In honor of the NFL Draft last night, we’re pondering where the Yanks would play on the gridiron.

We’re entering that month-or-so long window where North American sports are hitting their apex. Just this week alone, we saw multiple amazing NBA playoff games between the Knicks and 76ers, a thrilling Nuggets buzzer-beater over the Lakers, and a chaotic Carolina Hurricanes comeback over the Islanders (my apologies to all seven Islanders/Yankees fans). Baseball is obviously underway too. Even golf had its moment in the sun with the Masters.

And yet, the highest-rated sports broadcast of April will still be the NFL Draft, which was held last night in Detroit.

Aside from the the fact that football is the most popular sport in America by a mile, the NFL Draft is special because it can provide instant hope to long-suffering franchises. A team’s destiny can be changed literally the instant that Roger Goodell reads a quarterback’s name off of a placard. More diamonds in the rough can be found in the NFL Draft too—just look at Tom Brady. It makes sense why the Draft is popular.

The best part of the Draft, however, is the end of the ceaseless speculation that permeates the sports media landscape between mid-February and late-April. Allow me to add to that speculation. Here are the positions where I think some Yankees would excel if they got a call from an NFL GM last night and had to change sports.

Let’s get the obvious choice out of the way. Cole clearly has the arm necessary to play quarterback, and this aspect of his game needs no further explanation. What’s more interesting are his “intangibles” — a Draft season phrase that gets used so often it can drive you insane. How many times during a Cole start will you hear the words “perfectionist?”

After said Cole start, you’ll also hear him give a quality interview where he breaks down different pitch sequences and provides us a peek into just how thoughtfully he pitches. It’s also clear from these interviews that he places a premium on preparation. Pitching coach Matt Blake once said to The Athletic that “[Cole]’s probably more prepared than most starting pitchers just in terms of the detail and the type of information he’s looking for on hitters … I wouldn’t say he’s overcomplicating the situation, but when he takes the mound, he’s just very aware of who the opponent is.”

That kind of preparation belies a certain competitiveness common in elite athletes and the same that is necessary for athletes at the pinnacle of sports — say, the ace of the Yankees, or the starting QB of an NFL team. At 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, Cole also represents the “prototypical” quarterback’s build. Finally, he has the exactly correct amount of corniness you want from your quarterback. From “the stakes—they’re high,” to “two stags in a forest,” Cole is always good for a laugh or two at times when he is trying to be profound.

Anthony Volpe – Cornerback

On the defensive side, Volpe would make a great corner. He’s fast, sure, but he also has great footwork. Statcast has him in the 97th percentile in terms of OAA, showing his range. He’s listed as 5-foot-10, 180 pounds—which would be a tad undersized for an NFL cornerback. Volpe could make up for that with his speed, though.

Statcast says Volpe has a maximum sprint of 28.6 feet per second, which translates to 9.53 yards per second. That would mean he runs a 4.20 40-yard dash (without factoring in technique, fatigue, etc.). Please check my math, because I’m skeptical that Anthony Volpe is a an Olympic quality sprinter. However, I am sure that Volpe is fast enough. He’s also shown the ability to make adjustments throughout his career, demonstrating not only the athleticism required to make these adjustments, but the mental awareness to do so.

Originally, I didn’t think Volpe had the requisite outspoken confidence of a cornerback. After all, cornerbacks can be the cockiest players on the football field. They kind of need to be, as they are on islands apart from the rest of the team, trying to prevent some of the most athletic people on the planet from embarrassing them. When you think about it, though, Volpe has exactly the right composure to be an NFL corner. Just as Cole assumed the role of ace of the Yankees with aplomb, Volpe only went and won the Gold Glove his rookie year as starting shortstop of the New York Yankees.

Aaron Judge – Middle Linebacker

Judge actually received offers from Division I schools like Stanford, Notre Dame, and UCLA to play tight end after he graduated high school before (thankfully) choosing to stick with baseball. However, I think he could have made a great middle linebacker as well. At 6-foot-7, 282 pounds, one could argue he’s too big to play linebacker in college. As a good-to-great center fielder with the ability to steal a bag every now and then, I think Judge doesn’t get enough credit for his agility, especially considering his size. I would think the ability to patrol center and track fly balls would translate to the lateral movement necessary to read a running back’s cuts or be a quarterback spy.

The Yankees’ captain also has the requisite wherewithal to be the leader, both tactically and vocally, the leader of a defense. I have to reemphasize just how massive Judge is, too—we can’t let the familiarity a 162-game season (or the weariness of hearing about his size constantly) breeds let us lose sight of just how big Big Aaron Judge truly is. I think those leadership abilities would serve a team better as a linebacker rather than an edge rusher, which he’d also probably be suited to play.

Anthony Rizzo – Wingback

There’s something about Rizzo that makes him seem so anachronistic to me. He’s a beefy (6’3”, 240 lb.) lefty first basemen who chokes up in two-strike counts. He can chase to make contact to avoid striking out and bloop in singles. Most importantly, however, is that he just looks like he belongs in a leather helmet. Can’t you just imagine him in one of those old-timey 1930s NFL reels?

Unlike the wingback, however, there is still room in the modern game for the Anthony Rizzos of the world.

Giancarlo Stanton – Punter

Hear me out! In 2017, maybe Stanton would have been an ideal tight end or linebacker. Seven years and several injuries later, Stanton could rely on a hidden talent to make an NFL team:

In this clip at the 1:03 mark, comedian and former high school classmate Jimmy Tatro explains how awe-inspiring and majestic Stanton’s punts were. They share those qualities with his home runs. A Stantonian blast could just as eloquently describe a booming punt as a bomb home run. At an abstract level, the DH position is kind of the punter of a baseball lineup: a specialist player with the job of launching this ball as far as you can. If the team’s kicker went down, I think Stanton could double in this role at a clutch moment as well. I’ll always remember how he was on fire at the end of the 2021 season—and how he was one of the only Yankees to show up in the 2021 Wild Card Game in Fenway.

Baseball players get a lot of shtick for their perceived lack of athleticism, but I think we should give them more credit. As one of those Yankee fans who mortgages their baseball fandom with being a Jets fan, I’ve often found myself thinking “What if Gerrit Cole could just play quarterback for us?” In any case, we can breathe easy—the endless parade of meaningless football storylines is over under late June, when OTAs start back up.