Scott, Tori and Ashton take a close look at the 2021 NFL Draft class heading into Year 2, with realistic expectations for each player and roles each selection will fill in the 2022 campaign. We break down each player in Terry Fontenot’s draft class, from first-round pick Kyle Pitts through seventh-rounder Frank Darby. The Falcons will be counting on most members of this draft class, hoping they can make a big jump in their second seasons. Timecodes: (00:00:20): Intro, 2021 NFL Draft class evaluation (00:03:15): Discussing Kyle Pitts, Richie Grant and Jalen Mayfield (00:13:50): Breaking down Drew Dalman, Darren Hall and Ta'Quon Graham (00:24:26): What to expect from Ade Ogundeji, Avery Williams and Frank Darby
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
What's up, everybody, and welcome to another edition of The
Falcon's Final Whistle podcast. I'm Scott Bear sitting next to
Tory mclaney. Nope, not next to next to across fromm Yeah,
I mean, accuracy is our job. I mean that would
be a lie. You would be lying to our lessoners.
I'd have to issue at Yeah, yeah, correction on the
(00:25):
bottom of a two. That's what I would do. So
Tory mclaney is across from me, and I guess we'll
say adjacent there you go to me? Is Ashton Edmunds
really give them a layout of the road. Yeah, yeah,
this is this is my office. There's essentially nothing in
it because I'm not fashionable, or you choose to decorate
the office. I meant of Roddy White and Claude Humphrey.
(00:49):
I have one of my Michael Vick that's gonna go
up Michael Vick, right, uh yeah, the legend, not Mike Michael.
And speaking of Michael Vick, all I will say is
the ultimate tease. Keep an eye out for the website
if you happen to be a Michael Vick fan. Just
just kind of bookmarket check back every day. I mean
I don't know, maybe he's going to show up there
at some point in the near future. It's anybody's guests. Yeah,
(01:12):
but we are not here to talk about the former
Falcons great former number one pick Michael Vick. We are
here to talk about some other draft, yes, another set
of draft picks. The twenty twenty one draft class, Terry
Fontno and Arthur Smith's first as members of the Falcons.
(01:32):
And you always hear it, right, it's almost cliche to
this point, the big jump that is made between year
one and year two. The rookies coming in have basically
had like a three month job interview during the pre
draft process. Then they get dropped in for rookie mini camp,
but then they're off and running and they don't stop
working until January, right, So there's a lot going on.
(01:52):
All these guys that were going to talk about have
had a full offseason to exhale, to relax a little bit,
and find ways to improving it better than what they
didst year. A lot of these guys that we're going
to talk about, we're gonna kind of go down the list,
I would say, and break down all these different guys.
A lot of these guys played a lot a lot
last year, maybe more than they had planned. Yeah, oh yeah,
I mean you think about Jaylen Mayfield. I don't think
(02:14):
that was supposed to be a thing, right, there's said
that wasn't supposed to be a thing. Absolutely not. He
talks a lot about long term vision for some of
these players, and I think that his long term vision
and the expectations for some of the guys that we're
going to talk about have obviously changed. We're gonna go
through the whole list, and as we wrote it down,
we're like, man, that's a lot of draft picks, a
lot of people. Yeah, and a lot of guys had
a lot of different positions. I think a lot of
(02:35):
guys that the Falcons are going to be counting on
in the twenty twenty two season. So let's just get
started with the big man. Drumroll please, unlike last time
when I was so surprised and Tory actually did it. Yeah,
but anyway, the big guy, I'm frank too. It is
(02:55):
Kyle Pitts. Yeah. I don't know if you guys have
heard of him, but no, never, he's a pretty good never.
Yeah at at the scam of football. Yeah, we're actually
recording this on Kyle Pitts Day eighth. Very exciting. UM.
So if you're on YouTube listening to this right now,
just go back to our YouTube page click on the
drive with Kyle Pitts. Um we take him through a
(03:16):
round of golf with him and his dad. There's also
a story that I wrote because I was fortunate enough
to be part of Kyle and Kelly Pitts entourage that day.
I will say this. Scott says, fortunate enough, and he said,
and I quote, I'm going to this right right. Nobody
really had an opportunity to go to this. I just
kind of like stuck a acclaim to it. And it
(03:36):
was freaking awesome. Because everyone thinks Kyle is quiet because
he's mild mannered in front of the camera. Not quiet,
He's hilarious, hilarious. Yes, he is super easy going and
you can tell, like everybody used the word swagger at okay,
I have no swagger right right, No, a little bit.
Oh my gosh, it's so sweet. I'm really gonna have
(03:58):
to figure out what that is and just try to
mimic it. But Kyle Pitts, He's just has this air
of like this confidence about him. This year where he
had over a thousand yards last year, almost beat Mike
did because record second best rookie by rookie tight end
ever pro bowler. That's like his floor now, yeah, right,
and that that is quote scratching the surface of who
(04:20):
he can be in the league. Per Arthur's right, Ashley,
this is your first training camp with the Falcons seeing
Kyle Pitts work every day. What are your impressions of
seeing him go about his business over the course of
the man He's He's been a big standout in training
camp so far. I think one of the biggest things
that he wanted to focus on this year is his
precision in route running, and you can see that in
(04:42):
training camp. He's been getting open a lot. I think
he's been one of Mariota's biggest targets. He finds hisself
an ends on the light and I think you could
see how you know that he put into work in
the offseason because it's showing here in training camp and
you know, I think you know, like you said, Kyle
Pitts is way more confident from last season, and you
can see him going into a second year, you know,
stepping into a leadership role amongst not only the Titan group,
(05:05):
but receiver group as a whole. So I think he's
gonna have a great year man, and you know, he's
off to a great start in training account. When you
think about elite tight ends, right, you think about Travis Kelcey,
you think about George Kiddoll, I think about Darren Waller,
Mark Andrews. Maybe is he in that class? Yes, yes,
he's an elite talent. Yeah. I mean, there's no way
(05:26):
that you can't put him in rank with all of
those guys. Not a chance. Like this is a guy
that what we were talking about, I had one of
the best rookie years for a Titan ever period full stop.
Ever he's only been the league for one Yeah, I
mean I think it is one of those things that
we are looking like, I don't you know. I know
(05:46):
arthursm is very much like don't put it on the
gold jacket before they've done anything like and I agree,
but with Kyle Pitts, like the guy's a menace, like
a nice menace to us, but like a menace on
the field. And I don't know. They they posted our
social team put this video together of like his highlights
from like year one, and it was like season two
loading and still my favorite thing that he did last
(06:08):
year was the stiff arm in Buffalo. Yeah. Man was like,
this guy is doing some really, really solid things for
this team, and he is a foundational part of an
organization that's going through a major transition. You know who
else thinks Kyle Pitts isn't it is an elite tight
end is George Kittle. George Kittle loves Kyle Pits And
(06:31):
George Kittle doesn't necessarily offer he's an energetic story. I
cover the forty unds for a while, but he is
so complimentary and I think that some of these other
tight ends they work together at these tight end camps
in Nashville, they had a chance to see each other
and this guy is just next level. And it's crazy.
You go back before the draft and everybody, or not everybody,
but there was a big level of consternation. That's the thing, right,
(06:53):
how can you take a tight end at four? Are
you insane? You're taking a tight end at four? We
need a quarterback, We need an x a premium position
quote unquote. I think they should be pretty happy with
the guy that they got. Yes, it was one of
the best choices I think the Falcons could have made easily. Um.
I mean, the guy is one of the greatest sight
ends in the league right now. He's so young, it's
(07:14):
only twenty one years old. I know, it's it's kind
of scary to think about what he's going to do,
you know in this league. Yeah, yeah, and the more help.
There was times last year where I kind of thought
it was Kyle Pitts and Cordero Patterson or punt right.
There just wasn't a lot of threats. So he was
getting shadowed by Stefan Gilmour. That was he said, that
(07:34):
was his welcome to the NFL moment, like that, dude
was a good or he's getting double teamed, or he's
getting schemed against chipped at the line. I think the
more options that you have, Drake London can establish himself,
if the wide, if Brian Edwards can be a threat,
then you can't do that to Kyle as much, and
I think that will open things up for him. Um.
So that was the easiest evaluation that we're going to
(07:55):
make during this podcast. Right, Kyle Pitts is awesome. We
know who he is, period, full stop. Yeah. Ritchie Grant
is a guy who When fans think of second higher
level picks, they think immediate impact, and if you don't
make an immediate impact, you're a failure and a bust.
And what the heck were they thinking? Because there's another
(08:19):
safety on another team that's doing better and they got
Richie Grant, who is um a core special teams player
and a slot guy, kind of like a big slot.
Arthur Smith when he talks about long term vision, it's
always about Richie, right, Yeah, that's always the example he uses, Right,
So where are we in this long term vision? I
think it's kind of like a transition period now where
(08:39):
the expectations go higher. Yes, no, I completely agree. I
mean when you look out, it's almost I feel very
secure in saying that. I think the safety quote unquote
rotation is set. I feel like from day one we
have known who's going to be your starting safeties. You
know it's Jalen Hawkins, and you know it's Richie Grant,
and that has been how it's been for the last
(09:00):
two weeks of camp. And I think that is very
very interesting. And I think Richie Grant a lot of times.
With Richie Grant, I think what he did in his
Rickie year goes unnoticed because you talked to Dean P's,
you talked to Arthur Smith. They said, they say, we
threw a lot at Richie Grant. We put a lot
on his shoulders. He was learning multiple positions in the
(09:21):
secondary and it doesn't stunt your growth in a way.
But I think that it is one of those things
that we have to consider that now in year two,
they know what they have in Ritchie and they are
very much specializing him to be that counterpart, counterpart to
Jalen Hawkins. And I know you wrote a story about
their connection, Scott, but like, I think that is the
(09:43):
most important because I said when Richie Grant was drafted
and that he was joining like Jaylen Hawkinson, even though
at the time you had Eric Harris and you had
n Harmon and you knew those guys were going to play.
But I said, the future of this position is Jalen
Hawkins and Richie Grant. We are actively seeing that come
to fruition right now. Yeah. And Kyle Pitts, Uh, Kyle
(10:06):
Pitts did talk about Richie Grant. He like, Richie's competitive
out there, He's still competitive and he seems very he
seems pretty comfortable, right, Like when you watch him out there, Yeah,
he got an interception today in practice, right, he didn't
ran it all the yeah, yeah, but he looks really comfortable.
I think the communication amongst that safety group is you
could see the chemistry building between him and Hawkins, Like
(10:27):
those guys are very energetic. They're they're always on the ball.
They're like you know, hawks or how you know what
I'm saying. And I think, um, you know, for Richie
Grant going into a second year, like he he looks
ready for this season, and I think that's the that's
the biggest thing that I've been noticing in training camp. Yeah,
and it's you know, it's it's so tough, right He
to your point, he was learning how to play the
(10:48):
slot and safety. There was a lot of things thrown
at him. I think a couple of times people kind
of maybe misinterpreted what Danps was saying about him learning
the like system, like maybe he's struggling learning the system
or his responsibilities. I don't think that comment. Yeah, that
comment was completely taken out of context by a lot
of people. It was not and then they ran with it. Yeah,
it wasn't Dean P's saying that Rachel Grant is super
(11:08):
far behind and like doesn't know the playbook. No, it's
because Dean was giving him a lot on his plate
to learn. And this is a guy who came from
UCF right a lot more simplified version of what he's
being asked to do exactly, and playing the slot in
Dean P's defense is not easy. So I think he's growing.
If you can get a productive three down safety, these
(11:31):
two younger guys paired with some veterans at the cornerback spot,
Heyward Terrell and most likely Isaiah Oliver, I think that's
a I think that's a pretty good group, and I'm
excited to see how Richie does handling all these things.
We're gonna start to getting into the preseason into the
regular season. I also, I hate when I lecture people,
but it's like, let's let's exercise some patients here, right.
(11:55):
Patience is not it's not a Falcons fans trademark, but
patient it is really. Look, they're gonna give up a
touchdown or two during the course of the season, it happens,
he's probably gonna get beat, he's probably gonna be out
of position at one point. But this long term vision
this guy has. I think he has it, and I
think that we're starting to see it. Somebody who didn't
(12:16):
have the luxury of a long term plan and into
the fire is Jalen Mayfield, who you go back last year,
you spent most of his training camp playing right tackle
or competing at the right tackle spot. They have an
injury issue at left guard, gets thrown in their ps.
He was a college offensive tackle, not a guard. So
he gets legit thrown into the fire, has a rough
(12:38):
first game, and then becomes pariah level criticized by the
fan base as to what's wrong with this offensive line?
And one thing that I he stands in front of
the podium so often. After that Eagles game, he stood
there and took arrows from reporters and dealt with it
with class and maturity and perspective. Right. I have a
(13:00):
lot of respect for that, Yeah, I really do. Now,
is he going to start our left guard? It's been
an Elijah Wilkinson's gig to this point, so I don't know.
But I still don't think it's like, Okay, we're ready
to give up on Jaylen Mayfield right now? Right? And
I do think that would be unfair to say that
because even though right now we're seeing a lot of
Elijah Wilkinson. But Arthur Smith has been very candid in
(13:22):
the fact that Jaylen Mayfield is working through a lower
back end issue. We talked to Jaylen today about kind
of what that means for him. He was out at
practice today. We're recording this on Monday. You're probably listening
to this on Tuesday, correct, So he was back out
at practice and Arthur Smith did say that they're kind
of going to take it through the week before making
a decision as to if they want to see him
(13:44):
in Detroit on Friday. So this is all very kind
of up in the air right now. But for Jaylen Mayfield,
he was talking like, I want to, like, if I'm
at a hundred, I'm playing, I want to go out
there and show people that I'm not who I was
in your one And I know, like for the offensive
line specifically offensive players, specifically, when you talk about the
(14:06):
jump that you make from one from year one to
year two, I think you see it most in offensive lineman.
I'm not saying that Jayleen Mayfield's gonna go out there
and just like play fantastic and it's just going to
be night and day. But I am saying that I
do believe that there is going to be a shift
for him. Now does does that shift come in week one?
Are we talking about him being a week one starter?
(14:27):
I'm not sure because Elijah Wilkinson every day since what
day one, right, he has been at that quote unquote
starting left guard spot. So how much are we going
to see Jaylen Mayfield? Right? I don't know. I can't
say yet. Yeah, and I think it's almost time to
figure out who you're starting five is going to because
those guys got to build chemistry together. Here's the thing,
(14:49):
I actually think that I'm willing to wait a little
while longer. You are, m If we want to go
ahead and talk about the Drewdalmon Matt Hennessy thing, Yeah,
might as well. Drew Dalmon, another guy in this class
that they drafted last year, are going to play an
important role. But we don't know that for sure yet
because every single day Drew Doalmond and Matt Henessey are
switching the first to be It's like you don't know
(15:10):
who's going to start. Yeah, it's every it's every other day.
And Arthur Smith was very candid. I think when We
talked to him on Saturday about that and wanting to
see who commands this offense everything like that. But the
way he was talking made me feel like they're gonna
take this until they have to make a decision with
Drew Doalmond and Matt Hennessey, because I do think that
they are very much right there in lockstep with each other.
(15:32):
And so I think, I know you're talking about like
building chemistry, and I know that's something that Arthur Smith
talked about, like you want to set this, you know,
in order for them to get that way. But I
talked to Chris Lyndstrom and I think it was Jake Matthews,
and I asked the question. I was like, is there
a point in time? And I also asked Drew Doalmont
and Matt Henessy this is this. Is there a point
in time where you feel like this offensive line needs
(15:53):
to be set? And they all said not really, We're
all working with each other. We're all in the like
we're all in the clubhouse, clubhouse. This is, we're all
in the meeting rooms together, like we know what's up,
we know what chemistry we have with one another. So
that to me says like they're fine if this coaching
staff wants to push this center rotation to figure out
(16:14):
the a fair assessment on who they want starting week one,
take it to the third game of the preseason. I'm
okay with that. I'm okay if you if we see
both of them a lot in the first and second
game of preseason. You know what, one of my favorite
versions of Tory is passionate as heck about something Tory,
And that's what we just thought, right, And I just
(16:36):
think it's so important. I think you're right. Yeah, And
Arthur talked a lot about that position needing to be
confident and decisive, yes, right, making choices too often last year,
not saying Matt Ryan was doing Matt Hennessy's job, but
he was in charge of of the some center responsibilities.
That center needs to own that spot. They need to
(16:57):
find a guy who can be decisive. I'm now joining
your side right that we can push it. And the
only way that you're gonna find out if you're decisive
is if you go through some games with something guys,
and they're gonna need that type of rotation. So the
preseason games are yes, yeah, yeah, these preseason games are
going to to show. Who's going to be in that
(17:18):
center position for sure? Um, like you said, you know,
Matt Ryan had had to do a lot of what
Matt Hennessey's job last year, and um, you know, I
think Drew Dalmand he's he's very confident. If he does
get this position, he's going I think he's going to
great even in his second year. Yeah, it's it's definitely
interesting about what they have going on up front, and
(17:38):
they have. We talked about the cornerbacks having veterans and
Casey Hey, we're gonna play every down. Angie Truell gonna
play every down. So that makes you wonder, like where
does Darren Hall fit into all this? He played mostly
in the slot last year. I feel like we're seeing
him sparingly. Okay, Um, we've seen him a lot on
the outside during training camp. I think because he spoke
(17:59):
on Monday as well. Yes, he looks a little bigger.
Um he does. He's definitely physical and he's a fun
guy to watch out there. Yeah, whether he makes a
mistake or he makes a play. He's going one hundred
miles per hour. Yeah. Now he's ready. He's I think
he's ready for this season. He talked about what he
worked on the light in this offseason, just getting faster,
getting bigger. Um. And you know, although we know Terrell
(18:20):
and Hayward are going to primarily be in those positions
for most of the time, I think when you put
Darren Hall in there, he's going to shine and perform
when his name is called. And you know, that was
the gist of what he talked about on Monday, you know,
at the presser, um, and you could just see that energy.
Although he's a young guy and he's playing alongside some veterans, Um,
you know, he's ready and he's ready to get on
(18:40):
the field. And UM, I think you know, if if
he plays a lot this season, he's going to do great. Yeah,
it's it's it's an interesting thing. And the further that
we get down the list, we're going to talk less
probably would be about starters. And it's okay if you
draft a guy in the fourth round and he ends
up being solid injury protection for you. That's what I
was Yeah, Yeah, that's what I was gonna says. Darren
Hall's a good depth piece and that's completely fine and
(19:04):
completely normal. I don't think like he has to be
a star, especially when you do have Aj and Casey,
who are year leaders of this defense. In my opinion, yeah, yeah,
and so I think that's fine. He does play with
a lot of confidence. He's he's he's a louder dude.
I'm a fan of his. He came from he went
to San Diego State. I'm from Sea. There's a little
bit of a bias there and covered that team one
(19:25):
time billion thousand years ago. But nonetheless, you know, I
think that that's another kind of important piece, and talking
about rotational guys, guys are going to fit in to
Quon Graham as another one of those guys. They didn't
do a lot of adding to the defensive line, and frankly,
the guys they added are all gone, Yes, they all retired.
Vincent Taylor's now on injured reserve with the ruptured his
(19:47):
achilles tendon. Brutal for a guy who hurt his ankle
in the season opener last year and then missed the
next sixteen games. You just feel for him. But to
Quon Graham, a fifth round pick, he is I guess
we could call him Grady Jarrett's protege because well originally
that was Marlon right, right, So are you are you
(20:08):
changing that up now. I just I talked to to
Quan during the offseason. He just said that Grady Jarrett
is the type of guy that he looks up to.
Grady Jarrett was a fifth round pick. To quant is
a fifth round pick. Everybody said Grady was too short
to play in this league. Everyone thinks is to Quan
big enough to play in this defensive scheme. And Grady Jarrett,
(20:28):
who is a big fan as well, expects big things
from this guy. Now, does that mean like seven sacks
or something, No, because that's not the position that he plays.
But he's a big, strong dude and they're going to
count on him, right, Yes, Okay, So here's the thing
about to Quon Graham is somebody who I feel like
we haven't talked about enough in training camp. He is
rotating in with the starting defensive line. Arthur Smith has
(20:51):
talked a lot over the last week, especially now that
Pads have gone on, about how he's pretty pleased with
how the front seven is working, and to Quon Graham's
right there in there. Today. We saw, you know, they're
working on run defense and all that kind of stuff today,
but we saw Grady Jared Anthony rush into Kuon Graham
lining up with each other a lot, a lot, And
(21:12):
I think that is very very interesting in terms of
kind of what you expect this defensive line to look like.
And I think to Quon Graham's development is a reason
why this coaching staff is okay with what's transpired with
some of the other defensive linemen that they've brought in.
I think they feel really good about where to Quon
Graham is right now. I asked Arthur Smith about that,
and you know, I was like, I feel like he's
(21:33):
somebody you talk about that jump. Feel like he's somebody
who's making that jump. And he was like, yeah, we
feel good about where he's at in terms of what
we need from him. Has he been rotating with Marlon
Davency Well Camp, Yeah a bit. I think it's been
kind of like what the thing is is, like I
tell people this all the time, like when it comes
to fronts, like Dean P's like run, So it's just
(21:55):
it's just a multiple front like so sometimes you're going
to see different guys. That's why I say, like, unquote
starters doesn't really matter to me at like on that
front seven just because he has so many packages, because
Grady's gonna play every down, and when Anthony Rush, who's
every bit of three forty, is in the middle, then you've, yeah,
you've got Davidson and Graham kind of work in there.
(22:17):
It does seem like Graham has a little bit of
an edge there, I think. I think so. I think
I've seen him more recently than I've seen Marlin right um,
And I think that that's going to be a good thing.
You know what I'm noticing as we're going through this,
it's kind of like a lot of positivity here when
it comes to this draft class. I feel good about him. Yeah,
I think you do. And I'm sure people listening will
(22:38):
drop some YouTube comments saying that, like Janlee Mayfield's the
worst player that we've ever seen in the history of
the offensive line play. Yeah, You're gonna get a little
pushback from us, and I think that's okay. But I
think that as we look at this class, Tory, the
only bigger roster construction nerd than me is her Um
And I think that these in terms of building a
roster and a two slash three deep, that these guys
(23:01):
are obviously going to play a factor. You have to
talk about him and I think I actually was talking
to Jayleen Mayfield today and I asked him the question about,
like do you see this like your draft class, Like,
how do you see them? How do you see guys
making a jump from year one to year two? And
he said something that I thought was very interesting, and
he was like, look, we understand the position that our
(23:22):
draft classes in we were the first class of the
Terry Fontineau Arthur Smith regime. There's some added pressure to
that because this is the first one that they this
first class really they stuck their name on. So these
are the guys that we are gonna use to build
a foundation as we transition this thing. So for Jaylen
(23:45):
Mayfield to say like that this draft class is very
cognizant of that in their role in this transition, I
think was very interesting in terms of like the big
picture of why this draft class is so important to
not just the twenty twenty two team, but I'm talking
twenty three, twenty four as well. Yeah, and how you
build teams, And I won't get too far down the
rabbit hole, I swear is nailing these middle round picks,
(24:07):
and that doesn't mean like that's how you build roster depth.
It doesn't mean Darren Hall needs to start this year
or next year or any year, but is there solid
injury protection? Can you survive those types of things? I
think these guys help those types of things. Um, audi Ogandiji,
we finally got to Oh my gosh, I was waiting
(24:28):
for Auday. Okay, you talk about Darren Hall looking different.
Audi Ogendaiji walked up to me for an interview Friday afternoon.
Dude has put on some muscle. He looks so different
than he did a year ago. Because I remember last
year thinking that auDA was like kind of a little skeeny,
(24:49):
like I talked to him Monday, he said he lost
weight during the season. Ye kind of wore on him blassically. Yeah.
And so now he walked up to me and I
was like, all right, dude, like get after it. Like
he looks the part more now than he ever has.
And I think when we're talking about this, I wrote
a whole story about it, so shameless plug go read
(25:10):
my story on auDA in his overall development, what they
believe him to be. But back in October of last year,
I was talking to Ted Monichino, who is the outside
linebacker coach, and he made the comment. Then he was like,
we expect auDA at some point to be the bell
cow of this position group because we know this position
(25:31):
group is going to have significant turnover. We're gonna have
a lot of guys coming in and out of this building.
What have we seen in the last year, a lot
of guys coming in and out of this building. The
only person in this position group who has returned from
last year with significant reps under his belt is auDA.
He's going to be a quote unquote starter. I use
quote unquote starter because again, rotations are important, but he
(25:52):
is going to be a very important part of this defense.
And I would argue that like we are seeing him
be the quote unquote Bill Caw of the room. Like
what Ted was talking about in October of last year.
I think everybody's is going to look at Lorenzo Carter
and then look at Arnold e a Katie because he's
drafted so high as like, well that's that's that's sure.
(26:14):
And he almost gets kind of lost in the shuffle
he does. And he's such a quiet dude. Yeah, such
such a like quiet guy. And that was something else
that I was talking to Ted about. He was like,
you know, we want Addie to be a leader, but
like that's not his thing. Like he's very quiet and
he just goes out and does what he's supposed to do.
And he was like, all I gotta do is put
a green dot on him in the meeting room and say,
(26:36):
all right, he did that. Go do that when he's
talking about like ak and DeAngelo. Yeah, And he said
something interesting Thoughver the course of the offseason, he did
a lot of film study of himself obviously, but others.
He talked about watching Max Crosby and Sam Hubbard from
the Bengals, guys he thinks are kind of long armed.
They're similarly built, and similarly they have this like similar
(26:57):
skill sets and kind of watching how they went about
their business. Obviously Max Crosby has become a big time player,
and just kind of how he can use his because
he's super long, right and he put on some muscle,
and how he can use his skills to improve. So
I think that's interesting. This another one of those guys
(27:18):
that is going to kind of fit into this group.
Is gonna high expectations. Avery Williams. We all know, right,
he's switched from slot cornerback and really defensive back over
to the offensive side. He played running back in high school.
I think it's it's it's an interesting move whether you
wrote about this story, so I won't talk too much
about it. But he's a return man first, yes, and
(27:41):
anywhere else second. Yeah, but they're working to try to
see where he can fit in. Yeah. No, you're absolutely right,
And I think that's something that I tried to get
across when I did write about Avery Williams. I'm like, yeah,
like this is fun and flashy that he's making this
transition to running back, but do not forget that Avery
Williams is at his best when a punt lens in
his hands. And I think that is a little bit
(28:04):
Like everybody's talking about his move to running back, and
I think I'm not putting words in his mouth to
say that. Avery would be like, yeah, the move to
running back is just a plus. He knows why he
was drafted. He knows his role is to be a
special teams guy and to perform on special teams. He
said his goal of twenty twenty two was to be
one of the best special teams players in the league.
(28:25):
Like that's his goal. He didn't say he wanted to
be a three down running back. He said he wanted
to be a good, nay great special teams player, So
don't forget that while he's doing all this that that
is his bread and butter. And I do think that
there is value in kind of having him play running back,
(28:46):
because something that Dave Ragon has talked about a lot
when they were talking about Cordirell Patterson and his success
in twenty twenty one was about like making like the
running back, like making these plays kind of morph into
like returns, like right, it's from a vision standpoint like,
and I think that coincides with what we see from
Avery Williams and making it to where it's like, Okay,
(29:08):
this is interesting. It look kind of looks like what
I would look like if I'm returning a punt, Like
here's the holes, Here's how everything morphs out. So that's
my two cents. You can also read that story on
Atlanta Howkens dot com. Um. Yeah, but he's you can't
read too much into how somebody's being used in camp.
But I think that we've seen him work in with
(29:30):
upper level units there. Yeah, that this was Arthur Smith's idea.
This wasn't Michael Petrie's idea wasn't. Avery Williams's idea was Arthur's,
and it was an idea that kind of was set
from the get go right to be honest, Yes, that's
something that is oft forgotten. Yes, yes, that Arthur Smith
after they drafted Avery Williams said, you know, maybe we
could see him on offense. Yeah, that after he was drafted.
(29:52):
And he looks comfortable. He has been getting a lot
of reps at the running bag position. He's very shifty,
can squeezet, wore holes really easily, relatively smaller guy, So, um,
he looks comfortable. I think I've been seeing him a
lot at the running back position during training camp. Yeah.
And if if they can find ways to get him
in space and let him weave through the slippery shifty
(30:15):
step right then why not. And if it doesn't work
out out, you got a core special teams player in
the fifth round. Again, not a bad thing. So as
we're rounding out this discussion, Frank Darby was the last
pick of this twenty twenty one draft. The Arizona State
Products didn't play a whole lot last year. That was
some injuries and things like that, and he's kind of
(30:38):
on the fringes of being able to make the team again.
I think that we need to see a pretty good
preseason from him to really for him to force the
issue because this receiver corps is so much different than
it was last year. You think Drakelund and Brian Edwards,
Elamide absolute mortal locks. Ye, I think is probably in
(31:01):
there right. So now you're at four, whether you keep
five or six, yeah, you know, it starts becoming difficult
because they have a there's a lot of guys Geronimo Allison,
Cadaryl Hodge, DeMier Bird, there's a lot of guys for
those positions. Can he fit in there? I think that's
a big question mark and it's tough because he is
his personality plus, oh everybody, I mean everybody loves Frank.
I feel like every comment I ever see on like
(31:23):
Twitter or Instagram or Facebook or whatever about Frank Derby
is like, gosh, we love him as a person, like
we just want him to like, you know, in order
for him to be a fan favorite, he has to
see the field. You can't be a fan favorite and
not make the team. So going off of all of this,
talking to Frank Derby today, it's funny I feel like
I talked to all of these guys within the last
(31:44):
like four days. But talking to Frank today, you're talking
about this preseason being really important for him. He knows
that he does. He very much knows and understands like
and he even said, he was like, you know, I
am really excited for the preseason to show where I
can do at receiver. He was like, it's been so
long since I've been on the field as a receiver,
(32:05):
and I think that's something that people like don't cognizantly
think about when it's when you're thinking about Frank Darby,
like he did play some special teams reps, and you know,
but he wants to be He was drafted to be
a receiver and he wants to be a receiver. And
he even said I was asking him about his relationship
with Elamida Sakias and how he sees maybe his role
(32:29):
mimicking that of Alamidas because they from a size standpoint,
they're kind of similar. And he said he was like
when I first got in here and I really started
watching and met Oz, he was like, I told our
receiver coach, like, I want to be Oz. I want
to be versatile like Oz is and so he wants
to show in these preseason games that he can be
(32:52):
like that, that he can be a value in the
way that Oz kind of is right. And I talked
to a story and undrafted guy, Stanley berry Hill. I'm
not going to get too far off the beaten path here,
but he was. He also talked about being inspired by Elambade,
who was an undrafted guy who made the roster out
of an excellent training camp, cut his teeth on special teams,
(33:12):
and found his way on offense over the course of
three years and now he's one of Arthur Smith's favorite players.
So those I geek out over stories like that, you
know a guy who was really good at Virginia and
found his way. And that's what needs to happen with
some of these, you know, guys on the bottom and
if you if you look at it, and even if
you don't get maximum return, the best possible scenario for
(33:34):
every one of these guys, there's still a great opportunity
for this twenty twenty one draft class to not only
make an impact and get them through this transition, but
also remind them, hey, when you look at needs, you're
good on cornerbacks. Because I'm Darren Hall and I'm and
I'm a top tier number four, right, and I think
that those things are important. You're obviously going to get
(33:55):
your star power out of Kyle Pitt. So that's our
twenty twenty one Draft class break down. Pressures on boys,
let it go. So yeah, obviously keep a close eye
on on them during the course of this preseason. We've
got the Detroit Lions game coming up on Fride, Friday night,
Friday night. Yeah. Man, it's all the days running together,
(34:17):
so there's a plenty to keep an eye on during
that preseason game. We've got you all set up and
we were going to keep bringing the analysis to you
on the Falcons Finals a podcast do your thing right,
like a five star review would be super dopey. Yeah yeah,
do that and uh you know, pump up our new
guy Ashton, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, let's yeah, let's do it. Yeah,
(34:39):
let let's do it. And uh yeah, man, um, stay
tuned for next week, probably next Tuesday, you'll hear our
voices again, breaking more, breaking down more Falconstock. Can I
just end this podcast? Why am I still talking? I
don't know. Just that is a scientific fact. All right,
I'm gonna shut up everybody. Se Men do be the
(35:08):
bet that the best
What's up, everybody, and welcome to another edition of The
Falcon's Final Whistle podcast. I'm Scott Bear sitting next to
Tory mclaney. Nope, not next to next to across fromm Yeah,
I mean, accuracy is our job. I mean that would
be a lie. You would be lying to our lessoners.
I'd have to issue at Yeah, yeah, correction on the
(00:25):
bottom of a two. That's what I would do. So
Tory mclaney is across from me, and I guess we'll
say adjacent there you go to me? Is Ashton Edmunds
really give them a layout of the road. Yeah, yeah,
this is this is my office. There's essentially nothing in
it because I'm not fashionable, or you choose to decorate
the office. I meant of Roddy White and Claude Humphrey.
(00:49):
I have one of my Michael Vick that's gonna go
up Michael Vick, right, uh yeah, the legend, not Mike Michael.
And speaking of Michael Vick, all I will say is
the ultimate tease. Keep an eye out for the website
if you happen to be a Michael Vick fan. Just
just kind of bookmarket check back every day. I mean
I don't know, maybe he's going to show up there
at some point in the near future. It's anybody's guests. Yeah,
(01:12):
but we are not here to talk about the former
Falcons great former number one pick Michael Vick. We are
here to talk about some other draft, yes, another set
of draft picks. The twenty twenty one draft class, Terry
Fontno and Arthur Smith's first as members of the Falcons.
(01:32):
And you always hear it, right, it's almost cliche to
this point, the big jump that is made between year
one and year two. The rookies coming in have basically
had like a three month job interview during the pre
draft process. Then they get dropped in for rookie mini camp,
but then they're off and running and they don't stop
working until January, right, So there's a lot going on.
(01:52):
All these guys that were going to talk about have
had a full offseason to exhale, to relax a little bit,
and find ways to improving it better than what they
didst year. A lot of these guys that we're going
to talk about, we're gonna kind of go down the list,
I would say, and break down all these different guys.
A lot of these guys played a lot a lot
last year, maybe more than they had planned. Yeah, oh yeah,
I mean you think about Jaylen Mayfield. I don't think
(02:14):
that was supposed to be a thing, right, there's said
that wasn't supposed to be a thing. Absolutely not. He
talks a lot about long term vision for some of
these players, and I think that his long term vision
and the expectations for some of the guys that we're
going to talk about have obviously changed. We're gonna go
through the whole list, and as we wrote it down,
we're like, man, that's a lot of draft picks, a
lot of people. Yeah, and a lot of guys had
a lot of different positions. I think a lot of
(02:35):
guys that the Falcons are going to be counting on
in the twenty twenty two season. So let's just get
started with the big man. Drumroll please, unlike last time
when I was so surprised and Tory actually did it. Yeah,
but anyway, the big guy, I'm frank too. It is
(02:55):
Kyle Pitts. Yeah. I don't know if you guys have
heard of him, but no, never, he's a pretty good never.
Yeah at at the scam of football. Yeah, we're actually
recording this on Kyle Pitts Day eighth. Very exciting. UM.
So if you're on YouTube listening to this right now,
just go back to our YouTube page click on the
drive with Kyle Pitts. Um we take him through a
(03:16):
round of golf with him and his dad. There's also
a story that I wrote because I was fortunate enough
to be part of Kyle and Kelly Pitts entourage that day.
I will say this. Scott says, fortunate enough, and he said,
and I quote, I'm going to this right right. Nobody
really had an opportunity to go to this. I just
kind of like stuck a acclaim to it. And it
(03:36):
was freaking awesome. Because everyone thinks Kyle is quiet because
he's mild mannered in front of the camera. Not quiet,
He's hilarious, hilarious. Yes, he is super easy going and
you can tell, like everybody used the word swagger at okay,
I have no swagger right right, No, a little bit.
Oh my gosh, it's so sweet. I'm really gonna have
(03:58):
to figure out what that is and just try to
mimic it. But Kyle Pitts, He's just has this air
of like this confidence about him. This year where he
had over a thousand yards last year, almost beat Mike
did because record second best rookie by rookie tight end
ever pro bowler. That's like his floor now, yeah, right,
and that that is quote scratching the surface of who
(04:20):
he can be in the league. Per Arthur's right, Ashley,
this is your first training camp with the Falcons seeing
Kyle Pitts work every day. What are your impressions of
seeing him go about his business over the course of
the man He's He's been a big standout in training
camp so far. I think one of the biggest things
that he wanted to focus on this year is his
precision in route running, and you can see that in
(04:42):
training camp. He's been getting open a lot. I think
he's been one of Mariota's biggest targets. He finds hisself
an ends on the light and I think you could
see how you know that he put into work in
the offseason because it's showing here in training camp and
you know, I think you know, like you said, Kyle
Pitts is way more confident from last season, and you
can see him going into a second year, you know,
stepping into a leadership role amongst not only the Titan group,
(05:05):
but receiver group as a whole. So I think he's
gonna have a great year man, and you know, he's
off to a great start in training account. When you
think about elite tight ends, right, you think about Travis Kelcey,
you think about George Kiddoll, I think about Darren Waller,
Mark Andrews. Maybe is he in that class? Yes, yes,
he's an elite talent. Yeah. I mean, there's no way
(05:26):
that you can't put him in rank with all of
those guys. Not a chance. Like this is a guy
that what we were talking about, I had one of
the best rookie years for a Titan ever period full stop.
Ever he's only been the league for one Yeah, I
mean I think it is one of those things that
we are looking like, I don't you know. I know
(05:46):
arthursm is very much like don't put it on the
gold jacket before they've done anything like and I agree,
but with Kyle Pitts, like the guy's a menace, like
a nice menace to us, but like a menace on
the field. And I don't know. They they posted our
social team put this video together of like his highlights
from like year one, and it was like season two
loading and still my favorite thing that he did last
(06:08):
year was the stiff arm in Buffalo. Yeah. Man was like,
this guy is doing some really, really solid things for
this team, and he is a foundational part of an
organization that's going through a major transition. You know who
else thinks Kyle Pitts isn't it is an elite tight
end is George Kittle. George Kittle loves Kyle Pits And
(06:31):
George Kittle doesn't necessarily offer he's an energetic story. I
cover the forty unds for a while, but he is
so complimentary and I think that some of these other
tight ends they work together at these tight end camps
in Nashville, they had a chance to see each other
and this guy is just next level. And it's crazy.
You go back before the draft and everybody, or not everybody,
but there was a big level of consternation. That's the thing, right,
(06:53):
how can you take a tight end at four? Are
you insane? You're taking a tight end at four? We
need a quarterback, We need an x a premium position
quote unquote. I think they should be pretty happy with
the guy that they got. Yes, it was one of
the best choices I think the Falcons could have made easily. Um.
I mean, the guy is one of the greatest sight
ends in the league right now. He's so young, it's
(07:14):
only twenty one years old. I know, it's it's kind
of scary to think about what he's going to do,
you know in this league. Yeah, yeah, and the more help.
There was times last year where I kind of thought
it was Kyle Pitts and Cordero Patterson or punt right.
There just wasn't a lot of threats. So he was
getting shadowed by Stefan Gilmour. That was he said, that
(07:34):
was his welcome to the NFL moment, like that, dude
was a good or he's getting double teamed, or he's
getting schemed against chipped at the line. I think the
more options that you have, Drake London can establish himself,
if the wide, if Brian Edwards can be a threat,
then you can't do that to Kyle as much, and
I think that will open things up for him. Um.
So that was the easiest evaluation that we're going to
(07:55):
make during this podcast. Right, Kyle Pitts is awesome. We
know who he is, period, full stop. Yeah. Ritchie Grant
is a guy who When fans think of second higher
level picks, they think immediate impact, and if you don't
make an immediate impact, you're a failure and a bust.
And what the heck were they thinking? Because there's another
(08:19):
safety on another team that's doing better and they got
Richie Grant, who is um a core special teams player
and a slot guy, kind of like a big slot.
Arthur Smith when he talks about long term vision, it's
always about Richie, right, Yeah, that's always the example he uses, Right,
So where are we in this long term vision? I
think it's kind of like a transition period now where
(08:39):
the expectations go higher. Yes, no, I completely agree. I
mean when you look out, it's almost I feel very
secure in saying that. I think the safety quote unquote
rotation is set. I feel like from day one we
have known who's going to be your starting safeties. You
know it's Jalen Hawkins, and you know it's Richie Grant,
and that has been how it's been for the last
(09:00):
two weeks of camp. And I think that is very
very interesting. And I think Richie Grant a lot of times.
With Richie Grant, I think what he did in his
Rickie year goes unnoticed because you talked to Dean P's,
you talked to Arthur Smith. They said, they say, we
threw a lot at Richie Grant. We put a lot
on his shoulders. He was learning multiple positions in the
(09:21):
secondary and it doesn't stunt your growth in a way.
But I think that it is one of those things
that we have to consider that now in year two,
they know what they have in Ritchie and they are
very much specializing him to be that counterpart, counterpart to
Jalen Hawkins. And I know you wrote a story about
their connection, Scott, but like, I think that is the
(09:43):
most important because I said when Richie Grant was drafted
and that he was joining like Jaylen Hawkinson, even though
at the time you had Eric Harris and you had
n Harmon and you knew those guys were going to play.
But I said, the future of this position is Jalen
Hawkins and Richie Grant. We are actively seeing that come
to fruition right now. Yeah. And Kyle Pitts, Uh, Kyle
(10:06):
Pitts did talk about Richie Grant. He like, Richie's competitive
out there, He's still competitive and he seems very he
seems pretty comfortable, right, Like when you watch him out there, Yeah,
he got an interception today in practice, right, he didn't
ran it all the yeah, yeah, but he looks really comfortable.
I think the communication amongst that safety group is you
could see the chemistry building between him and Hawkins, Like
(10:27):
those guys are very energetic. They're they're always on the ball.
They're like you know, hawks or how you know what
I'm saying. And I think, um, you know, for Richie
Grant going into a second year, like he he looks
ready for this season, and I think that's the that's
the biggest thing that I've been noticing in training camp. Yeah,
and it's you know, it's it's so tough, right He
to your point, he was learning how to play the
(10:48):
slot and safety. There was a lot of things thrown
at him. I think a couple of times people kind
of maybe misinterpreted what Danps was saying about him learning
the like system, like maybe he's struggling learning the system
or his responsibilities. I don't think that comment. Yeah, that
comment was completely taken out of context by a lot
of people. It was not and then they ran with it. Yeah,
it wasn't Dean P's saying that Rachel Grant is super
(11:08):
far behind and like doesn't know the playbook. No, it's
because Dean was giving him a lot on his plate
to learn. And this is a guy who came from
UCF right a lot more simplified version of what he's
being asked to do exactly, and playing the slot in
Dean P's defense is not easy. So I think he's growing.
If you can get a productive three down safety, these
(11:31):
two younger guys paired with some veterans at the cornerback spot,
Heyward Terrell and most likely Isaiah Oliver, I think that's
a I think that's a pretty good group, and I'm
excited to see how Richie does handling all these things.
We're gonna start to getting into the preseason into the
regular season. I also, I hate when I lecture people,
but it's like, let's let's exercise some patients here, right.
(11:55):
Patience is not it's not a Falcons fans trademark, but
patient it is really. Look, they're gonna give up a
touchdown or two during the course of the season, it happens,
he's probably gonna get beat, he's probably gonna be out
of position at one point. But this long term vision
this guy has. I think he has it, and I
think that we're starting to see it. Somebody who didn't
(12:16):
have the luxury of a long term plan and into
the fire is Jalen Mayfield, who you go back last year,
you spent most of his training camp playing right tackle
or competing at the right tackle spot. They have an
injury issue at left guard, gets thrown in their ps.
He was a college offensive tackle, not a guard. So
he gets legit thrown into the fire, has a rough
(12:38):
first game, and then becomes pariah level criticized by the
fan base as to what's wrong with this offensive line?
And one thing that I he stands in front of
the podium so often. After that Eagles game, he stood
there and took arrows from reporters and dealt with it
with class and maturity and perspective. Right. I have a
(13:00):
lot of respect for that, Yeah, I really do. Now,
is he going to start our left guard? It's been
an Elijah Wilkinson's gig to this point, so I don't know.
But I still don't think it's like, Okay, we're ready
to give up on Jaylen Mayfield right now? Right? And
I do think that would be unfair to say that
because even though right now we're seeing a lot of
Elijah Wilkinson. But Arthur Smith has been very candid in
(13:22):
the fact that Jaylen Mayfield is working through a lower
back end issue. We talked to Jaylen today about kind
of what that means for him. He was out at
practice today. We're recording this on Monday. You're probably listening
to this on Tuesday, correct, So he was back out
at practice and Arthur Smith did say that they're kind
of going to take it through the week before making
a decision as to if they want to see him
(13:44):
in Detroit on Friday. So this is all very kind
of up in the air right now. But for Jaylen Mayfield,
he was talking like, I want to, like, if I'm
at a hundred, I'm playing, I want to go out
there and show people that I'm not who I was
in your one And I know, like for the offensive
line specifically offensive players, specifically, when you talk about the
(14:06):
jump that you make from one from year one to
year two, I think you see it most in offensive lineman.
I'm not saying that Jayleen Mayfield's gonna go out there
and just like play fantastic and it's just going to
be night and day. But I am saying that I
do believe that there is going to be a shift
for him. Now does does that shift come in week one?
Are we talking about him being a week one starter?
(14:27):
I'm not sure because Elijah Wilkinson every day since what
day one, right, he has been at that quote unquote
starting left guard spot. So how much are we going
to see Jaylen Mayfield? Right? I don't know. I can't
say yet. Yeah, and I think it's almost time to
figure out who you're starting five is going to because
those guys got to build chemistry together. Here's the thing,
(14:49):
I actually think that I'm willing to wait a little
while longer. You are, m If we want to go
ahead and talk about the Drewdalmon Matt Hennessy thing, Yeah,
might as well. Drew Dalmon, another guy in this class
that they drafted last year, are going to play an
important role. But we don't know that for sure yet
because every single day Drew Doalmond and Matt Henessey are
switching the first to be It's like you don't know
(15:10):
who's going to start. Yeah, it's every it's every other day.
And Arthur Smith was very candid. I think when We
talked to him on Saturday about that and wanting to
see who commands this offense everything like that. But the
way he was talking made me feel like they're gonna
take this until they have to make a decision with
Drew Doalmond and Matt Hennessey, because I do think that
they are very much right there in lockstep with each other.
(15:32):
And so I think, I know you're talking about like
building chemistry, and I know that's something that Arthur Smith
talked about, like you want to set this, you know,
in order for them to get that way. But I
talked to Chris Lyndstrom and I think it was Jake Matthews,
and I asked the question. I was like, is there
a point in time? And I also asked Drew Doalmont
and Matt Henessy this is this. Is there a point
in time where you feel like this offensive line needs
(15:53):
to be set? And they all said not really, We're
all working with each other. We're all in the like
we're all in the clubhouse, clubhouse. This is, we're all
in the meeting rooms together, like we know what's up,
we know what chemistry we have with one another. So
that to me says like they're fine if this coaching
staff wants to push this center rotation to figure out
(16:14):
the a fair assessment on who they want starting week one,
take it to the third game of the preseason. I'm
okay with that. I'm okay if you if we see
both of them a lot in the first and second
game of preseason. You know what, one of my favorite
versions of Tory is passionate as heck about something Tory,
And that's what we just thought, right, And I just
(16:36):
think it's so important. I think you're right. Yeah, And
Arthur talked a lot about that position needing to be
confident and decisive, yes, right, making choices too often last year,
not saying Matt Ryan was doing Matt Hennessy's job, but
he was in charge of of the some center responsibilities.
That center needs to own that spot. They need to
(16:57):
find a guy who can be decisive. I'm now joining
your side right that we can push it. And the
only way that you're gonna find out if you're decisive
is if you go through some games with something guys,
and they're gonna need that type of rotation. So the
preseason games are yes, yeah, yeah, these preseason games are
going to to show. Who's going to be in that
(17:18):
center position for sure? Um, like you said, you know,
Matt Ryan had had to do a lot of what
Matt Hennessey's job last year, and um, you know, I
think Drew Dalmand he's he's very confident. If he does
get this position, he's going I think he's going to
great even in his second year. Yeah, it's it's definitely
interesting about what they have going on up front, and
(17:38):
they have. We talked about the cornerbacks having veterans and
Casey Hey, we're gonna play every down. Angie Truell gonna
play every down. So that makes you wonder, like where
does Darren Hall fit into all this? He played mostly
in the slot last year. I feel like we're seeing
him sparingly. Okay, Um, we've seen him a lot on
the outside during training camp. I think because he spoke
(17:59):
on Monday as well. Yes, he looks a little bigger.
Um he does. He's definitely physical and he's a fun
guy to watch out there. Yeah, whether he makes a
mistake or he makes a play. He's going one hundred
miles per hour. Yeah. Now he's ready. He's I think
he's ready for this season. He talked about what he
worked on the light in this offseason, just getting faster,
getting bigger. Um. And you know, although we know Terrell
(18:20):
and Hayward are going to primarily be in those positions
for most of the time, I think when you put
Darren Hall in there, he's going to shine and perform
when his name is called. And you know, that was
the gist of what he talked about on Monday, you know,
at the presser, um, and you could just see that energy.
Although he's a young guy and he's playing alongside some veterans, Um,
you know, he's ready and he's ready to get on
(18:40):
the field. And UM, I think you know, if if
he plays a lot this season, he's going to do great. Yeah,
it's it's it's an interesting thing. And the further that
we get down the list, we're going to talk less
probably would be about starters. And it's okay if you
draft a guy in the fourth round and he ends
up being solid injury protection for you. That's what I
was Yeah, Yeah, that's what I was gonna says. Darren
Hall's a good depth piece and that's completely fine and
(19:04):
completely normal. I don't think like he has to be
a star, especially when you do have Aj and Casey,
who are year leaders of this defense. In my opinion, yeah, yeah,
and so I think that's fine. He does play with
a lot of confidence. He's he's he's a louder dude.
I'm a fan of his. He came from he went
to San Diego State. I'm from Sea. There's a little
bit of a bias there and covered that team one
(19:25):
time billion thousand years ago. But nonetheless, you know, I
think that that's another kind of important piece, and talking
about rotational guys, guys are going to fit in to
Quon Graham as another one of those guys. They didn't
do a lot of adding to the defensive line, and frankly,
the guys they added are all gone, Yes, they all retired.
Vincent Taylor's now on injured reserve with the ruptured his
(19:47):
achilles tendon. Brutal for a guy who hurt his ankle
in the season opener last year and then missed the
next sixteen games. You just feel for him. But to
Quon Graham, a fifth round pick, he is I guess
we could call him Grady Jarrett's protege because well originally
that was Marlon right, right, So are you are you
(20:08):
changing that up now. I just I talked to to
Quan during the offseason. He just said that Grady Jarrett
is the type of guy that he looks up to.
Grady Jarrett was a fifth round pick. To quant is
a fifth round pick. Everybody said Grady was too short
to play in this league. Everyone thinks is to Quan
big enough to play in this defensive scheme. And Grady Jarrett,
(20:28):
who is a big fan as well, expects big things
from this guy. Now, does that mean like seven sacks
or something, No, because that's not the position that he plays.
But he's a big, strong dude and they're going to
count on him, right, Yes, Okay, So here's the thing
about to Quon Graham is somebody who I feel like
we haven't talked about enough in training camp. He is
rotating in with the starting defensive line. Arthur Smith has
(20:51):
talked a lot over the last week, especially now that
Pads have gone on, about how he's pretty pleased with
how the front seven is working, and to Quon Graham's
right there in there. Today. We saw, you know, they're
working on run defense and all that kind of stuff today,
but we saw Grady Jared Anthony rush into Kuon Graham
lining up with each other a lot, a lot, And
(21:12):
I think that is very very interesting in terms of
kind of what you expect this defensive line to look like.
And I think to Quon Graham's development is a reason
why this coaching staff is okay with what's transpired with
some of the other defensive linemen that they've brought in.
I think they feel really good about where to Quon
Graham is right now. I asked Arthur Smith about that,
and you know, I was like, I feel like he's
(21:33):
somebody you talk about that jump. Feel like he's somebody
who's making that jump. And he was like, yeah, we
feel good about where he's at in terms of what
we need from him. Has he been rotating with Marlon
Davency Well Camp, Yeah a bit. I think it's been
kind of like what the thing is is, like I
tell people this all the time, like when it comes
to fronts, like Dean P's like run, So it's just
(21:55):
it's just a multiple front like so sometimes you're going
to see different guys. That's why I say, like, unquote
starters doesn't really matter to me at like on that
front seven just because he has so many packages, because
Grady's gonna play every down, and when Anthony Rush, who's
every bit of three forty, is in the middle, then you've, yeah,
you've got Davidson and Graham kind of work in there.
(22:17):
It does seem like Graham has a little bit of
an edge there, I think. I think so. I think
I've seen him more recently than I've seen Marlin right um,
And I think that that's going to be a good thing.
You know what I'm noticing as we're going through this,
it's kind of like a lot of positivity here when
it comes to this draft class. I feel good about him. Yeah,
I think you do. And I'm sure people listening will
(22:38):
drop some YouTube comments saying that, like Janlee Mayfield's the
worst player that we've ever seen in the history of
the offensive line play. Yeah, You're gonna get a little
pushback from us, and I think that's okay. But I
think that as we look at this class, Tory, the
only bigger roster construction nerd than me is her Um
And I think that these in terms of building a
roster and a two slash three deep, that these guys
(23:01):
are obviously going to play a factor. You have to
talk about him and I think I actually was talking
to Jayleen Mayfield today and I asked him the question about,
like do you see this like your draft class, Like,
how do you see them? How do you see guys
making a jump from year one to year two? And
he said something that I thought was very interesting, and
he was like, look, we understand the position that our
(23:22):
draft classes in we were the first class of the
Terry Fontineau Arthur Smith regime. There's some added pressure to
that because this is the first one that they this
first class really they stuck their name on. So these
are the guys that we are gonna use to build
a foundation as we transition this thing. So for Jaylen
(23:45):
Mayfield to say like that this draft class is very
cognizant of that in their role in this transition, I
think was very interesting in terms of like the big
picture of why this draft class is so important to
not just the twenty twenty two team, but I'm talking
twenty three, twenty four as well. Yeah, and how you
build teams, And I won't get too far down the
rabbit hole, I swear is nailing these middle round picks,
(24:07):
and that doesn't mean like that's how you build roster depth.
It doesn't mean Darren Hall needs to start this year
or next year or any year, but is there solid
injury protection? Can you survive those types of things? I
think these guys help those types of things. Um, audi Ogandiji,
we finally got to Oh my gosh, I was waiting
(24:28):
for Auday. Okay, you talk about Darren Hall looking different.
Audi Ogendaiji walked up to me for an interview Friday afternoon.
Dude has put on some muscle. He looks so different
than he did a year ago. Because I remember last
year thinking that auDA was like kind of a little skeeny,
(24:49):
like I talked to him Monday, he said he lost
weight during the season. Ye kind of wore on him blassically. Yeah.
And so now he walked up to me and I
was like, all right, dude, like get after it. Like
he looks the part more now than he ever has.
And I think when we're talking about this, I wrote
a whole story about it, so shameless plug go read
(25:10):
my story on auDA in his overall development, what they
believe him to be. But back in October of last year,
I was talking to Ted Monichino, who is the outside
linebacker coach, and he made the comment. Then he was like,
we expect auDA at some point to be the bell
cow of this position group because we know this position
(25:31):
group is going to have significant turnover. We're gonna have
a lot of guys coming in and out of this building.
What have we seen in the last year, a lot
of guys coming in and out of this building. The
only person in this position group who has returned from
last year with significant reps under his belt is auDA.
He's going to be a quote unquote starter. I use
quote unquote starter because again, rotations are important, but he
(25:52):
is going to be a very important part of this defense.
And I would argue that like we are seeing him
be the quote unquote Bill Caw of the room. Like
what Ted was talking about in October of last year.
I think everybody's is going to look at Lorenzo Carter
and then look at Arnold e a Katie because he's
drafted so high as like, well that's that's that's sure.
(26:14):
And he almost gets kind of lost in the shuffle
he does. And he's such a quiet dude. Yeah, such
such a like quiet guy. And that was something else
that I was talking to Ted about. He was like,
you know, we want Addie to be a leader, but
like that's not his thing. Like he's very quiet and
he just goes out and does what he's supposed to do.
And he was like, all I gotta do is put
a green dot on him in the meeting room and say,
(26:36):
all right, he did that. Go do that when he's
talking about like ak and DeAngelo. Yeah, And he said
something interesting Thoughver the course of the offseason, he did
a lot of film study of himself obviously, but others.
He talked about watching Max Crosby and Sam Hubbard from
the Bengals, guys he thinks are kind of long armed.
They're similarly built, and similarly they have this like similar
(26:57):
skill sets and kind of watching how they went about
their business. Obviously Max Crosby has become a big time player,
and just kind of how he can use his because
he's super long, right and he put on some muscle,
and how he can use his skills to improve. So
I think that's interesting. This another one of those guys
(27:18):
that is going to kind of fit into this group.
Is gonna high expectations. Avery Williams. We all know, right,
he's switched from slot cornerback and really defensive back over
to the offensive side. He played running back in high school.
I think it's it's it's an interesting move whether you
wrote about this story, so I won't talk too much
about it. But he's a return man first, yes, and
(27:41):
anywhere else second. Yeah, but they're working to try to
see where he can fit in. Yeah. No, you're absolutely right,
And I think that's something that I tried to get
across when I did write about Avery Williams. I'm like, yeah,
like this is fun and flashy that he's making this
transition to running back, but do not forget that Avery
Williams is at his best when a punt lens in
his hands. And I think that is a little bit
(28:04):
Like everybody's talking about his move to running back, and
I think I'm not putting words in his mouth to
say that. Avery would be like, yeah, the move to
running back is just a plus. He knows why he
was drafted. He knows his role is to be a
special teams guy and to perform on special teams. He
said his goal of twenty twenty two was to be
one of the best special teams players in the league.
(28:25):
Like that's his goal. He didn't say he wanted to
be a three down running back. He said he wanted
to be a good, nay great special teams player, So
don't forget that while he's doing all this that that
is his bread and butter. And I do think that
there is value in kind of having him play running back,
(28:46):
because something that Dave Ragon has talked about a lot
when they were talking about Cordirell Patterson and his success
in twenty twenty one was about like making like the
running back, like making these plays kind of morph into
like returns, like right, it's from a vision standpoint like,
and I think that coincides with what we see from
Avery Williams and making it to where it's like, Okay,
(29:08):
this is interesting. It look kind of looks like what
I would look like if I'm returning a punt, Like
here's the holes, Here's how everything morphs out. So that's
my two cents. You can also read that story on
Atlanta Howkens dot com. Um. Yeah, but he's you can't
read too much into how somebody's being used in camp.
But I think that we've seen him work in with
(29:30):
upper level units there. Yeah, that this was Arthur Smith's idea.
This wasn't Michael Petrie's idea wasn't. Avery Williams's idea was Arthur's,
and it was an idea that kind of was set
from the get go right to be honest, Yes, that's
something that is oft forgotten. Yes, yes, that Arthur Smith
after they drafted Avery Williams said, you know, maybe we
could see him on offense. Yeah, that after he was drafted.
(29:52):
And he looks comfortable. He has been getting a lot
of reps at the running bag position. He's very shifty,
can squeezet, wore holes really easily, relatively smaller guy, So, um,
he looks comfortable. I think I've been seeing him a
lot at the running back position during training camp. Yeah.
And if if they can find ways to get him
in space and let him weave through the slippery shifty
(30:15):
step right then why not. And if it doesn't work
out out, you got a core special teams player in
the fifth round. Again, not a bad thing. So as
we're rounding out this discussion, Frank Darby was the last
pick of this twenty twenty one draft. The Arizona State
Products didn't play a whole lot last year. That was
some injuries and things like that, and he's kind of
(30:38):
on the fringes of being able to make the team again.
I think that we need to see a pretty good
preseason from him to really for him to force the
issue because this receiver corps is so much different than
it was last year. You think Drakelund and Brian Edwards,
Elamide absolute mortal locks. Ye, I think is probably in
(31:01):
there right. So now you're at four, whether you keep
five or six, yeah, you know, it starts becoming difficult
because they have a there's a lot of guys Geronimo Allison,
Cadaryl Hodge, DeMier Bird, there's a lot of guys for
those positions. Can he fit in there? I think that's
a big question mark and it's tough because he is
his personality plus, oh everybody, I mean everybody loves Frank.
I feel like every comment I ever see on like
(31:23):
Twitter or Instagram or Facebook or whatever about Frank Derby
is like, gosh, we love him as a person, like
we just want him to like, you know, in order
for him to be a fan favorite, he has to
see the field. You can't be a fan favorite and
not make the team. So going off of all of this,
talking to Frank Derby today, it's funny I feel like
I talked to all of these guys within the last
(31:44):
like four days. But talking to Frank today, you're talking
about this preseason being really important for him. He knows
that he does. He very much knows and understands like
and he even said, he was like, you know, I
am really excited for the preseason to show where I
can do at receiver. He was like, it's been so
long since I've been on the field as a receiver,
(32:05):
and I think that's something that people like don't cognizantly
think about when it's when you're thinking about Frank Darby,
like he did play some special teams reps, and you know,
but he wants to be He was drafted to be
a receiver and he wants to be a receiver. And
he even said I was asking him about his relationship
with Elamida Sakias and how he sees maybe his role
(32:29):
mimicking that of Alamidas because they from a size standpoint,
they're kind of similar. And he said he was like
when I first got in here and I really started
watching and met Oz, he was like, I told our
receiver coach, like, I want to be Oz. I want
to be versatile like Oz is and so he wants
to show in these preseason games that he can be
(32:52):
like that, that he can be a value in the
way that Oz kind of is right. And I talked
to a story and undrafted guy, Stanley berry Hill. I'm
not going to get too far off the beaten path here,
but he was. He also talked about being inspired by Elambade,
who was an undrafted guy who made the roster out
of an excellent training camp, cut his teeth on special teams,
(33:12):
and found his way on offense over the course of
three years and now he's one of Arthur Smith's favorite players.
So those I geek out over stories like that, you
know a guy who was really good at Virginia and
found his way. And that's what needs to happen with
some of these, you know, guys on the bottom and
if you if you look at it, and even if
you don't get maximum return, the best possible scenario for
(33:34):
every one of these guys, there's still a great opportunity
for this twenty twenty one draft class to not only
make an impact and get them through this transition, but
also remind them, hey, when you look at needs, you're
good on cornerbacks. Because I'm Darren Hall and I'm and
I'm a top tier number four, right, and I think
that those things are important. You're obviously going to get
(33:55):
your star power out of Kyle Pitt. So that's our
twenty twenty one Draft class break down. Pressures on boys,
let it go. So yeah, obviously keep a close eye
on on them during the course of this preseason. We've
got the Detroit Lions game coming up on Fride, Friday night,
Friday night. Yeah. Man, it's all the days running together,
(34:17):
so there's a plenty to keep an eye on during
that preseason game. We've got you all set up and
we were going to keep bringing the analysis to you
on the Falcons Finals a podcast do your thing right,
like a five star review would be super dopey. Yeah yeah,
do that and uh you know, pump up our new
guy Ashton, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, let's yeah, let's do it. Yeah,
(34:39):
let let's do it. And uh yeah, man, um, stay
tuned for next week, probably next Tuesday, you'll hear our
voices again, breaking more, breaking down more Falconstock. Can I
just end this podcast? Why am I still talking? I
don't know. Just that is a scientific fact. All right,
I'm gonna shut up everybody. Se Men do be the
(35:08):
bet that the best
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