a variety of players who have every opportunity in the world to become high draft picks next season – none more so than the players listed here.

Louisville’s offense was one of the biggest surprises in all of the ACC last season as quarterback Micale Cunningham’s emergence led to huge seasons for Tutu Atwell and Dez Fitzpatrick while Javian Hawkins had a season for the record books.

Think about it. All of the records and stats set last season were just in the first year of Scott Satterfield with players he wasn’t even sure what he’d get. The offense continued to push the envelope each and every week, getting better and better – regardless of opponent. This season, despite not having a traditional off-season, Alex and I both expect the offense to get even better and lead to more draftable players.

As always, you can check out the BRL Podcast anywhere podcasts are found, and don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share!