April 20, 2022 • 34 mins
Scott, Tori and Kris evaluate the state of the Falcons edge rushers and receivers, and how Terry Fontenot and Arthur Smith can strengthen those position groups in the 2022 NFL Draft and beyond. That includes the possibility of using the No. 8 overall pick, or a trade down in the first round on one of those two spots. It also looks at helping those positions over the long haul, as opposed to reaching for a quick fix. Timecodes: (00:00:00): Intro (00:05:05): Edge rusher or receiver with No. 8 overall pick? (00:09:46): Considering Jermaine Johnson, Chris Olave as trade-down targets (00:14:16): Assessing how to fix edge rusher position in NFL Draft and beyond (00:24:20): Assessing how to fix receiver position in NFL Draft, free agency, trades 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. SUBSCRIBE: iTunes: [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/falcons-final-whistle/id1585038333](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/falcons-final-whistle/id1585038333) SPOTIFY: [https://open.spotify.com/show/4d9VGyX5e9OHJ7BFPaqdMH?si=gUaI61sVSvyy2yu5DtBhZw&dl_branch=1&nd=1](https://open.spotify.com/show/4d9VGyX5e9OHJ7BFPaqdMH?si=gUaI61sVSvyy2yu5DtBhZw&dl_branch=1&nd=1) For more Falcons podcasts: atlantafalcons.com/podcasts/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
What's up, everybody, and welcome to another edition of The
Falcon's Final Whistle podcast. I'm Scott Bear alongside Torry mclaney
and Chris rim and loyal listeners. It's been too long, Yeah,
it really has. We've missed you. Have you missed us?
Have you missed us? I hope so at Uh. There
(00:29):
were some combines and owners meetings and big quarterback trade
and a number of different things that kept us more
focused on the website as opposed to the podcast. But
we're back and we're bringing you on this speed train
towards the NFL Draft, which is less than two weeks
away right now. I'm just glad we made it here.
There was one point in the like a couple I
(00:50):
guess it was around the time that Matt Ryan was
traded where I was just like, we're not gonna get there.
We're not gonna get to the draft. We're all just
gonna go to slate for a couple of weeks and
then wake up in will be draft time. That didn't happen, nope,
But instead it's been all mock drafts all the time.
Hopefully you guys have taken a look at the one
that Chris Ram and I put together, which I've boldly
(01:10):
predicted will get thirty two out of thirty two correct
the insight. I'm mad. I am mad though, that you
didn't say the same thing about our mock draft from
two weeks ago. Yeah, because you intentionally sabotaged it with Hey,
now I didn't. It's not sabotage. Hold on. And in
the intro you specifically said that you wanted to do
such a bad job that you would never get asked
(01:32):
back again. That is true. I hate for those of you. Okay,
so those of you who have been following me since
I've been covering like the Falcons. This was even before
I came here. I hate mock drafts with a burning
passion because they just annoy the absolute crap on me.
It's just people have no idea what they're doing. They're
just throwing darts at a wall, just hoping one of
(01:54):
them hits. That's all mock drafts are, and if anyone
thinks any differently, they're lying to themselves. As a minor
programming note, stay tuned next Monday or tomaculate next that
is three Chris and I are doing a mock draft. Yeah,
and then there's gonna be some seven round mocks, which
(02:15):
used to be the bane of everyone's existence because you'd
have to, like blindly just point to a page in
the Athletics Beast Draft Guide, which that is still what
I do. Like, I still just go through and I'm like,
you know what, who works here? And I just look
at what Dane did. No, you just go through a
couple of Pro Football Focus mock draft simulators. You wait
(02:36):
till you get an A from the computer system and
you're good. Yeah. So there's gonna be lots more good
draft conversation coming up as we head towards the big
weekend itself, when the Falcons pick for the first time
at number eight overall. So that brings us to our
question of the week. We've kind of danced around these
(02:57):
points before, and we all know that it's gonna be
best player available, this, that and the other thing. But
we're going to talk about two positions of I don't
want to say weakness, but real uncertainty for the needed
positions of need. Yes, that's a good term. Yeah, for
the Falcons. You all know what it is before we
say it, right, It's edge rusher and wide receiver. Not
(03:18):
only is there not a ton of talent there. There
aren't very many bodies. They'll still have to flesh out
the depth chart and only one major acquisition point left
this offseason to do it, and that is the NFL
Draft coming up. So we're going to break down not
just what they should pick at number eight. We are
going to talk about that. We're also going to going
to give you a lay of the land of both
of those positions and how they can remedy these situations
(03:43):
both in the NFL Draft and as we move forward.
This is not going to be a single year fix.
It's just not possible with the state of the Falcons roster.
And that's okay. Not everything was built in one day,
so we're going to go over all those things. Before
we do that, we do need to give a big
thank you to our sponsor or, Microsoft, Windows eleven, the
official operating system of the NFL and the Atlanta Falcons.
(04:04):
The all new Windows eleven is here to bring you
closer to what you love, like this Falcons Final Whistle podcast.
Learn all about that awesome the awesome new features of
Windows eleven at Windows dot com. So thank you to Microsoft.
We're pumped about that. I think Falcons fans are definitely
pumped about the number eight overall page, and the mail
(04:28):
bag is full of and I know that all of
our timelines are full of questions of which position right,
which position edge rusher, wide receiver, edge rusher, cornerback. But
I thought in our written round table of this, Chris
rim To my Rights brought up a great point that
the who is more important than the what position right,
(04:50):
That it's not just let's go take an edge rusher.
We'll take that guy. It's got to be about who
is there at the time that you're selecting. And number
eight is kind of an interesting bob because it's very
unpredictable whether some of these top level guys are even
going to be there. Yeah, I think when you look
at like the top guys, as I wrote in our
question of the week, like when you look at the
(05:11):
Big four as we as they, I think we should
call them like trademark right, whilst podcast like Aidan Hutchinson,
M Cavon, uh, Jermaine Johnson and and Trayvon Walker. I
think I think the gap between whoever's the fourth in
that group, I think it's in mock drafts and projections.
(05:34):
It's been Jermaine, whoever's the fourth in that group, I
think there's a bigger gap between him and the next
guy than there is between the fourth receiver whoever you
want to say as Johan Dodson or uh maybe Trail
and Burkes, whoever you want to say that it is
a bigger gap between that guy and say like George Pickens.
So I think if you if you're at and and
(05:56):
Pickins might be multiple down the line because of the
you know, small sample size. So I think whoever you
pick at eight, like Scott was saying, it matters more
about who's there do you reach for? Who's whoever you
consider the fifth guy, which I don't know, George kar
Laftist or someone like that, or do you want to
(06:17):
say no versus like grabbing a guy like a like
a Garrett Wilson. I think it makes sense in that situation,
but I would still prioritize edge as a position over receiver.
But in that situation, I like Garrett Wilson over Carl Laftis.
But I'm just a guy, it's just my sake, just
a simple man. Terry find nice that makes these decisions.
(06:40):
We don't get paid the big buck. No, I wish
we did. No, I'm kidding, I wouldn't want to be
in that position, um I. So I actually think in
our written portion I also kind of said what Chris did,
but in different terms, where I was just kind of like,
I think, going back to what you were saying about
the top edge rushers and the next round of edge rushers,
(07:02):
there's a bigger gap than there are with receivers. And
because of that, and because if you look at the
lay of the land in terms of who's picking in
the top ten, a lot of those teams need edge rushers.
I think it's more of a possibility that we see
good receivers fall than we do see good edge rushers fall.
And so because of that, I prioritize edge rushers at
(07:25):
number eight. I also cannot, I mean, you cannot look
at this draft and not look at it as a
complete whole. And I think that's what a lot of
people are forgiving, forgetting, is that you cannot overlook having
those two second round picks and what you can do
with that. You can go after two second round receivers
and they're gonna be some pretty good guys that are
still on the board at that point. Or if there's
(07:46):
a specific receiver that falls into the late round of
the late picks of the first round, you have two
second round picks, you have two third round picks. If
you wanted to deal something to get back into the
first round to get the receiver or whoever it is
that you want to do it, if that's what you want,
if you're in love with this guy, do it. I mean,
(08:08):
I think that's the thing is. I can't just sit
here and say, oh, then with the number eight pick,
like they go after this person, this person. It's like
you have to think about the way that the draft,
especially those first three rounds, are going to shake out,
and see kind of what happens in this first round
to understand, Okay, we have these two second round picks,
(08:28):
what do we want to do with them. It's when
you look at the top fifties and the overall rankings
by people smarter and more experienced in this field than us,
that you do see these top four edge dressers pretty high,
and then you kind of generally speaking, see the receivers
in that next tier. Yeah, and then you start thinking about, okay,
(08:51):
so what's the difference, and I'm gonna go down to
trade down rabbit hole for just a little bit. Is
that you think, Okay, well, Garrett Wilson sounds great at eight,
but Chris, if I'm pronouncing his last name, alive A,
sounds really good at fifteen with an extra pick. Right.
(09:12):
But so that's how I feel about the receivers with
the edge rushers, if we're talking about the top four.
I did kind of a who would you make the pick?
Make the call in the last bear mail that I did,
and so many people came with PFF accepted trades saying
that they can get Jermaine Johnson from Florida State and
(09:32):
edge rusher with a trade down, right? Would that scare
you if Johnson is your target. I'm not saying that
he is, But if Johnson is your target at eight,
would you feel comfortable trying to make a play down
and still get him or do you think that that's
too risky. I don't think I would feel comfortable making
a trade down to get him. But yeah, I think
(09:52):
that there are too many needy edge rusher needy teams.
I mean I think that if he's I don't think
Kavon will be there for the Giants. Yeah, And I
think the Giants should take would take Jermaine with either
five or seven. They're probably gonna take offensive line at five,
him at seven. If I think if Kvas there five,
they're probably take him at five. But I think they
take an edge rusher at five or seven, paired with
(10:17):
an old lineman the State or maybe someone else. Yeah,
that's another thing is I think you can't talk about
the edge rushers without also talking about the tackles that
are in this like the top ten. And that's another thing.
I wouldn't be surprised at the bout. I know we're
talking about wide receivers and edge rushers in this question
of the Week because it's you know, the arguably the
(10:38):
Falcon's greatest needs or those superstition groups. But they could
use an offensive tackle and if someone's there, it wouldn't
I know, that's not I've said this before, and I
know it's not a sexy pick, but I don't hate that.
I don't hate them going after an offensive tackle either
at number eight. And you talk about the top four
and somewhat of a drop off, it's seems with an
(11:00):
offensive tackle it's Neil Ekwando Cross and Trevor Penning maybe
floating a little bit underneath that, and you talk about
needing like a real a hole. Trevor Penning seems to
wear that as a badge of honor, right, and Arthur
Smith loves those guys, loves those guys. So so then
if you're not going to get a tackle high, then
how much of a drop off it is there? Uh?
(11:21):
Then there's this the sauce Gardener of it all. Although
it seems like the at least the buzz of those
talking to scouts and presenting, you know, mocks and some
of these reports is that sauce Gardner made almost likely
not be an option at number eight, Right, it seems
like that that's the way it's trending. I could, Yeah,
it seems like the Jets it seemed like they would
(11:44):
take him at four. Yeah, they grabbed the I think
with this conversation too, is like what you were saying
with trading down. I think that the when you think
about the Falcons, they're going to be likely the first
team to take a receiver, and then the team after
them probably won't take a receiver in the in the Seahawk, like,
the next team that will likely take your receiver would
be the Jets. Um and It's like you were saying,
(12:05):
if I can, if the edge guys are going, or
if whoever the fuck was over they are gone, you
can trade down and get a Chris Olave you get,
maybe you'd get Jamison Williams, maybe get one of those
kind of guys. You know, why not, especially if you
can get another big time twenty twenty three pick out,
because because the Jets seem that, at least the way
(12:27):
it looked, the way it seems is like they would
take the best defensive player at four the best offensive
player at ten. I mean, Robert sala is a defensive
minded guy, so maybe they maybe they double dip, but
it seems, you know, you'd want to get Zach Wilson
some help um and you know they kind of have
a guy like Garrett and Elijah Moore with the same
skill set, so maybe they want a bigger guy or
(12:47):
something like that. But yeah, it would seem like trading
down if it works out there, but not kind of
took us down this route. We weren't going there, but
it's popped out in my head like the Jets seemed
like the team that most likely in the before the Falcons,
who could take someone that could alter their plan. Right. Yeah, yeah,
so if if if you're looking for that big white
out that you'd feel a lot more comfortable doing that
(13:11):
for a Lave or somebody in that mid he's not
a mid tier, but in that range. Then trading down
and hoping you can get Johnson at twelve or Johnson
at thirteen or what have you, that seems unlikely, especially
with the scenario that you were painting that I too
am with you that this whole uh this all the
shade being thrown at at Cavan. Yeah, I don't remember.
(13:35):
I don't know that's going to show up on draft day.
Sometimes you get a lot of these. It happens for
Arthur Smith. You get these false narratives and then Arthur,
if you're listening, you converted Scott you have, you get
these false narratives out there. I think that's one. I
think he goes really high. Yeah, and maybe a tackle falls.
But anyway, so it's it's a very interesting thing about
(13:57):
what they can do at eight and what then they
could you later in the draft. Right, But one thing
that we can universally agree upon is that these two
positions need tons of help. So let's just take a
look at the edge rusher spot right now, okay, right,
right now, you have Lorenzo Carter. I'm staring at you, Tory,
because I don't have the answer. Is here on a
(14:17):
one year when he's here on a one year Essentially
everyone is on a one year deal. The amount of
times deal is Heyward, yeah, and Marcus Mariota Mariota yeah. Right.
That's the thing is we write these announcements that go
up on the site, and the amount of times that
I've written so and so is coming from the Bears
of the Lions or the Titans on a one year
(14:38):
deal is I don't even know how many times I've
written that, Right, it's true, but you get familiarity for
a guy who's probably not going to be around very long.
Again that you preserve the financial flexibility that's so yeah,
coveted in twenty twenty three. So, so you have Lorenzo
Carter on one side. I'm looking at in our lads
dot com draft or a depth chart is not mine.
(14:59):
And then you have odd Ogan Daiji at the other
James Voters under contract. Quentin Bell was a practice squad
player I think at this point. Yeah. Also there they
you know, are probably gonna run more of a three
man front with Grady Marlin Davidson to Kwan Anthony Rush
mixed in up front. So you've got all these these
are the pieces that you have. Yeah, this is not
(15:21):
the group that you can go into twenty twenty two with.
It's just not. I'm of the opinion Tory ranked THEA
needs one through five. I would even say that a
second edge rusher or a second receiver is more valuable
than some of these other parties totally if you could
do A one, A one B two A two Z. Right.
So we all seem to agree that that was a
(15:42):
little that was to b. I fixed it. We're back.
I think it's better that way. Then somebody on the
driving in their car and they're like, what that doesn't
not a math major? That don't make no sense. But anyway,
(16:02):
we don't. They need a lot of help. So and look,
we're not going to say who the best option in
the fifth round is, right because we don't really know that.
But when you look at it, that's why I think
ideally it seems to me, and I may say this
when we're talking about the whiteouts too, they need a
premier talent to help here. So if you could get
(16:23):
a Jermaine Johnson type, who I think is just like
scheme fit City in terms of what they like to do,
A bigger guy who can play the run, a strong
player could still get after the quarterback. But then that's
not it, right, So you've got do you need more
than one edge rusher in these in these five quote
unquote premium picks. We're talking to five picks in the
first eighty two. And again, I know when when it's
(16:46):
the same thing, it'll be who over what the third
round two. But I'm just saying, if we're thinking big
picture perspective, given the names that I just listed, do
they have to come out of this draft with more
than one person that can that can contribute. I'm not
ready to pull the trigger on multiple edge drushers in
this draft, um, just because I think you are still
(17:08):
buying your time and I don't think that it's entirely
necessary to fully reach for a guy in the fourth
or fifth round when you have another draft next year
that you could potentially use a higher pick on another
edge dresher. That here's the thing. I'm just really conflicted
(17:28):
about what direction they're going in, and I'm not sold
on multiple edge dreshers just yet. So if I can
just to repeat, Yeah, it sounds to me like you're saying,
don't think of the twenty twenty two draft as a
way to fix the twenty twenty two products. Right. You're wondering,
(17:49):
are they going to look at it as a one
acquisition point in a multi acquisition point, multi year process
of rebuilding the roster, right right? Because that's two separate things.
Because I'm saying, how can they fix the twenty twenty
two issues they have at this position? And you're saying,
I'm that's not a priority for you. Yeah, that's not so.
I'm in the camp of twenty two is a wash,
(18:11):
and I will say that I just don't. I think
you go into tent twenty twenty two single, yes, but
but focus on the big pis you have to look
at twenty three. And that's also why I just wrote
a column that ran today on Tuesday when recording this
podcast about potentially drafting a quarterback this year. I am
team anti drafting a quarterback this year because I think
(18:34):
you're in a better position next year to go after
a quarterback that you want, whether it's trading for him,
getting him on the free agency market and or drafting him.
And I kind of feel the same way about multiple positions.
I don't think it's entirely necessary that you get these
big time guys in right now, especially when you have
projectively over one hundred million dollars in cap space next year.
(18:58):
I kind of look at I kind of look at
everything the Falcons are doing right now as kind of
what you were saying, it's the law. It's a long
haul help overall health of the organization in the franchise.
Then it is fixing what you have in twenty twenty two.
I say, just get through twenty twenty two. It seems
like there's a no. I I think if in terms
(19:20):
of rebuild, something about rebuilding the edge for this year,
I think if Ojabo was there in the second round
and you got Jermaine and the first, yeah, I would
probably take that yeah on a guy who had, you know,
a top fifteen grade just a couple months months ago
before his injury. And obviously it depends on what the
(19:42):
fuckings think about him. But yeah, I don't think you
need to load up on this position and feel like
you have to rebuild the edge. Rusher and defensive line
in this draft. I don't know if I don't think
you want to put all your eggs in one back
ask it in terms of waiting until a year to
(20:03):
get someone or waiting to make the move. But I
do agree that you don't. You don't have to focus
on this year to just transform that that room. But
if you have a shot, an opportunity to take a
guy who had a high, super high grade before an injury,
and you can, and you're a team who's not probably
probably not a title contender in twenty twenty two, and
(20:23):
you can, you can wait for that player to get back,
I feel like, why not when you have two second
round picks, But you might have to miss out on
a receiver if you take Ojabo at forty three. But
if for example, but if if you're thinking about this
as a longer term play, I was actually gonna like
gonna ask you guys if he would be attractive to
(20:44):
you at numbers forty three or if you had to
move up or whatever, given the nature of his injury
and the explosives explosiveness that can be robbed. But I'm
in Chris's camp too, I would definitely go for it
and I'm just looking on the back end of this.
This wasn't part of the script. But also so if
we're saying that, look, they need multiple edge rushers, well
(21:05):
I just took a look at what's who's available in
terms of veteran edge rushers, and there are a ton
of names that we've all heard of who are going
to be available on the market who have experience. Now,
Jason Pierre Paul ain't gonna come play for cheap, Like
there are certain guys that you aren't that you don't
think even if it gets to July, they're gonna be like,
all right, I'm gonna take a two year deal with
(21:27):
the Falcons at this point in my career, right, So
that's not realistic. But you look at a guy like
Carlos Dunlap, right, he's just a big dude. He's thirty three.
Benson Mayo is another guy that could come in. I'm
just throwing names out here. Carl Nasseb is another guy
with some experience. Maybe get you four or five sacks
and he can fill out your depth chart. So then,
because I came in saying and I feel like every
(21:49):
mock draft that I do on PFF, for one of them.
I'm hitting edge rusher twice, three times. I'm falling in
love with this guy, Cameron Thomas from San Diego State,
Nick Benito from Oklaham a month. But you know, I
can throw all these names out there and we can
evaluate them, but we don't know who's going to be
sitting there at eighty two or fifty eight. Right. It's
just that I think there are some intriguing names in
(22:09):
the draft, But when you look back at it, I
think this room needs needs a veteran presence really bad,
and they could add one later on. Even if when
you go to spot spot track or have you say
it that you're not picking from the biggest name in
the group, I still think there's enough out there, and
I think those guys are counting on that second free
(22:31):
agency wave post draft to be able to clean some
of those things up. But they do need one. And
if they're not going to get one at eight, if
the who doesn't match what you the value that like
that you need, then then I think the math changes
a little bit. Then they gotta get a second round
type of talent. Oh yeah, if you don't go edge
in the first round, you have to go edge in
(22:52):
the next three picks period, in my opinion, like I
would say, I would say that too, Yeah, like you
have to go out like you, I don't understand how
you wouldn't go those first three picks and not take
an edge rusher in either the first or the two
in the second. And I feel pretty confident thinking that
they would, just because even if we're looking big picture,
(23:14):
they need somebody, even if he's a bit more developmental
than these top four, at least get him going right.
So and that's another thing, like if you get a
guy in the second round, third round, even that needs
to develop, at least you have the time to do
it right. You have the time to develop him right.
That's the thing is I've been saying those large I
think the Falcons where they are in the organization right now,
like they have an opportunity to be patient. And I
(23:36):
know that's not something that fans want to hear. I
know it's not a fun thing to think about the
fact that your team can be patient in their decision making.
But I do think in a way the Falcons are
in this position that I don't know if a lot
of teams have been in in a few years. I
know the falcons, haven't, you know. Yeah, And they're not.
(23:56):
They're not kind of like chasing the dragon like that.
They're not trying to press to get something that they're
not really talented enough to reach, but they're still striving
for it. It's more of it's not acceptance, but it's
an understanding that, hey, we're going to be competitive, but
we're also going to keep our eye on the big picture, right,
And I think that that is an important thing. So
let's take all these kind of philosophical things that like
that we're talking about and apply it to the wide
(24:18):
receiver spot. Just like I said before, talk about Tory
saying one year deal, one year deal, well, one year
deal for Audent Tate and a Demi or Bird and
Cadaryl Hodge and well and Oz Right who just signed
his restricted free agent contract tender on Tuesday. So you've
(24:39):
got all those people. You have Frank Darby coming back.
This is another one of those things where you gotta
ask somebody, but you don't have to add it at eight.
And the beauty of the receiver class, right is that
when you get to the there's so many options. When
you look at mox Or, you hear people talk about it.
You're like, Okay, is Christian Watson a first round pa
(25:00):
is is Jahan Dots in a second round pick? You know,
there's a lot of these guys that are in this
cluster and you think, oh, he's pretty good, and then
they may move down towards forty three or towards a
spot in the draft you can maybe go up and
grab one that you love. My point is they have
got to infuse talent in this wide receiver room. Yes,
(25:22):
no choice, Yeah, maybe finding ways to do it right.
And it's really nice, uh, with looking at kind of
the big contracts that receivers are signing recently, being able
to get a young guy on a rookie deal, like
that's a really big deal. I think. I think the
wide receiver spot is kind of fascinating too, because Calvin
(25:43):
Ridley still is kind of just there there. Yeah, so
it's like, okay, or is he gonna be here in
twenty twenty three? You have to consider that with the
moves that you make in this year's draft based on
the skill set of a guy like Gary Wilson plays
a lot like Calvin. Do you want be talking about
a j Brown? Uh? And guys like that big physical
(26:04):
receivers who Arthur Smith have had in the past. If
if Calvin is back, for example, do you want two
guys who kind of play similarly in terms of finesse? Uh?
You know quick you know shifty receivers, or do you
want a big physical guy to pair with Calvin or
maybe another guy that you that you get that that
as shifting in that way. And also receivers are maybe
(26:28):
second took quarterback in terms of the most disgruntled position
in the NFL. Whenever you whenever you turn a j
Brown just took Tennessee out of his bio. Uh, he's
not shown up to OTAs that is. It's not crazy.
You know the new CBA players that are centivized to go,
but you know, who knows, maybe he's on the market.
You turn around, someone is gonna be out there. Yeah,
there's gonna like you can bet there's gonna be right,
(26:51):
there's gonna be a disgruntled I mean, I guess not
a superstar anymore, but yeah, there's gonna be a disgruntled
star receiver that you can get. However, you just bet
bet you can bet that is going to happen. So
also keeping that in mind and you can almost bet
that with quarterback too. Yeah, So how do you make
this spot attractive? That's that's also the issue is making
(27:12):
the spot attractive for those guys to come in or
else you're gonna have to pay a boatload of money
to get someone to come here. But again, I think
with the receiver, the fascinating part is how you build that.
And I think how you build it determines whether or
not you think Calvin is back and how you build
around him and Kyle and the skill set that you
(27:34):
want that that Arthur Smith wants to have. It is
receiving room. Yeah, And I think in the receiving room
it has to be more than what they saw last
year because the counter argument is, well, Kyle plays a
lot of X and Y and Z and everywhere else,
and they got Patterson, so the receivers are gonna be
no at not a real argument that if anyone comes
(27:56):
at me and says anything about Kyle and anything about CP,
I'm like, no, we can't have the conversation about the
state of the wide receiver room when you're talking about
a running back in a tight end. It's just and
it doesn't matter how the scheme is set up. You're
still talking about a running back, and you're still talking
about a tight end second year ten Yeah, second year
tight end. And in addition to all that, let's just
kill the notion right now. I keep getting Julio Jones
(28:20):
back to the Falcon questions. It's just because that's that's
who they know. They want the jersey to come out
of the closet. Yeah, that is not happening. It's not
gonna happen. So that's over. I know we're almost against
time here. I don't want to go way down a
rabbit hole here, because what Chris said is there's always
going to be a receiver or a skill players like
upset with their situation or their contract or Christian Kirk
(28:43):
got x much and it's just ruined the market for everyone.
Everybody's mad. But I just think when I saw this
aj Brown stuff, right, I immediately thought, that's a guy
I'm going to sell the farm for because he already
knows ar or he's a big, powerful dude. I know
he's been hurt, but he's always around a thousand yards,
(29:05):
not like he's DeVante Adams or something like that. But
it depends on how much he wants. But That's one
of those things where I'd be like, okay, man, like,
let's go play out the deal. We'll we'll set you
up from here on out. We won't draft a wide receiver.
That's our play, right, Yeah, that's our number forty three pick.
If that's what it takes, that's fine with me. Now,
(29:27):
I'm not saying that that's going to happen, but that
there's always gonna be those options. Tyreek Hill leaves the
best quarterback on planet Earth, right, Like that's somehow happens,
so anything can happen to go to Miami and play
with Tuah. But but I just think what question two
lost our minds here? But I'm just saying, well, let's
(29:49):
just take I didn't know his name was Arthur one Brown,
but let's just take Aja. Yeah, I guess, and then
just wham. I think that'd be a good way to
spend your money. It's a guy who those are and
understands how he plays and understands the mindset. And I
think he is the like everyone said, oh, let's go
find an A J. Brown or a Deebo say they're
out there. Yeah, he's right there. He's a bit more
(30:11):
expensive than trail on right, right, and not but maybe
a better player. But I'm just saying that when we
talk about these positions, right, we're looking at the draft,
we're looking at free agency, right, there's nothing to say
that we can't look at these methods of acquisition, which
are very common. Yeah, it's proven. I think it's more
the Rams messed everything up. They surely did. I love it.
(30:34):
Fourth of the teams don't have a fourth first round pick,
or close to a fourth of the teams to have
a first round pick this year. It's like, it's proven
that teams are willing to sacrifice draft picks for proving
guys right now, to win, to win, to win. Well, yeah,
that focles aren't exactly the falcons aren't not yeah exactly
at that point, but your point still remains, Yeah, for
a better shot at winning, teams were willing to And
(30:57):
I think in the fac situation, Aja Brown is what
twenty five twenty four? He is twenty four? Yeah. Wow.
So it's not like you're you're selling the farm for
Matt Stafford, right, You're investing in a guy who could
be here for you know, who could still you know,
be in prime for five to seven more seasons when
you get to like twenty twenty four and ideally you
(31:19):
have a pretty solid roster put together that could go
out and win more games. Yeah, he's still in his prime. Yea.
There are guys in the draft who are twenty four
right now who are going to be drafted. Like I
think Kenny Pickett is about that, about that, um so,
you know, I just think all those things are are
on the table. Even though when you look at what
(31:40):
the Falcons are going through regaining financial flexibility, and you
hear so much about doing it the old fashioned way
through the draft, through the draft, through the draft, cheap
talent and then reward your own right that that that's
the like the the ideal, utopian view of how to
build a team. But I like that we're kind of
getting real here that it's that it's okay. The Titans
(32:00):
are a very good team. By they tried the draft
thing with Marcus Mariota. It did not work out for them,
but a trade for a seemingly washed up quarterback from
Miami paid enough divot well that in drafting Derrick Henry
in the second round paid enough dividends to make it work.
Or aj Brown, another second round guy, that's also proof
(32:21):
and then we'll cut out of here. When you when
when you talk about wide receivers, you think about Davante
and Deebo and AJ. Yeah, there's a lot of examples
of good second round people or good second round talents
that have come in and made quick contributions. So there's
lots of options to fix these two what I would
consider major issues. There's ways to do it now. I
think the moral of the story here and what we
(32:42):
help everybody kind of thinks about when they go through
this draft. Right, everybody wants to like win week one
and then every week after, and it's a it's but
we have to stop thinking in a short sighted way
and join Arthur and Terry and looking okay, down at
the present product, but at the horizon. Right, because I
came in thinking they got a draft two receivers and
(33:03):
two edge rushers, I don't care about anything else. Because
I was thinking, maybe incorrectly too much about the twenty
twenty two product. And you brought up tory that no man,
bring it back. Yeah, I've had my second cup of coffee,
but hey, bring it back and look at this thing
from a grand review. So hopefully that's what everybody else does.
Hopefully you all enjoyed our return by the podcast and
(33:27):
they're gonna be regular now. Um, we have another one
pre draft. Then we got Steve Weish's a special guest
coming up after draft. So yeah, guys, keep it locked
on the website for a bunch of good content coming out,
rate review, subscribe, all that fun stuff, and we'll talk
to tell us. Wait now, tell us you miss us first.
Oh yeah, yeah, please please, because we could all use
(33:48):
the ego every day. I mean, it'd be really nice
to have a confidence boost every now and again, just
every morning, every morning. You're a great guy that it works. Chris,
you're looking tall today. Short gag, short gigs ring. I
love it. On that note, we out here h
What's up, everybody, and welcome to another edition of The
Falcon's Final Whistle podcast. I'm Scott Bear alongside Torry mclaney
and Chris rim and loyal listeners. It's been too long, Yeah,
it really has. We've missed you. Have you missed us?
Have you missed us? I hope so at Uh. There
(00:29):
were some combines and owners meetings and big quarterback trade
and a number of different things that kept us more
focused on the website as opposed to the podcast. But
we're back and we're bringing you on this speed train
towards the NFL Draft, which is less than two weeks
away right now. I'm just glad we made it here.
There was one point in the like a couple I
(00:50):
guess it was around the time that Matt Ryan was
traded where I was just like, we're not gonna get there.
We're not gonna get to the draft. We're all just
gonna go to slate for a couple of weeks and
then wake up in will be draft time. That didn't happen, nope,
But instead it's been all mock drafts all the time.
Hopefully you guys have taken a look at the one
that Chris Ram and I put together, which I've boldly
(01:10):
predicted will get thirty two out of thirty two correct
the insight. I'm mad. I am mad though, that you
didn't say the same thing about our mock draft from
two weeks ago. Yeah, because you intentionally sabotaged it with Hey,
now I didn't. It's not sabotage. Hold on. And in
the intro you specifically said that you wanted to do
such a bad job that you would never get asked
(01:32):
back again. That is true. I hate for those of you. Okay,
so those of you who have been following me since
I've been covering like the Falcons. This was even before
I came here. I hate mock drafts with a burning
passion because they just annoy the absolute crap on me.
It's just people have no idea what they're doing. They're
just throwing darts at a wall, just hoping one of
(01:54):
them hits. That's all mock drafts are, and if anyone
thinks any differently, they're lying to themselves. As a minor
programming note, stay tuned next Monday or tomaculate next that
is three Chris and I are doing a mock draft. Yeah,
and then there's gonna be some seven round mocks, which
(02:15):
used to be the bane of everyone's existence because you'd
have to, like blindly just point to a page in
the Athletics Beast Draft Guide, which that is still what
I do. Like, I still just go through and I'm like,
you know what, who works here? And I just look
at what Dane did. No, you just go through a
couple of Pro Football Focus mock draft simulators. You wait
(02:36):
till you get an A from the computer system and
you're good. Yeah. So there's gonna be lots more good
draft conversation coming up as we head towards the big
weekend itself, when the Falcons pick for the first time
at number eight overall. So that brings us to our
question of the week. We've kind of danced around these
(02:57):
points before, and we all know that it's gonna be
best player available, this, that and the other thing. But
we're going to talk about two positions of I don't
want to say weakness, but real uncertainty for the needed
positions of need. Yes, that's a good term. Yeah, for
the Falcons. You all know what it is before we
say it, right, It's edge rusher and wide receiver. Not
(03:18):
only is there not a ton of talent there. There
aren't very many bodies. They'll still have to flesh out
the depth chart and only one major acquisition point left
this offseason to do it, and that is the NFL
Draft coming up. So we're going to break down not
just what they should pick at number eight. We are
going to talk about that. We're also going to going
to give you a lay of the land of both
of those positions and how they can remedy these situations
(03:43):
both in the NFL Draft and as we move forward.
This is not going to be a single year fix.
It's just not possible with the state of the Falcons roster.
And that's okay. Not everything was built in one day,
so we're going to go over all those things. Before
we do that, we do need to give a big
thank you to our sponsor or, Microsoft, Windows eleven, the
official operating system of the NFL and the Atlanta Falcons.
(04:04):
The all new Windows eleven is here to bring you
closer to what you love, like this Falcons Final Whistle podcast.
Learn all about that awesome the awesome new features of
Windows eleven at Windows dot com. So thank you to Microsoft.
We're pumped about that. I think Falcons fans are definitely
pumped about the number eight overall page, and the mail
(04:28):
bag is full of and I know that all of
our timelines are full of questions of which position right,
which position edge rusher, wide receiver, edge rusher, cornerback. But
I thought in our written round table of this, Chris
rim To my Rights brought up a great point that
the who is more important than the what position right,
(04:50):
That it's not just let's go take an edge rusher.
We'll take that guy. It's got to be about who
is there at the time that you're selecting. And number
eight is kind of an interesting bob because it's very
unpredictable whether some of these top level guys are even
going to be there. Yeah, I think when you look
at like the top guys, as I wrote in our
question of the week, like when you look at the
(05:11):
Big four as we as they, I think we should
call them like trademark right, whilst podcast like Aidan Hutchinson,
M Cavon, uh, Jermaine Johnson and and Trayvon Walker. I
think I think the gap between whoever's the fourth in
that group, I think it's in mock drafts and projections.
(05:34):
It's been Jermaine, whoever's the fourth in that group, I
think there's a bigger gap between him and the next
guy than there is between the fourth receiver whoever you
want to say as Johan Dodson or uh maybe Trail
and Burkes, whoever you want to say that it is
a bigger gap between that guy and say like George Pickens.
So I think if you if you're at and and
(05:56):
Pickins might be multiple down the line because of the
you know, small sample size. So I think whoever you
pick at eight, like Scott was saying, it matters more
about who's there do you reach for? Who's whoever you
consider the fifth guy, which I don't know, George kar
Laftist or someone like that, or do you want to
(06:17):
say no versus like grabbing a guy like a like
a Garrett Wilson. I think it makes sense in that situation,
but I would still prioritize edge as a position over receiver.
But in that situation, I like Garrett Wilson over Carl Laftis.
But I'm just a guy, it's just my sake, just
a simple man. Terry find nice that makes these decisions.
(06:40):
We don't get paid the big buck. No, I wish
we did. No, I'm kidding, I wouldn't want to be
in that position, um I. So I actually think in
our written portion I also kind of said what Chris did,
but in different terms, where I was just kind of like,
I think, going back to what you were saying about
the top edge rushers and the next round of edge rushers,
(07:02):
there's a bigger gap than there are with receivers. And
because of that, and because if you look at the
lay of the land in terms of who's picking in
the top ten, a lot of those teams need edge rushers.
I think it's more of a possibility that we see
good receivers fall than we do see good edge rushers fall.
And so because of that, I prioritize edge rushers at
(07:25):
number eight. I also cannot, I mean, you cannot look
at this draft and not look at it as a
complete whole. And I think that's what a lot of
people are forgiving, forgetting, is that you cannot overlook having
those two second round picks and what you can do
with that. You can go after two second round receivers
and they're gonna be some pretty good guys that are
still on the board at that point. Or if there's
(07:46):
a specific receiver that falls into the late round of
the late picks of the first round, you have two
second round picks, you have two third round picks. If
you wanted to deal something to get back into the
first round to get the receiver or whoever it is
that you want to do it, if that's what you want,
if you're in love with this guy, do it. I mean,
(08:08):
I think that's the thing is. I can't just sit
here and say, oh, then with the number eight pick,
like they go after this person, this person. It's like
you have to think about the way that the draft,
especially those first three rounds, are going to shake out,
and see kind of what happens in this first round
to understand, Okay, we have these two second round picks,
(08:28):
what do we want to do with them. It's when
you look at the top fifties and the overall rankings
by people smarter and more experienced in this field than us,
that you do see these top four edge dressers pretty high,
and then you kind of generally speaking, see the receivers
in that next tier. Yeah, and then you start thinking about, okay,
(08:51):
so what's the difference, and I'm gonna go down to
trade down rabbit hole for just a little bit. Is
that you think, Okay, well, Garrett Wilson sounds great at eight,
but Chris, if I'm pronouncing his last name, alive A,
sounds really good at fifteen with an extra pick. Right.
(09:12):
But so that's how I feel about the receivers with
the edge rushers, if we're talking about the top four.
I did kind of a who would you make the pick?
Make the call in the last bear mail that I did,
and so many people came with PFF accepted trades saying
that they can get Jermaine Johnson from Florida State and
(09:32):
edge rusher with a trade down, right? Would that scare
you if Johnson is your target. I'm not saying that
he is, But if Johnson is your target at eight,
would you feel comfortable trying to make a play down
and still get him or do you think that that's
too risky. I don't think I would feel comfortable making
a trade down to get him. But yeah, I think
(09:52):
that there are too many needy edge rusher needy teams.
I mean I think that if he's I don't think
Kavon will be there for the Giants. Yeah, And I
think the Giants should take would take Jermaine with either
five or seven. They're probably gonna take offensive line at five,
him at seven. If I think if Kvas there five,
they're probably take him at five. But I think they
take an edge rusher at five or seven, paired with
(10:17):
an old lineman the State or maybe someone else. Yeah,
that's another thing is I think you can't talk about
the edge rushers without also talking about the tackles that
are in this like the top ten. And that's another thing.
I wouldn't be surprised at the bout. I know we're
talking about wide receivers and edge rushers in this question
of the Week because it's you know, the arguably the
(10:38):
Falcon's greatest needs or those superstition groups. But they could
use an offensive tackle and if someone's there, it wouldn't
I know, that's not I've said this before, and I
know it's not a sexy pick, but I don't hate that.
I don't hate them going after an offensive tackle either
at number eight. And you talk about the top four
and somewhat of a drop off, it's seems with an
(11:00):
offensive tackle it's Neil Ekwando Cross and Trevor Penning maybe
floating a little bit underneath that, and you talk about
needing like a real a hole. Trevor Penning seems to
wear that as a badge of honor, right, and Arthur
Smith loves those guys, loves those guys. So so then
if you're not going to get a tackle high, then
how much of a drop off it is there? Uh?
(11:21):
Then there's this the sauce Gardener of it all. Although
it seems like the at least the buzz of those
talking to scouts and presenting, you know, mocks and some
of these reports is that sauce Gardner made almost likely
not be an option at number eight, Right, it seems
like that that's the way it's trending. I could, Yeah,
it seems like the Jets it seemed like they would
(11:44):
take him at four. Yeah, they grabbed the I think
with this conversation too, is like what you were saying
with trading down. I think that the when you think
about the Falcons, they're going to be likely the first
team to take a receiver, and then the team after
them probably won't take a receiver in the in the Seahawk, like,
the next team that will likely take your receiver would
be the Jets. Um and It's like you were saying,
(12:05):
if I can, if the edge guys are going, or
if whoever the fuck was over they are gone, you
can trade down and get a Chris Olave you get,
maybe you'd get Jamison Williams, maybe get one of those
kind of guys. You know, why not, especially if you
can get another big time twenty twenty three pick out,
because because the Jets seem that, at least the way
(12:27):
it looked, the way it seems is like they would
take the best defensive player at four the best offensive
player at ten. I mean, Robert sala is a defensive
minded guy, so maybe they maybe they double dip, but
it seems, you know, you'd want to get Zach Wilson
some help um and you know they kind of have
a guy like Garrett and Elijah Moore with the same
skill set, so maybe they want a bigger guy or
(12:47):
something like that. But yeah, it would seem like trading
down if it works out there, but not kind of
took us down this route. We weren't going there, but
it's popped out in my head like the Jets seemed
like the team that most likely in the before the Falcons,
who could take someone that could alter their plan. Right. Yeah, yeah,
so if if if you're looking for that big white
out that you'd feel a lot more comfortable doing that
(13:11):
for a Lave or somebody in that mid he's not
a mid tier, but in that range. Then trading down
and hoping you can get Johnson at twelve or Johnson
at thirteen or what have you, that seems unlikely, especially
with the scenario that you were painting that I too
am with you that this whole uh this all the
shade being thrown at at Cavan. Yeah, I don't remember.
(13:35):
I don't know that's going to show up on draft day.
Sometimes you get a lot of these. It happens for
Arthur Smith. You get these false narratives and then Arthur,
if you're listening, you converted Scott you have, you get
these false narratives out there. I think that's one. I
think he goes really high. Yeah, and maybe a tackle falls.
But anyway, so it's it's a very interesting thing about
(13:57):
what they can do at eight and what then they
could you later in the draft. Right, But one thing
that we can universally agree upon is that these two
positions need tons of help. So let's just take a
look at the edge rusher spot right now, okay, right,
right now, you have Lorenzo Carter. I'm staring at you, Tory,
because I don't have the answer. Is here on a
(14:17):
one year when he's here on a one year Essentially
everyone is on a one year deal. The amount of
times deal is Heyward, yeah, and Marcus Mariota Mariota yeah. Right.
That's the thing is we write these announcements that go
up on the site, and the amount of times that
I've written so and so is coming from the Bears
of the Lions or the Titans on a one year
(14:38):
deal is I don't even know how many times I've
written that, Right, it's true, but you get familiarity for
a guy who's probably not going to be around very long.
Again that you preserve the financial flexibility that's so yeah,
coveted in twenty twenty three. So, so you have Lorenzo
Carter on one side. I'm looking at in our lads
dot com draft or a depth chart is not mine.
(14:59):
And then you have odd Ogan Daiji at the other
James Voters under contract. Quentin Bell was a practice squad
player I think at this point. Yeah. Also there they
you know, are probably gonna run more of a three
man front with Grady Marlin Davidson to Kwan Anthony Rush
mixed in up front. So you've got all these these
are the pieces that you have. Yeah, this is not
(15:21):
the group that you can go into twenty twenty two with.
It's just not. I'm of the opinion Tory ranked THEA
needs one through five. I would even say that a
second edge rusher or a second receiver is more valuable
than some of these other parties totally if you could
do A one, A one B two A two Z. Right.
So we all seem to agree that that was a
(15:42):
little that was to b. I fixed it. We're back.
I think it's better that way. Then somebody on the
driving in their car and they're like, what that doesn't
not a math major? That don't make no sense. But anyway,
(16:02):
we don't. They need a lot of help. So and look,
we're not going to say who the best option in
the fifth round is, right because we don't really know that.
But when you look at it, that's why I think
ideally it seems to me, and I may say this
when we're talking about the whiteouts too, they need a
premier talent to help here. So if you could get
(16:23):
a Jermaine Johnson type, who I think is just like
scheme fit City in terms of what they like to do,
A bigger guy who can play the run, a strong
player could still get after the quarterback. But then that's
not it, right, So you've got do you need more
than one edge rusher in these in these five quote
unquote premium picks. We're talking to five picks in the
first eighty two. And again, I know when when it's
(16:46):
the same thing, it'll be who over what the third
round two. But I'm just saying, if we're thinking big
picture perspective, given the names that I just listed, do
they have to come out of this draft with more
than one person that can that can contribute. I'm not
ready to pull the trigger on multiple edge drushers in
this draft, um, just because I think you are still
(17:08):
buying your time and I don't think that it's entirely
necessary to fully reach for a guy in the fourth
or fifth round when you have another draft next year
that you could potentially use a higher pick on another
edge dresher. That here's the thing. I'm just really conflicted
(17:28):
about what direction they're going in, and I'm not sold
on multiple edge dreshers just yet. So if I can
just to repeat, Yeah, it sounds to me like you're saying,
don't think of the twenty twenty two draft as a
way to fix the twenty twenty two products. Right. You're wondering,
(17:49):
are they going to look at it as a one
acquisition point in a multi acquisition point, multi year process
of rebuilding the roster, right right? Because that's two separate things.
Because I'm saying, how can they fix the twenty twenty
two issues they have at this position? And you're saying,
I'm that's not a priority for you. Yeah, that's not so.
I'm in the camp of twenty two is a wash,
(18:11):
and I will say that I just don't. I think
you go into tent twenty twenty two single, yes, but
but focus on the big pis you have to look
at twenty three. And that's also why I just wrote
a column that ran today on Tuesday when recording this
podcast about potentially drafting a quarterback this year. I am
team anti drafting a quarterback this year because I think
(18:34):
you're in a better position next year to go after
a quarterback that you want, whether it's trading for him,
getting him on the free agency market and or drafting him.
And I kind of feel the same way about multiple positions.
I don't think it's entirely necessary that you get these
big time guys in right now, especially when you have
projectively over one hundred million dollars in cap space next year.
(18:58):
I kind of look at I kind of look at
everything the Falcons are doing right now as kind of
what you were saying, it's the law. It's a long
haul help overall health of the organization in the franchise.
Then it is fixing what you have in twenty twenty two.
I say, just get through twenty twenty two. It seems
like there's a no. I I think if in terms
(19:20):
of rebuild, something about rebuilding the edge for this year,
I think if Ojabo was there in the second round
and you got Jermaine and the first, yeah, I would
probably take that yeah on a guy who had, you know,
a top fifteen grade just a couple months months ago
before his injury. And obviously it depends on what the
(19:42):
fuckings think about him. But yeah, I don't think you
need to load up on this position and feel like
you have to rebuild the edge. Rusher and defensive line
in this draft. I don't know if I don't think
you want to put all your eggs in one back
ask it in terms of waiting until a year to
(20:03):
get someone or waiting to make the move. But I
do agree that you don't. You don't have to focus
on this year to just transform that that room. But
if you have a shot, an opportunity to take a
guy who had a high, super high grade before an injury,
and you can, and you're a team who's not probably
probably not a title contender in twenty twenty two, and
(20:23):
you can, you can wait for that player to get back,
I feel like, why not when you have two second
round picks, But you might have to miss out on
a receiver if you take Ojabo at forty three. But
if for example, but if if you're thinking about this
as a longer term play, I was actually gonna like
gonna ask you guys if he would be attractive to
(20:44):
you at numbers forty three or if you had to
move up or whatever, given the nature of his injury
and the explosives explosiveness that can be robbed. But I'm
in Chris's camp too, I would definitely go for it
and I'm just looking on the back end of this.
This wasn't part of the script. But also so if
we're saying that, look, they need multiple edge rushers, well
(21:05):
I just took a look at what's who's available in
terms of veteran edge rushers, and there are a ton
of names that we've all heard of who are going
to be available on the market who have experience. Now,
Jason Pierre Paul ain't gonna come play for cheap, Like
there are certain guys that you aren't that you don't
think even if it gets to July, they're gonna be like,
all right, I'm gonna take a two year deal with
(21:27):
the Falcons at this point in my career, right, So
that's not realistic. But you look at a guy like
Carlos Dunlap, right, he's just a big dude. He's thirty three.
Benson Mayo is another guy that could come in. I'm
just throwing names out here. Carl Nasseb is another guy
with some experience. Maybe get you four or five sacks
and he can fill out your depth chart. So then,
because I came in saying and I feel like every
(21:49):
mock draft that I do on PFF, for one of them.
I'm hitting edge rusher twice, three times. I'm falling in
love with this guy, Cameron Thomas from San Diego State,
Nick Benito from Oklaham a month. But you know, I
can throw all these names out there and we can
evaluate them, but we don't know who's going to be
sitting there at eighty two or fifty eight. Right. It's
just that I think there are some intriguing names in
(22:09):
the draft, But when you look back at it, I
think this room needs needs a veteran presence really bad,
and they could add one later on. Even if when
you go to spot spot track or have you say
it that you're not picking from the biggest name in
the group, I still think there's enough out there, and
I think those guys are counting on that second free
(22:31):
agency wave post draft to be able to clean some
of those things up. But they do need one. And
if they're not going to get one at eight, if
the who doesn't match what you the value that like
that you need, then then I think the math changes
a little bit. Then they gotta get a second round
type of talent. Oh yeah, if you don't go edge
in the first round, you have to go edge in
(22:52):
the next three picks period, in my opinion, like I
would say, I would say that too, Yeah, like you
have to go out like you, I don't understand how
you wouldn't go those first three picks and not take
an edge rusher in either the first or the two
in the second. And I feel pretty confident thinking that
they would, just because even if we're looking big picture,
(23:14):
they need somebody, even if he's a bit more developmental
than these top four, at least get him going right.
So and that's another thing, like if you get a
guy in the second round, third round, even that needs
to develop, at least you have the time to do
it right. You have the time to develop him right.
That's the thing is I've been saying those large I
think the Falcons where they are in the organization right now,
like they have an opportunity to be patient. And I
(23:36):
know that's not something that fans want to hear. I
know it's not a fun thing to think about the
fact that your team can be patient in their decision making.
But I do think in a way the Falcons are
in this position that I don't know if a lot
of teams have been in in a few years. I
know the falcons, haven't, you know. Yeah, And they're not.
(23:56):
They're not kind of like chasing the dragon like that.
They're not trying to press to get something that they're
not really talented enough to reach, but they're still striving
for it. It's more of it's not acceptance, but it's
an understanding that, hey, we're going to be competitive, but
we're also going to keep our eye on the big picture, right,
And I think that that is an important thing. So
let's take all these kind of philosophical things that like
that we're talking about and apply it to the wide
(24:18):
receiver spot. Just like I said before, talk about Tory
saying one year deal, one year deal, well, one year
deal for Audent Tate and a Demi or Bird and
Cadaryl Hodge and well and Oz Right who just signed
his restricted free agent contract tender on Tuesday. So you've
(24:39):
got all those people. You have Frank Darby coming back.
This is another one of those things where you gotta
ask somebody, but you don't have to add it at eight.
And the beauty of the receiver class, right is that
when you get to the there's so many options. When
you look at mox Or, you hear people talk about it.
You're like, Okay, is Christian Watson a first round pa
(25:00):
is is Jahan Dots in a second round pick? You know,
there's a lot of these guys that are in this
cluster and you think, oh, he's pretty good, and then
they may move down towards forty three or towards a
spot in the draft you can maybe go up and
grab one that you love. My point is they have
got to infuse talent in this wide receiver room. Yes,
(25:22):
no choice, Yeah, maybe finding ways to do it right.
And it's really nice, uh, with looking at kind of
the big contracts that receivers are signing recently, being able
to get a young guy on a rookie deal, like
that's a really big deal. I think. I think the
wide receiver spot is kind of fascinating too, because Calvin
(25:43):
Ridley still is kind of just there there. Yeah, so
it's like, okay, or is he gonna be here in
twenty twenty three? You have to consider that with the
moves that you make in this year's draft based on
the skill set of a guy like Gary Wilson plays
a lot like Calvin. Do you want be talking about
a j Brown? Uh? And guys like that big physical
(26:04):
receivers who Arthur Smith have had in the past. If
if Calvin is back, for example, do you want two
guys who kind of play similarly in terms of finesse? Uh?
You know quick you know shifty receivers, or do you
want a big physical guy to pair with Calvin or
maybe another guy that you that you get that that
as shifting in that way. And also receivers are maybe
(26:28):
second took quarterback in terms of the most disgruntled position
in the NFL. Whenever you whenever you turn a j
Brown just took Tennessee out of his bio. Uh, he's
not shown up to OTAs that is. It's not crazy.
You know the new CBA players that are centivized to go,
but you know, who knows, maybe he's on the market.
You turn around, someone is gonna be out there. Yeah,
there's gonna like you can bet there's gonna be right,
(26:51):
there's gonna be a disgruntled I mean, I guess not
a superstar anymore, but yeah, there's gonna be a disgruntled
star receiver that you can get. However, you just bet
bet you can bet that is going to happen. So
also keeping that in mind and you can almost bet
that with quarterback too. Yeah, So how do you make
this spot attractive? That's that's also the issue is making
(27:12):
the spot attractive for those guys to come in or
else you're gonna have to pay a boatload of money
to get someone to come here. But again, I think
with the receiver, the fascinating part is how you build that.
And I think how you build it determines whether or
not you think Calvin is back and how you build
around him and Kyle and the skill set that you
(27:34):
want that that Arthur Smith wants to have. It is
receiving room. Yeah, And I think in the receiving room
it has to be more than what they saw last
year because the counter argument is, well, Kyle plays a
lot of X and Y and Z and everywhere else,
and they got Patterson, so the receivers are gonna be
no at not a real argument that if anyone comes
(27:56):
at me and says anything about Kyle and anything about CP,
I'm like, no, we can't have the conversation about the
state of the wide receiver room when you're talking about
a running back in a tight end. It's just and
it doesn't matter how the scheme is set up. You're
still talking about a running back, and you're still talking
about a tight end second year ten Yeah, second year
tight end. And in addition to all that, let's just
kill the notion right now. I keep getting Julio Jones
(28:20):
back to the Falcon questions. It's just because that's that's
who they know. They want the jersey to come out
of the closet. Yeah, that is not happening. It's not
gonna happen. So that's over. I know we're almost against
time here. I don't want to go way down a
rabbit hole here, because what Chris said is there's always
going to be a receiver or a skill players like
upset with their situation or their contract or Christian Kirk
(28:43):
got x much and it's just ruined the market for everyone.
Everybody's mad. But I just think when I saw this
aj Brown stuff, right, I immediately thought, that's a guy
I'm going to sell the farm for because he already
knows ar or he's a big, powerful dude. I know
he's been hurt, but he's always around a thousand yards,
(29:05):
not like he's DeVante Adams or something like that. But
it depends on how much he wants. But That's one
of those things where I'd be like, okay, man, like,
let's go play out the deal. We'll we'll set you
up from here on out. We won't draft a wide receiver.
That's our play, right, Yeah, that's our number forty three pick.
If that's what it takes, that's fine with me. Now,
(29:27):
I'm not saying that that's going to happen, but that
there's always gonna be those options. Tyreek Hill leaves the
best quarterback on planet Earth, right, Like that's somehow happens,
so anything can happen to go to Miami and play
with Tuah. But but I just think what question two
lost our minds here? But I'm just saying, well, let's
(29:49):
just take I didn't know his name was Arthur one Brown,
but let's just take Aja. Yeah, I guess, and then
just wham. I think that'd be a good way to
spend your money. It's a guy who those are and
understands how he plays and understands the mindset. And I
think he is the like everyone said, oh, let's go
find an A J. Brown or a Deebo say they're
out there. Yeah, he's right there. He's a bit more
(30:11):
expensive than trail on right, right, and not but maybe
a better player. But I'm just saying that when we
talk about these positions, right, we're looking at the draft,
we're looking at free agency, right, there's nothing to say
that we can't look at these methods of acquisition, which
are very common. Yeah, it's proven. I think it's more
the Rams messed everything up. They surely did. I love it.
(30:34):
Fourth of the teams don't have a fourth first round pick,
or close to a fourth of the teams to have
a first round pick this year. It's like, it's proven
that teams are willing to sacrifice draft picks for proving
guys right now, to win, to win, to win. Well, yeah,
that focles aren't exactly the falcons aren't not yeah exactly
at that point, but your point still remains, Yeah, for
a better shot at winning, teams were willing to And
(30:57):
I think in the fac situation, Aja Brown is what
twenty five twenty four? He is twenty four? Yeah. Wow.
So it's not like you're you're selling the farm for
Matt Stafford, right, You're investing in a guy who could
be here for you know, who could still you know,
be in prime for five to seven more seasons when
you get to like twenty twenty four and ideally you
(31:19):
have a pretty solid roster put together that could go
out and win more games. Yeah, he's still in his prime. Yea.
There are guys in the draft who are twenty four
right now who are going to be drafted. Like I
think Kenny Pickett is about that, about that, um so,
you know, I just think all those things are are
on the table. Even though when you look at what
(31:40):
the Falcons are going through regaining financial flexibility, and you
hear so much about doing it the old fashioned way
through the draft, through the draft, through the draft, cheap
talent and then reward your own right that that that's
the like the the ideal, utopian view of how to
build a team. But I like that we're kind of
getting real here that it's that it's okay. The Titans
(32:00):
are a very good team. By they tried the draft
thing with Marcus Mariota. It did not work out for them,
but a trade for a seemingly washed up quarterback from
Miami paid enough divot well that in drafting Derrick Henry
in the second round paid enough dividends to make it work.
Or aj Brown, another second round guy, that's also proof
(32:21):
and then we'll cut out of here. When you when
when you talk about wide receivers, you think about Davante
and Deebo and AJ. Yeah, there's a lot of examples
of good second round people or good second round talents
that have come in and made quick contributions. So there's
lots of options to fix these two what I would
consider major issues. There's ways to do it now. I
think the moral of the story here and what we
(32:42):
help everybody kind of thinks about when they go through
this draft. Right, everybody wants to like win week one
and then every week after, and it's a it's but
we have to stop thinking in a short sighted way
and join Arthur and Terry and looking okay, down at
the present product, but at the horizon. Right, because I
came in thinking they got a draft two receivers and
(33:03):
two edge rushers, I don't care about anything else. Because
I was thinking, maybe incorrectly too much about the twenty
twenty two product. And you brought up tory that no man,
bring it back. Yeah, I've had my second cup of coffee,
but hey, bring it back and look at this thing
from a grand review. So hopefully that's what everybody else does.
Hopefully you all enjoyed our return by the podcast and
(33:27):
they're gonna be regular now. Um, we have another one
pre draft. Then we got Steve Weish's a special guest
coming up after draft. So yeah, guys, keep it locked
on the website for a bunch of good content coming out,
rate review, subscribe, all that fun stuff, and we'll talk
to tell us. Wait now, tell us you miss us first.
Oh yeah, yeah, please please, because we could all use
(33:48):
the ego every day. I mean, it'd be really nice
to have a confidence boost every now and again, just
every morning, every morning. You're a great guy that it works. Chris,
you're looking tall today. Short gag, short gigs ring. I
love it. On that note, we out here h
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