March 9, 2022 • 26 mins
Scott Bair, Tori McElhaney and Kris Rhim react to news that Calvin Ridley has been suspended for at least the 2022 season for violating the NFL’s gambling policy, breaking down how it impacts the Falcons offseason, including the importance of re-signing Russell Gage and whether this changes the odds the Falcons take a receiver at No. 8 overall in the 2022 NFL Draft. Timecodes: (00:00:00): Intro, initial thoughts on Ridley news (00:02:57): How Ridley suspension impacts Falcons salary-cap space (00:07:22): How loss of Ridley as a player or trade asset impacts Falcons offseason plan (00:15:34): Is it more important to re-sign Russell Gage? (00:21:16): Should Falcons now take WR at No. 8 overall? Welcome to Falcons Final Whistle – an Atlanta Falcons postgame podcast during the season and that shifts gears in the offseason and answers a pressing question about the team’s future each week through free agency, the NFL Draft and the offseason program. Join Atlanta Falcons Insiders Scott Bair, Tori McElhaney and Kris Rhim as they break down the hottest topics surrounding the Atlanta Falcons and how they can impact the team’s success. Like and subscribe to join us for the lively debate on Falcons Final Whistle.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
What's up everybody, and welcome to another edition of the
Falcons Final Whistle Podcast. I'm Scott Bear inside the Atlanta
Falcons headquarters and Flower. Yeah we're back, people back together.
Ye this morning it was good, no joke. Guys. The
Atlanta Falcons Cafeteria, Luget fan services, they know what they're doing.
(00:31):
We had some caso today for lunch, full epic fiesta.
Really yeah, I know you all came on to listen
to us talk about caso, but you know, and we're
back off the rails in one minute again like a tradition.
But nonetheless it was Chris this time. It was he
started talking about fancy food and it was delicious. Uh,
(00:53):
enjoyed it. Anyway. We didn't come on just to give
you a food review. I could yo, yeah for sure,
um and they'd get several stars, probably five. But nonetheless,
we are here to talk about the news of the week. Yeah.
Really what happened on Monday afternoon that Falcons wide receiver
Calvin Ridley has been suspended and definitely at least through
(01:14):
the twenty twenty two season for violating the NFL's gambling policy. Nonetheless,
he's going to be unavailable to the Falcons for the
twenty twenty two season, and that's what the focus of
this podcast is going to be. We already know what happened.
Now the discussion is what happens next? How does this
impact the Falcons? How has it impacted the Falcons. It's
(01:35):
been a crazy turn of events. For how long have
has Calvin Ridley been the topic of are they going
to trade him? Or are they not going to a
trade him? Now they're obviously definitely not going to trade him,
and they're left with somebody who is still with the team,
but again suspended and unavailable to the team going into
twenty twenty two. It all happened in a whirlwind tory. Yeah,
(01:58):
you know, over the course of a Monday afternoon, and
maybe it broke the internet. I don't know. It definitely
felt that way because we're in this little microcop Yeah right. Also,
I just hit my head on the back of a cabinet.
So if I start, if I start talking crazy, that's crazy.
That's it. But no, I went into yesterday thanking we're
recording this podcast on Tuesday, So the Calvin stuff happened
(02:18):
on Monday. I went into Monday thinking that I'm coming
back from the combine, I'm gonna eat healthy, maybe eat
something green like a salad maybe, and I the Calvin
news drops and breaks and I end up eating a
pint of ice cream for lunch. Shout out Ben and
Jerry's Milk and Cookies sponsor me at Tory Underscore Machelany.
(02:39):
But no, on a serious note, this was really really
big news in terms of where the Falcons are at
this point in the twenty twenty two offseason and where
they're going. Just kind of looking at the salary cap,
which is something that I've been looking at, gosh, every
single day for the last month and a half. The
main thing you need to know about how this affects
(02:59):
the cap is is that Calvin Ridley was on the
books for eleven point one million in twenty twenty two.
That was his cap hit, and essentially, with him suspended
for the twenty twenty two season, that money tolls, which
ultimately means that that eleven point one million dollars is
off of the Falcons books. So if you were to
(03:19):
go on places like over the Cap or spot rack
right now, whereas the Falcons before this news broke, we're
seven million dollars over the cap They now have three
point three seven five million in cap space and we've
got a week until the start of the league year.
And that's kind of where they are and how this
has changed things for them just in that scope, if
(03:42):
we're just talking money, and in terms of the uncertainty
at the wide receiver spot, it was always there, right Chris,
that weren't very many guys under contractor you wouldn't know
if Calvin was going to be here or not in
terms of the trade speculation that was going all over
the place. But receivers, there aren't very many under contract
at this point. No, Yeah, the receiving corps in dire need.
(04:05):
It's barren and Tory story actually just made me remember
that I forgot to take my chicken breasts off the freezer.
But you know, that's I guess it's story for a
different day, for dinner to night. I just kind of
kicking myself right now. I don't know what dinner, but
let's stay on topic. But I just had to say
that all loud because I was kicking myself. But yeah,
the Falcons only have Frank Darby on contract next year
(04:30):
as a pass catcher, as a guy who caught a
pass in twenty twenty one, they have Alamida Alamada is
a kiss who's a restricted free agent and um as
you know restricted meaning you know you give him a
tender and he was undrafted. So that the Scott pointed
to me yesterday in my story, uh that when when
you're an undrafted free agent, you can you can do
the tender for the original round, but you wouldn't get
(04:51):
any compensation if Zakis is signed. And then there are
a couple of guys who have fucking signed to futures
contracts who have had who one who's had a stint
in the end fell and others who others who played
on special teams and another in the Canadian Football Football League.
So it's safe to say the Founcks receiving corps is
it looks very different than it did two and a
(05:12):
half three years ago. And it might be you know,
right now as it looks amongst the bottom of the
bottom of the league in terms of the players, quite barren,
quite barren, quite not good. But I think that I
think the way to look at it too is kind
of like, regardless of what happened with with Calvin situation,
there were always reports that that he might have been
(05:32):
on the way out and regardless, so you would think
that that Arthur Smith and terrified. No, we're prepared for
the possibility of him not being or not in this situation,
but the possibility of not being here. So while the
receiver room was completely different, like you said, it's barren
that might be the worst in the league at the moment.
They have a lot of time to figure things out
(05:55):
and hopefully we'll have a bit of cap space to
do it with. You know, if you think you can
extend the right guy's restructure the right guys, you hope
that you have that kind of money to be able
to rebuild it the way you want to, at least
over the course of the next two years. Right, And yep,
for sure. And I don't want to go into what
we might get in later, but yeah, yeah, So we're
gonna over the course of this podcast, we're gonna kind
(06:17):
of go over how the Calvin Ridley news changes the
outlook of the twenty twenty two off season, whether it
does or not, what this might mean for the possibility
of Russell Gage returning to the Falcons, increased decrease remain
the same, and in light of the news, how high.
Are you drafting wide receiver? And there's some mock drafts
out there that thick um rate could be used on
a pass catcher. The Falcons have used passed the first
(06:40):
round draft picks on pass catchers quite a few times. Yeah,
they've landed a lot of pretty talented guys. Yeah yeah,
so long it's almost the opposite of pass rusher, it
seems lately. Yeah, a good point a bunch of star
quality type of guys. But anyway, we are going to
get into all those topics, but before we do, a
big thank you to our sponsor Microsoft, Windows eleven, the
(07:02):
official operating system of the NFL and the Atlanta Falcons.
The all new Windows eleven is here to bring you
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Windows dot com. So let's dive into the first topic,
(07:22):
and it's the most general of all of them. How
does this change the outlook of the twenty twenty two
offseason or does it? Maybe that's another amendment y. Yeah, Now,
first off, the way you said, so this question's a
little general right at dagger Dagger to the heart, Scott.
I think it's a good broad question to launch, Okay, conversation.
(07:46):
It was a compliment. Maybe it was backhanded. Is this
stuff to tell? Here's the thing Chris and I. Yeah,
Oh I saw the look like dang. Okay, Scott, come
after my question. I'm fine. I'm trying to get you
in a good argumentative place. Okay, that is true. Scott
and I are going to fight on a podcast sooner
(08:07):
or later. I keep trying to provoke you, and you
just want to He does. He does keep trying to
provoke me. Um. He was like, just trash talk me
a little bit, and I'm like, I don't operate like that.
I let my work to the trash dome. Yeah. Any who. Okay,
So if you're looking at like how this idea of Calvin,
(08:28):
this Calvin situation changes the outlook of the twenty twenty
two off season, which is the general question that I wrote, Um,
I think there are two schools of thought here. I
think there's one school of thought here where you're like, Okay,
it's really not that bad. Kind of going back to
what Chris was saying, you already knew going into this
twenty twenty two offseason that regardless of what was going
to happen with Calvin Ridley, you had to bring in
(08:51):
wide receivers to a certain degree. And we know that
the we've talked about this before, the Yak Bros, like
we've we've been talking on this podcast as in these
round tables of how the Falcons need some guys who
can just run over some people. And so you're already
thinking that this organization is already out on the ground,
whether it's at the combine or talking when we get
(09:12):
to free agency, talking to free agents who kind of
fit this mold of rebuilding this wide receiver room. And
then you also think about, well, okay, well, Calvin Ridley
provided you capitally, if you know, you have eleven point
one million dollars that's now off the books, and that,
I mean, that's going to help you regardless. The other
school of thought here is that, oh my gosh, it
(09:34):
sucks because you do not get draft capital from what's
going on with Calvin Ridley right now. I fully believe
that if there was a trade setup for Calvin Ridley
that he would be worth I definitely think a second
round pick. I think a team would have been but
would have been willing to take Calvin Ridley and give
up a second round pick for him that is off
(09:56):
the table now. And so it's like, at the exact
same time time of saying like, oh, you got the
cap relief, the Falcons were already in this position where
they were looking for wide receivers at the exact same time,
It's like, but you could have had all of that
and draft capital, which at this point in time is
really important to this organization. It's gold, right, it is.
(10:18):
And I think that that's the if you're looking at
how what changes is that they might have lost a
third second round pick, right, And that's a major factor
considering they already have whatever three in the top fifty eight,
four in the top seventy ish or something like that.
Adding another person that could possibly step in and make
(10:41):
an immediate impact or help flesh out this depth chart.
With that many high picks, you you could go twice
at wide receiver, you could go twice at edge rush. Right.
I think that that is a major loss with this
turn of events, right, because we didn't know if if
he was going to come back, But losing that asset
especially when it was it was a very possible that
they could I have either ended up with a valuable
(11:03):
trade asset or as the last time that we talked
about Calvin, I said, then an excellent football player among
all everything the uncertainty, and the and the and the speculation,
a guy who is a real talent. So from that
side of it, it's a disappointment that through all of
this the Falcons won't get anything additional from it outside
of the cap relief. Now, the cap relief isn't nothing
(11:26):
because they're now capped compliant at least, and there still
moves to be made. But I think if you're the Falcons,
this kind of everything was out of their control. He
was not on this team. He was on a non
football injury and that is the that's the loss that
you couldn't really factor into this whole thing. Yeah, I
guess I'm wondering in terms of their outlook is like,
(11:47):
how are they going to look to rebuild the wide
receiving corps because, like you said, Calvin is not like
Calvin is really good. Is hard and hard to There's
not a long list of guys better than than playing receiver,
and think Calvin Ridler, Julio before him, right, or Julio
before him. So are you looking to sign someone in
free agency? Are you looking to build through the draft?
(12:10):
And I think, like you mentioned with with Calvin before
to you with the second round pick, I think I
think even you see the for example the Eagles, for example,
we have three first round picks this year, and one
of their first round picks is because Carson Wentz played
seventy five percent of his snaps. Yep, the Falcons could
have very likely been in a situation where they traded
Calvin for a second round picks that could have turned
(12:31):
into a first based off a play in time because
of this year, So it even could have became that.
So it's really it's really a you know, hurt hurts
you on that sense too, And also I think it
hurts you because when you come back to twenty twenty three,
and let's say Calvin Ridley gets reinstated in twenty twenty
three and he's back on the books for eleven point
one million in twenty twenty three, and you have that
fifth year options still intact. If the Falcons want to
(12:52):
hit the trade market with Calvin as a candidate, I
don't know if you're getting the same of what I
doubt you're getting the same offers as what you would
at this point in time, right. Yeah. And I think
my thought too, is having that that guy that Lamborghini
that at least have told me about that. I always
(13:13):
talk about having that number one guy who draws attention
from from Kyle, who helps, who helps your running game,
that guy out there that forces defenses to think twice
about how they play you. Who That's my thought. Who
is going to be that guy? I don't know if
that guy can be like a Russell Gauge, if he
is that guy that make defense think twice about what
(13:33):
they're doing in coverage it maybe he can become that
guy maybe other people think he is. But is that
going to be through the draft or yeah, are you
going to try to get a young guy through the
draft or maybe sign one that. That's how I look
at it, like, what are they going to do? There's
and it's tough because while there are Jamar Chase is
a great example of somebody that can step in and
wow right away, and Justin Jefferson is another one that's
(13:57):
not altogether frequent. That's pretty rare to get somebody who
can come in and be the game changer Kyle Pits
type of player that doesn't always happen even with the
good ones. So can you be reliant on a rookie
to come in and be somebody who can take legitimate
who's respected enough to take legitimate pressure off of Kyle Pits?
And so yeah, there's a lot of factors in there,
(14:20):
and I think but in terms of it radically changing
that Monday radically change the Falcon's outlook. As much as
I want to debate, I don't think that we can here.
It's not a complete paradigm shift or whatever. So it's
just a matter of how they restock this wide receiver corps,
what they do with that extra space. Eleven million could
(14:41):
be not one receiver but two. Just as we kind
of transitioned here, we are recording this on a Tuesday afternoon.
There's been a lot of activity in the receiver market
in that Chris Godwin and Davanta Adams have been tagged,
Mike Williams has been signed to the Tune of three
for sixty forty is guaranteed, not like the Falcons were
(15:04):
going to be in play for those players. But what
it does is Mike Williams establishes at an early market.
You take two A players, maybe you didn't expect them
to be on the market anyway, but the market keeps shrinking, right,
So those next tier players just got a little bit
more valuable, is all I'm trying to say. So when
you're trying to find that guy in free agency, this
(15:24):
person that we're talking about, you know, it gets a
little complicated and is just resigning Russell Gauge? Is that
the answer? So the next question is does this change
the desire or the need to resign Russell Gauge. I'll
say it does. And here's why. If they go into
next offseason with nobody except Frank Darby who has any
(15:49):
experience in the system, no one to teach other people,
whether it's a veteran import or a young draft pick,
nobody to explain the intricacies of it. Now, everybody just
learned the offense last year, so as possible. But I'm
just saying that I feel like that's a little bit
of a setback because receiver is complicated. Arthur Smith's moves
people everywhere. Russ could be that that type of player
(16:09):
to at least be that peer who can lead this
position group, lead this because there's a new you know that.
I just think that that would be a pro to
signing him back. He's a really good third down receiver,
so in terms of trust you, Matt Ryan trusts him.
He goes to Russ on third down a lot. At
the same time as he like straight up yak bro.
(16:32):
Does he maybe fit a mold of what you think
of when you think of a J. Brown, or you
think of some of the physicality that the Titans played
with under Arthur Smith. I don't know, but that's that's
my vote for why I think it's more important to
sign him than it was yesterday. Yeah. No, I I
agree that it does change your outlook, and I think
it puts more weight on that decision of what you
(16:52):
do with the wrestling gait. I also think just to
throw another curveball and there. I also think that it
changes the way that you view Cordill Patterson as a
free agent. I think you look at both the situation
of Cordarell Patterson and Russell Gage and you're like, in
the exact same breath kind of being like, these are
two guys that meant a lot to our offense. Last year.
The market value is not going to be astronomically high,
(17:15):
and we can make this work if you're the Falcons, Like,
I don't see why not. And I even was just thinking,
I think it honestly for me, even though you're looking
at a wide receiver room, we know the impact that
Cordarell Patterson had on this offensive unit. He's a pass
(17:36):
catcher two. And I think that both of those guys,
it almost enhances their chances of being brought back when
you have one some cap relief and two your wide
receiver number one from training camp twenty twenty one is
(17:56):
no longer around. And I don't know. I do think
it changes the outlook of both of them. I really do. Yeah,
I think it. I think it changes it and and
I think all the reasons that you point out are
valid in terms of having a guy in there who
knows the system and understands the blocker room and shoot,
understands what's good in the in the food court or
things like that. But I mean, I think at the
(18:18):
end of the day, you know, it's the NFL, so
you can you can bring someone in here who's gonna
gonna adjust to a new system, who can who can play,
who can play here, who can adjust it? It's their professionals. Yeah,
I do. I just think with with the Russ, I
think it comes down to what do you value more?
Is it do you value the trust factor? Do you
value or do you want to just clean house and
(18:40):
try to bring in guys you want? Yeah, you want.
This is an opportunity where you could say, right now,
we're just gonna clean house, bringing all guys that we want.
I think I think it depends on where they see
Russ's talent, like how good do they think Russell Gage
is and if they think that it can be replicated,
Like do you think that you can replicate Russell Gage's
(19:02):
production with somebody who's cheaper. I personally think you can,
Like I think you can go out and find someone
who can do what he did. Yeah, it's it's a
matter of where his market value sits. And for as
much as we're talking about that, there are difficulties in
reshaping this position group, there are also opportunities here that
they don't have any contractual burdens from the previous regime
(19:24):
about what type of receivers that that group liked versus
this group, So you can go out and you can
get maybe some mid level guys you can take. They're
not going to spend that eleven million dollars from really
on to whiteouts, but you can split it in half
and get two quality players, or right, you can go
use that money on somebody that better fits your system.
And to that point, you think, all right, well, if
(19:44):
they're going to clean house and they're gonna start fresh,
then how many times have I said Emmanuel Sanders on
these podcasts? But I think like a player like that,
who can come in and steady a room, you know,
a good kind of culture fit, who can establish and
set a tone even if he's not gonna catch eleven
(20:05):
hundred yards. Um, I think all those things are interesting.
So my first thought, and I still kind of stand
by it, is hey, look, Rusk has a lot of
pluses there. But I do see Chris's point too that
it's a really unique you know that you can go
out and get guys of skill sets that you want
right and kind of start over in that regard. And
also I'm not trying to say that maybe they don't
(20:26):
want Russ. He might be a guy that they do like. Yeah, sure,
but again, this is an opportunity to do that. Yeah,
these are all hypothetical conversations for sure. So another hypothetical
here is that here we go when you have transition transition.
I'm just gonna say that, just transition transition. So Scott
puts in my articles when I need a transition, I
(20:48):
think he just rides in all caps of transition. When
you look at um the NFL draft and what they
might do there, I think it's pretty Beast're gonna draft somebody, right, Well,
you would hope, wouldn't you play? Okay, draft Chris Ram
with the number eight overall pick a real I have
(21:11):
a real problem just in my general life of talking
about things that I'm thinking about in my head and
I clue no one into I just did that. Sometimes
Scott just starts talking and I'm like, I don't know,
I have no idea where you're asks what's going on? Well,
let's get more specific. At number eight overall, increased decrease
remain the same taking a wide receiver at that spot.
(21:32):
I don't think it changes as much of anything in
terms of I mean, I'm still team taking a cornerback,
that is I am. After going to the combine, I
feel good about taking a cornerback at number eight. I
like Sauce. I like Sauce. I'm not sure he's gonna
be there. I know. I don't think he's gonna be
there after the combine. That's the problem. So if Sauce
isn't there, I know. I just recently read the Athletics
(21:57):
Dane Burglar's number his third mock draft, and he had
Kyle Hamilton's going to the Falcons at number eight, but
he did add a sentence at the end where he
said that at number eight, he can also see Ohio
States Garrett Wilson making a lot of sense for the Falcons.
And it's like, Okay, that's interesting too. But I'm I'm
(22:17):
not I'm I can't get past like I can't look
at the first round of this draft and not go
defense for the Falcons. I just can't um as as
I think we've talked about before in other ideas, I
think the Falcons have four picks in the top seventy five.
So you got eight forty three fifty eight seventy four
(22:38):
I think, and so I think you can come out
of that and you can get you can get a
good receiver in that in those four picks, not even
just receiver there. I think most mock drafts have like
eight to nine edge rushers or linebackers in the top
in the in the first thirty two. And not all
those guys are gonna go first round. So you might
(22:59):
get some of those guys sex. So if you want
to go a receiver, if you want to go if
you want to go edge rusher, I don't know about quarterback.
I wouldn't. I don't know quarterback. But if you go
receiver or edge rusher, I think you could. You know,
te Higgins was drafted in the second round. I think
you can get you can especially you saw what nine
guys run sub for four. Yeah, these guys are this
is a good crop of receivers. So but I do
(23:21):
think that when you look at someone we go to
talk about yak bros and something like that, you look
at Treylon Burkes, it's like this is a this seems
like a yak bro. Yeah. Also, you gotta think about
it too, how keen are the Falcons on moving up
or moving down? Right? You know, like if they need
more capital or they want or they have a guy
(23:41):
that they know they want, who's the say they don't
move up or move down, or move into the first round,
first round with those picks. Yeah for a second, for
a second, especially because if they're in the late twenties,
let's say Burks somehow floating around there and they can
get in late twenties, that that team is really only
dropping a few picks because the Falcons have a relatively
(24:02):
early second round pick plus picking up something else of
great value. I'm always of the belief that when you're
in this position as a roster, you want as many
swings as possible. Agree, But it's just an option. It's
an option that having these assets gets going back to
the looping, back to the start of this thing, man,
like yet another asset would have been obviously beneficial here. Um.
(24:23):
I just think this is in general, the draft for
the Falcons right now is not a position that I
think most people would would it be, like, right in
the situation that there, yeah, nah, is a difficult position.
Like what even as I'm talking about it, I say
one thing and I'm thinking, like, well, that's the thing
(24:44):
is there are so many anything freaking needs on this
twenty twenty two roster. They have so many needs that
it's like you could go any which way, shape or form,
and I'm like, okay, there's a solid argument for doing
that exactly. So I don't know. I mean, I I
think me personally right now, as I'm said here, I
would say no to drafting a receiver at number eight,
(25:04):
But I'm not saying no to drafting a receiver with
either of those two second round picks right right, or
or going up you know, or one late yeah yeah,
or moving on the draft board to get what you
want with this. Russell Wilson to Denver News, I think
it makes that this is more draft talk, but it
makes that number eight spot in terms of trading down
because before you want to get above Denver to quarterback.
(25:28):
Now they have theirs, that need isn't quite as strong anymore.
But that's a topic for another podcast. We're gonna have
quite a few of these moving forward. We have towards
free agency and the draft, so you know, stay tuned,
Rate Review, subscribe, all that fun stuff, and we will
talk to you guys. Gotsh the next time we do it,
it's gonna be knocking on free agency's door. Yeah, that'll
(25:49):
be what we talk about. I'm sure all of next pod. Yeah, man,
talk to you guys. Next week, and never better. Man
(26:16):
be the best, that the best
What's up everybody, and welcome to another edition of the
Falcons Final Whistle Podcast. I'm Scott Bear inside the Atlanta
Falcons headquarters and Flower. Yeah we're back, people back together.
Ye this morning it was good, no joke. Guys. The
Atlanta Falcons Cafeteria, Luget fan services, they know what they're doing.
(00:31):
We had some caso today for lunch, full epic fiesta.
Really yeah, I know you all came on to listen
to us talk about caso, but you know, and we're
back off the rails in one minute again like a tradition.
But nonetheless it was Chris this time. It was he
started talking about fancy food and it was delicious. Uh,
(00:53):
enjoyed it. Anyway. We didn't come on just to give
you a food review. I could yo, yeah for sure,
um and they'd get several stars, probably five. But nonetheless,
we are here to talk about the news of the week. Yeah.
Really what happened on Monday afternoon that Falcons wide receiver
Calvin Ridley has been suspended and definitely at least through
(01:14):
the twenty twenty two season for violating the NFL's gambling policy. Nonetheless,
he's going to be unavailable to the Falcons for the
twenty twenty two season, and that's what the focus of
this podcast is going to be. We already know what happened.
Now the discussion is what happens next? How does this
impact the Falcons? How has it impacted the Falcons. It's
(01:35):
been a crazy turn of events. For how long have
has Calvin Ridley been the topic of are they going
to trade him? Or are they not going to a
trade him? Now they're obviously definitely not going to trade him,
and they're left with somebody who is still with the team,
but again suspended and unavailable to the team going into
twenty twenty two. It all happened in a whirlwind tory. Yeah,
(01:58):
you know, over the course of a Monday afternoon, and
maybe it broke the internet. I don't know. It definitely
felt that way because we're in this little microcop Yeah right. Also,
I just hit my head on the back of a cabinet.
So if I start, if I start talking crazy, that's crazy.
That's it. But no, I went into yesterday thanking we're
recording this podcast on Tuesday, So the Calvin stuff happened
(02:18):
on Monday. I went into Monday thinking that I'm coming
back from the combine, I'm gonna eat healthy, maybe eat
something green like a salad maybe, and I the Calvin
news drops and breaks and I end up eating a
pint of ice cream for lunch. Shout out Ben and
Jerry's Milk and Cookies sponsor me at Tory Underscore Machelany.
(02:39):
But no, on a serious note, this was really really
big news in terms of where the Falcons are at
this point in the twenty twenty two offseason and where
they're going. Just kind of looking at the salary cap,
which is something that I've been looking at, gosh, every
single day for the last month and a half. The
main thing you need to know about how this affects
(02:59):
the cap is is that Calvin Ridley was on the
books for eleven point one million in twenty twenty two.
That was his cap hit, and essentially, with him suspended
for the twenty twenty two season, that money tolls, which
ultimately means that that eleven point one million dollars is
off of the Falcons books. So if you were to
(03:19):
go on places like over the Cap or spot rack
right now, whereas the Falcons before this news broke, we're
seven million dollars over the cap They now have three
point three seven five million in cap space and we've
got a week until the start of the league year.
And that's kind of where they are and how this
has changed things for them just in that scope, if
(03:42):
we're just talking money, and in terms of the uncertainty
at the wide receiver spot, it was always there, right Chris,
that weren't very many guys under contractor you wouldn't know
if Calvin was going to be here or not in
terms of the trade speculation that was going all over
the place. But receivers, there aren't very many under contract
at this point. No, Yeah, the receiving corps in dire need.
(04:05):
It's barren and Tory story actually just made me remember
that I forgot to take my chicken breasts off the freezer.
But you know, that's I guess it's story for a
different day, for dinner to night. I just kind of
kicking myself right now. I don't know what dinner, but
let's stay on topic. But I just had to say
that all loud because I was kicking myself. But yeah,
the Falcons only have Frank Darby on contract next year
(04:30):
as a pass catcher, as a guy who caught a
pass in twenty twenty one, they have Alamida Alamada is
a kiss who's a restricted free agent and um as
you know restricted meaning you know you give him a
tender and he was undrafted. So that the Scott pointed
to me yesterday in my story, uh that when when
you're an undrafted free agent, you can you can do
the tender for the original round, but you wouldn't get
(04:51):
any compensation if Zakis is signed. And then there are
a couple of guys who have fucking signed to futures
contracts who have had who one who's had a stint
in the end fell and others who others who played
on special teams and another in the Canadian Football Football League.
So it's safe to say the Founcks receiving corps is
it looks very different than it did two and a
(05:12):
half three years ago. And it might be you know,
right now as it looks amongst the bottom of the
bottom of the league in terms of the players, quite barren,
quite barren, quite not good. But I think that I
think the way to look at it too is kind
of like, regardless of what happened with with Calvin situation,
there were always reports that that he might have been
(05:32):
on the way out and regardless, so you would think
that that Arthur Smith and terrified. No, we're prepared for
the possibility of him not being or not in this situation,
but the possibility of not being here. So while the
receiver room was completely different, like you said, it's barren
that might be the worst in the league at the moment.
They have a lot of time to figure things out
(05:55):
and hopefully we'll have a bit of cap space to
do it with. You know, if you think you can
extend the right guy's restructure the right guys, you hope
that you have that kind of money to be able
to rebuild it the way you want to, at least
over the course of the next two years. Right, And yep,
for sure. And I don't want to go into what
we might get in later, but yeah, yeah, So we're
gonna over the course of this podcast, we're gonna kind
(06:17):
of go over how the Calvin Ridley news changes the
outlook of the twenty twenty two off season, whether it
does or not, what this might mean for the possibility
of Russell Gage returning to the Falcons, increased decrease remain
the same, and in light of the news, how high.
Are you drafting wide receiver? And there's some mock drafts
out there that thick um rate could be used on
a pass catcher. The Falcons have used passed the first
(06:40):
round draft picks on pass catchers quite a few times. Yeah,
they've landed a lot of pretty talented guys. Yeah yeah,
so long it's almost the opposite of pass rusher, it
seems lately. Yeah, a good point a bunch of star
quality type of guys. But anyway, we are going to
get into all those topics, but before we do, a
big thank you to our sponsor Microsoft, Windows eleven, the
(07:02):
official operating system of the NFL and the Atlanta Falcons.
The all new Windows eleven is here to bring you
closer to what you love, including amazing, super duper awesome
sauce podcast like this one Atlanta Falcons Final Whistle. Learn
all about the awesome new features of Windows eleven at
Windows dot com. So let's dive into the first topic,
(07:22):
and it's the most general of all of them. How
does this change the outlook of the twenty twenty two
offseason or does it? Maybe that's another amendment y. Yeah, Now,
first off, the way you said, so this question's a
little general right at dagger Dagger to the heart, Scott.
I think it's a good broad question to launch, Okay, conversation.
(07:46):
It was a compliment. Maybe it was backhanded. Is this
stuff to tell? Here's the thing Chris and I. Yeah,
Oh I saw the look like dang. Okay, Scott, come
after my question. I'm fine. I'm trying to get you
in a good argumentative place. Okay, that is true. Scott
and I are going to fight on a podcast sooner
(08:07):
or later. I keep trying to provoke you, and you
just want to He does. He does keep trying to
provoke me. Um. He was like, just trash talk me
a little bit, and I'm like, I don't operate like that.
I let my work to the trash dome. Yeah. Any who. Okay,
So if you're looking at like how this idea of Calvin,
(08:28):
this Calvin situation changes the outlook of the twenty twenty
two off season, which is the general question that I wrote, Um,
I think there are two schools of thought here. I
think there's one school of thought here where you're like, Okay,
it's really not that bad. Kind of going back to
what Chris was saying, you already knew going into this
twenty twenty two offseason that regardless of what was going
to happen with Calvin Ridley, you had to bring in
(08:51):
wide receivers to a certain degree. And we know that
the we've talked about this before, the Yak Bros, like
we've we've been talking on this podcast as in these
round tables of how the Falcons need some guys who
can just run over some people. And so you're already
thinking that this organization is already out on the ground,
whether it's at the combine or talking when we get
(09:12):
to free agency, talking to free agents who kind of
fit this mold of rebuilding this wide receiver room. And
then you also think about, well, okay, well, Calvin Ridley
provided you capitally, if you know, you have eleven point
one million dollars that's now off the books, and that,
I mean, that's going to help you regardless. The other
school of thought here is that, oh my gosh, it
(09:34):
sucks because you do not get draft capital from what's
going on with Calvin Ridley right now. I fully believe
that if there was a trade setup for Calvin Ridley
that he would be worth I definitely think a second
round pick. I think a team would have been but
would have been willing to take Calvin Ridley and give
up a second round pick for him that is off
(09:56):
the table now. And so it's like, at the exact
same time time of saying like, oh, you got the
cap relief, the Falcons were already in this position where
they were looking for wide receivers at the exact same time,
It's like, but you could have had all of that
and draft capital, which at this point in time is
really important to this organization. It's gold, right, it is.
(10:18):
And I think that that's the if you're looking at
how what changes is that they might have lost a
third second round pick, right, And that's a major factor
considering they already have whatever three in the top fifty eight,
four in the top seventy ish or something like that.
Adding another person that could possibly step in and make
(10:41):
an immediate impact or help flesh out this depth chart.
With that many high picks, you you could go twice
at wide receiver, you could go twice at edge rush. Right.
I think that that is a major loss with this
turn of events, right, because we didn't know if if
he was going to come back, But losing that asset
especially when it was it was a very possible that
they could I have either ended up with a valuable
(11:03):
trade asset or as the last time that we talked
about Calvin, I said, then an excellent football player among
all everything the uncertainty, and the and the and the speculation,
a guy who is a real talent. So from that
side of it, it's a disappointment that through all of
this the Falcons won't get anything additional from it outside
of the cap relief. Now, the cap relief isn't nothing
(11:26):
because they're now capped compliant at least, and there still
moves to be made. But I think if you're the Falcons,
this kind of everything was out of their control. He
was not on this team. He was on a non
football injury and that is the that's the loss that
you couldn't really factor into this whole thing. Yeah, I
guess I'm wondering in terms of their outlook is like,
(11:47):
how are they going to look to rebuild the wide
receiving corps because, like you said, Calvin is not like
Calvin is really good. Is hard and hard to There's
not a long list of guys better than than playing receiver,
and think Calvin Ridler, Julio before him, right, or Julio
before him. So are you looking to sign someone in
free agency? Are you looking to build through the draft?
(12:10):
And I think, like you mentioned with with Calvin before
to you with the second round pick, I think I
think even you see the for example the Eagles, for example,
we have three first round picks this year, and one
of their first round picks is because Carson Wentz played
seventy five percent of his snaps. Yep, the Falcons could
have very likely been in a situation where they traded
Calvin for a second round picks that could have turned
(12:31):
into a first based off a play in time because
of this year, So it even could have became that.
So it's really it's really a you know, hurt hurts
you on that sense too, And also I think it
hurts you because when you come back to twenty twenty three,
and let's say Calvin Ridley gets reinstated in twenty twenty
three and he's back on the books for eleven point
one million in twenty twenty three, and you have that
fifth year options still intact. If the Falcons want to
(12:52):
hit the trade market with Calvin as a candidate, I
don't know if you're getting the same of what I
doubt you're getting the same offers as what you would
at this point in time, right. Yeah. And I think
my thought too, is having that that guy that Lamborghini
that at least have told me about that. I always
(13:13):
talk about having that number one guy who draws attention
from from Kyle, who helps, who helps your running game,
that guy out there that forces defenses to think twice
about how they play you. Who That's my thought. Who
is going to be that guy? I don't know if
that guy can be like a Russell Gauge, if he
is that guy that make defense think twice about what
(13:33):
they're doing in coverage it maybe he can become that
guy maybe other people think he is. But is that
going to be through the draft or yeah, are you
going to try to get a young guy through the
draft or maybe sign one that. That's how I look
at it, like, what are they going to do? There's
and it's tough because while there are Jamar Chase is
a great example of somebody that can step in and
wow right away, and Justin Jefferson is another one that's
(13:57):
not altogether frequent. That's pretty rare to get somebody who
can come in and be the game changer Kyle Pits
type of player that doesn't always happen even with the
good ones. So can you be reliant on a rookie
to come in and be somebody who can take legitimate
who's respected enough to take legitimate pressure off of Kyle Pits?
And so yeah, there's a lot of factors in there,
(14:20):
and I think but in terms of it radically changing
that Monday radically change the Falcon's outlook. As much as
I want to debate, I don't think that we can here.
It's not a complete paradigm shift or whatever. So it's
just a matter of how they restock this wide receiver corps,
what they do with that extra space. Eleven million could
(14:41):
be not one receiver but two. Just as we kind
of transitioned here, we are recording this on a Tuesday afternoon.
There's been a lot of activity in the receiver market
in that Chris Godwin and Davanta Adams have been tagged,
Mike Williams has been signed to the Tune of three
for sixty forty is guaranteed, not like the Falcons were
(15:04):
going to be in play for those players. But what
it does is Mike Williams establishes at an early market.
You take two A players, maybe you didn't expect them
to be on the market anyway, but the market keeps shrinking, right,
So those next tier players just got a little bit
more valuable, is all I'm trying to say. So when
you're trying to find that guy in free agency, this
(15:24):
person that we're talking about, you know, it gets a
little complicated and is just resigning Russell Gauge? Is that
the answer? So the next question is does this change
the desire or the need to resign Russell Gauge. I'll
say it does. And here's why. If they go into
next offseason with nobody except Frank Darby who has any
(15:49):
experience in the system, no one to teach other people,
whether it's a veteran import or a young draft pick,
nobody to explain the intricacies of it. Now, everybody just
learned the offense last year, so as possible. But I'm
just saying that I feel like that's a little bit
of a setback because receiver is complicated. Arthur Smith's moves
people everywhere. Russ could be that that type of player
(16:09):
to at least be that peer who can lead this
position group, lead this because there's a new you know that.
I just think that that would be a pro to
signing him back. He's a really good third down receiver,
so in terms of trust you, Matt Ryan trusts him.
He goes to Russ on third down a lot. At
the same time as he like straight up yak bro.
(16:32):
Does he maybe fit a mold of what you think
of when you think of a J. Brown, or you
think of some of the physicality that the Titans played
with under Arthur Smith. I don't know, but that's that's
my vote for why I think it's more important to
sign him than it was yesterday. Yeah. No, I I
agree that it does change your outlook, and I think
it puts more weight on that decision of what you
(16:52):
do with the wrestling gait. I also think just to
throw another curveball and there. I also think that it
changes the way that you view Cordill Patterson as a
free agent. I think you look at both the situation
of Cordarell Patterson and Russell Gage and you're like, in
the exact same breath kind of being like, these are
two guys that meant a lot to our offense. Last year.
The market value is not going to be astronomically high,
(17:15):
and we can make this work if you're the Falcons, Like,
I don't see why not. And I even was just thinking,
I think it honestly for me, even though you're looking
at a wide receiver room, we know the impact that
Cordarell Patterson had on this offensive unit. He's a pass
(17:36):
catcher two. And I think that both of those guys,
it almost enhances their chances of being brought back when
you have one some cap relief and two your wide
receiver number one from training camp twenty twenty one is
(17:56):
no longer around. And I don't know. I do think
it changes the outlook of both of them. I really do. Yeah,
I think it. I think it changes it and and
I think all the reasons that you point out are
valid in terms of having a guy in there who
knows the system and understands the blocker room and shoot,
understands what's good in the in the food court or
things like that. But I mean, I think at the
(18:18):
end of the day, you know, it's the NFL, so
you can you can bring someone in here who's gonna
gonna adjust to a new system, who can who can play,
who can play here, who can adjust it? It's their professionals. Yeah,
I do. I just think with with the Russ, I
think it comes down to what do you value more?
Is it do you value the trust factor? Do you
value or do you want to just clean house and
(18:40):
try to bring in guys you want? Yeah, you want.
This is an opportunity where you could say, right now,
we're just gonna clean house, bringing all guys that we want.
I think I think it depends on where they see
Russ's talent, like how good do they think Russell Gage
is and if they think that it can be replicated,
Like do you think that you can replicate Russell Gage's
(19:02):
production with somebody who's cheaper. I personally think you can,
Like I think you can go out and find someone
who can do what he did. Yeah, it's it's a
matter of where his market value sits. And for as
much as we're talking about that, there are difficulties in
reshaping this position group, there are also opportunities here that
they don't have any contractual burdens from the previous regime
(19:24):
about what type of receivers that that group liked versus
this group, So you can go out and you can
get maybe some mid level guys you can take. They're
not going to spend that eleven million dollars from really
on to whiteouts, but you can split it in half
and get two quality players, or right, you can go
use that money on somebody that better fits your system.
And to that point, you think, all right, well, if
(19:44):
they're going to clean house and they're gonna start fresh,
then how many times have I said Emmanuel Sanders on
these podcasts? But I think like a player like that,
who can come in and steady a room, you know,
a good kind of culture fit, who can establish and
set a tone even if he's not gonna catch eleven
(20:05):
hundred yards. Um, I think all those things are interesting.
So my first thought, and I still kind of stand
by it, is hey, look, Rusk has a lot of
pluses there. But I do see Chris's point too that
it's a really unique you know that you can go
out and get guys of skill sets that you want
right and kind of start over in that regard. And
also I'm not trying to say that maybe they don't
(20:26):
want Russ. He might be a guy that they do like. Yeah, sure,
but again, this is an opportunity to do that. Yeah,
these are all hypothetical conversations for sure. So another hypothetical
here is that here we go when you have transition transition.
I'm just gonna say that, just transition transition. So Scott
puts in my articles when I need a transition, I
(20:48):
think he just rides in all caps of transition. When
you look at um the NFL draft and what they
might do there, I think it's pretty Beast're gonna draft somebody, right, Well,
you would hope, wouldn't you play? Okay, draft Chris Ram
with the number eight overall pick a real I have
(21:11):
a real problem just in my general life of talking
about things that I'm thinking about in my head and
I clue no one into I just did that. Sometimes
Scott just starts talking and I'm like, I don't know,
I have no idea where you're asks what's going on? Well,
let's get more specific. At number eight overall, increased decrease
remain the same taking a wide receiver at that spot.
(21:32):
I don't think it changes as much of anything in
terms of I mean, I'm still team taking a cornerback,
that is I am. After going to the combine, I
feel good about taking a cornerback at number eight. I
like Sauce. I like Sauce. I'm not sure he's gonna
be there. I know. I don't think he's gonna be
there after the combine. That's the problem. So if Sauce
isn't there, I know. I just recently read the Athletics
(21:57):
Dane Burglar's number his third mock draft, and he had
Kyle Hamilton's going to the Falcons at number eight, but
he did add a sentence at the end where he
said that at number eight, he can also see Ohio
States Garrett Wilson making a lot of sense for the Falcons.
And it's like, Okay, that's interesting too. But I'm I'm
(22:17):
not I'm I can't get past like I can't look
at the first round of this draft and not go
defense for the Falcons. I just can't um as as
I think we've talked about before in other ideas, I
think the Falcons have four picks in the top seventy five.
So you got eight forty three fifty eight seventy four
(22:38):
I think, and so I think you can come out
of that and you can get you can get a
good receiver in that in those four picks, not even
just receiver there. I think most mock drafts have like
eight to nine edge rushers or linebackers in the top
in the in the first thirty two. And not all
those guys are gonna go first round. So you might
(22:59):
get some of those guys sex. So if you want
to go a receiver, if you want to go if
you want to go edge rusher, I don't know about quarterback.
I wouldn't. I don't know quarterback. But if you go
receiver or edge rusher, I think you could. You know,
te Higgins was drafted in the second round. I think
you can get you can especially you saw what nine
guys run sub for four. Yeah, these guys are this
is a good crop of receivers. So but I do
(23:21):
think that when you look at someone we go to
talk about yak bros and something like that, you look
at Treylon Burkes, it's like this is a this seems
like a yak bro. Yeah. Also, you gotta think about
it too, how keen are the Falcons on moving up
or moving down? Right? You know, like if they need
more capital or they want or they have a guy
(23:41):
that they know they want, who's the say they don't
move up or move down, or move into the first round,
first round with those picks. Yeah for a second, for
a second, especially because if they're in the late twenties,
let's say Burks somehow floating around there and they can
get in late twenties, that that team is really only
dropping a few picks because the Falcons have a relatively
(24:02):
early second round pick plus picking up something else of
great value. I'm always of the belief that when you're
in this position as a roster, you want as many
swings as possible. Agree, But it's just an option. It's
an option that having these assets gets going back to
the looping, back to the start of this thing, man,
like yet another asset would have been obviously beneficial here. Um.
(24:23):
I just think this is in general, the draft for
the Falcons right now is not a position that I
think most people would would it be, like, right in
the situation that there, yeah, nah, is a difficult position.
Like what even as I'm talking about it, I say
one thing and I'm thinking, like, well, that's the thing
(24:44):
is there are so many anything freaking needs on this
twenty twenty two roster. They have so many needs that
it's like you could go any which way, shape or form,
and I'm like, okay, there's a solid argument for doing
that exactly. So I don't know. I mean, I I
think me personally right now, as I'm said here, I
would say no to drafting a receiver at number eight,
(25:04):
But I'm not saying no to drafting a receiver with
either of those two second round picks right right, or
or going up you know, or one late yeah yeah,
or moving on the draft board to get what you
want with this. Russell Wilson to Denver News, I think
it makes that this is more draft talk, but it
makes that number eight spot in terms of trading down
because before you want to get above Denver to quarterback.
(25:28):
Now they have theirs, that need isn't quite as strong anymore.
But that's a topic for another podcast. We're gonna have
quite a few of these moving forward. We have towards
free agency and the draft, so you know, stay tuned,
Rate Review, subscribe, all that fun stuff, and we will
talk to you guys. Gotsh the next time we do it,
it's gonna be knocking on free agency's door. Yeah, that'll
(25:49):
be what we talk about. I'm sure all of next pod. Yeah, man,
talk to you guys. Next week, and never better. Man
(26:16):
be the best, that the best
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