Terrin Waack joins Will McFadden to break down all of the biggest storylines from week 2 of OTAs in Atlanta, including updates on rookie development, Kyle Pitts and what 2025 could look like for him, and a surprise "moment" from one of the open practices. Then Tori McElhaney joins the pod to talk to Will about his upcoming story about Bijan Robinson and the next steps in his evolution as a running back.
0:00 - Intro
1:53 - OTA rookie development
9:02 - Kyle Pitts update & expectations
13:36 - Mid-practice kerfuffle
20:00 - Tori joins the pod
20:44 - Bijan: Becoming more explosive
23:45 - Taking the next step
27:20 - Aiming for "house calls"
30:00 - Improving as a receiver
Link to the Bijan Robinson story: https://www.atlantafalcons.com/news/bijan-robinson-explosive-season-runs
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Dirty Birds. What's up? And welcome to the Atlanta Falcons
podcast Network. I'm your host Will McFadden. I am joined
by Tarren Walk and Tarn We are here to talk
about the second OTA practice that we got to view
so far this offseason for the Atlanta Falcons. First off,
how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I'm doing well. I got a tan from the OTA
practice because it was actually sunny this time and not rainy.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Does your hair get more blonde like in the say yes,
that is mine. I'm excited for that.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I won't wear a hat for that reason. I'm like, oh,
this is my natural highlight.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
There you go. I sometimes like, actually, I'm gonna shout
out Joe Patrick. He turned me on to the popped
collar move now for the sunburn like on the back
of your neck, because like that's kind of why I'll
wear a hat sometimes because I always wear it backwards.
It's just to really shade my neck. But now that
I can walk around looking like an eighties jock all
(00:54):
the time, which is my pollar or collar pops, I
may just do that instead for the aesthetics, right, or there.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Were these like hats on TikTok, their big bucket hats essentially, yeah,
fans in them what and the fans I can face
toward your face and I'm like, I might look like
a fool, but I'm.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
It's like the like I might buy one of those
beer drinking hats, but they fans attached to them instead.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
All the tiktoks are like, get this for your dad
for father's and I'm like, get this for myself for training?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Can get this for me? Right now? What are we doing?
We got to stop this podcast. We're going to get
some bucket hat fans. All right, Well, I think that's
enough of an intro. We do have a little bit
of news up at the top about just OTAs and
some observations. Then on the second half of the show,
I will be joined by Tory mclaney and we're gonna
talk a little bit about what Jon Robinson's kind of
(01:41):
main offseason goal has been, what he's been working towards
is he prepares to enter year three and hopefully how
it can take Atlanta's offense to another level in twenty
twenty five. But first, tarenh, why don't you go ahead
and kind of like share with us a little bit
about what the plan has been with James Pierce Junior
so far to start his own on field work here
in Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yes. So on the last podcast, I mentioned how James
Pierce Junior was not participating in the eleven eleven work
and that was true, and so yesterday on well this
will be yesterday on Monday, when we got to speak
to Raheem Morris again since that practice, I asked if
that was by nature on purpose or kind of like
what's going on there? And he explained that it is
(02:23):
on purpose because they are quote ramping him up, and
I think that's just a different it's just a different
route that they're taking with him compared to Jalen Walker.
And I think I naturally just lumped the two together
because they're both first round edge rushers. Yeah, and you
can't mention Jalen without James sometimes that and Jalen was
taking first team reps during eleven eleven like not a lot,
(02:46):
but enough where you're like, oh, noting that. And then
while James Pierce Junior is on the sideline. So it
was just a different of planning there because now with James,
Raheem said that James was participating in a eleven eleven
work during practices that weren't open to the media because
even though I am employed by the Falcons, I do
not get to watch every single practice. I'm still limited
(03:09):
to the open practices, and so I did not see
James Pierce Junior participating in these team exercises during close practices,
I'm only seeing what we're seeing as a media hole.
And so then on Monday, during the second open practice,
you did see James Pierce Junior out there and getting
incorporated with the second team during eleven eleven work.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Yeah, And I think so ramping up is something that
you know, when I was here previously with Dan Quinn,
that was a phrase you would hear a lot. Sometimes
it was about an injured player and kind of coming back,
you know, a DeMarco Helms or a Braylen Trice. Sometimes
it was about a rookie. And what's always been so
fascinating to me because you can kind of quickly identify
(03:53):
that's an NFL player, and that's you know, a different
whether that's a.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
That will be an n play yeah, like.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
That's a developing NFL player or you know a practice
squad player who's in year two or year three. But
like you see the flashes, but with an NFL player
with a Kayden Nellis. It's the consistency. It's there every
single play. They're kind of making those plays in those
splash moments. And then you know, when you get to
Jesse Bates level, it's like those big, big swing impact plays.
Like that's the progression that you see. But even amongst rookies,
(04:25):
there are the levels. And I've been fascinated by watching
somebody who like Xavier Watts right, who played deep into
the playoffs, comes from a big program and Notre Dame,
and like just walks onto the field and probably has
a little bit of a natural confidence. All these guys
do to be honest, but you just kind of see
that it clicks and he knows exactly what he's doing.
And jam wien Walker is another good example, coming from
(04:47):
a big program like Georgia. And that's not to say
that James Pierce doesn't know what he's doing or is
a step behind anybody in any shape or form, but
it it is just to say that not all of
these guys enter the NFL on ex exactly the same
starting point, same playing field, same foundation of knowledge. They're
all getting taught at different places, learning from different coaches.
(05:09):
And different programs, and you got to assimilate in your team.
So that was a big kind of stress point for
Raheem in his talks with the media so far, is
a lot of this is just seeing what the rookies
know and then teaching them how to practice, because when
they put him out there for eleven on eleven work,
they want every single rep to not just matter for
(05:29):
that individual player, but for all of the other twenty
one players out there, and you can't have any one
player kind of being a weak link in a rep,
otherwise the whole rep might suffer for it. So I
think that that's kind of why we maybe saw what
James Pierce slowly ramping up and things like that, And
he's also hinted it a little bit of a unique
(05:50):
role in this defense. So it could just simply be hey,
there's a lot for this player to learn, and it's
taken him a minute or two to get out there
on the field and full team action.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
He has a different plan than Jalen because even thinking
about Jalen, he's not just jumping into the deep end either.
They have a specific plan in place for Jalen Walker.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
They're tearing him back. Yeah, exactly, so that might make
more sense why he's out there. Yeah, it's like he's
going from something where he had a lot on his plate.
So now it's like, all right, focus on this. So
we want to get you as many reps at this
as possible. James Pearce, you brought him in here knowing
he can rush the passer, knowing he already knows how
to do that. So maybe now it's more just like,
(06:31):
we want to make sure that every again, every rep
that you do is being done exactly in the right
way so that you are improving as quickly as possible.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, a silly analogy just came to mind, naturally.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Love it.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
You could have, like, say, Jalen Walker as an apple
and then James Pierce Junior as an orange. They're both fruit,
but you eat him at different times and for different reasons.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Yeah. Absolutely one is not better than the other. It's
just one might be you know, you want my one
orange slice it the halftime of a soccer match, and
then you.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Might want an apple before run in the morning.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Love it perfect. One other thing that I thought was interesting,
just to wrap up the James Piers Junior kind of conversation,
was what Raheem had to say about kind of like
the rookie mentorship and pairings and just over the years
seeing players kind of naturally gravitate towards one another, whether
it be because they have like personalities or played the
same position and they just are seeing the game in
(07:25):
the same way, or they seek each other out. But
I thought it was really interesting who they have kind
of James Pierce Junior connecting with do you want to
you want to share that as J.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Terrell?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Right, not the same position group, which isn't uncommon, but.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
He Raheem Morris just kind of said that personality wise,
he sensed a similarity in those two, and honestly, it
made perfect sense. A. J. Trell was here as a
rookie my very last year the first time around, and
I too kind of got exactly what Raheem was saying.
He came in as a very experienced rookie who had
played in a lot of National Chapsampionship games against some
(08:01):
of the best receivers frankly in the NFL today, Yeah,
and was just had a serious kind of professional yeah
about them both intents. Yeah, they're serious guys. They care
about their their business. So that made a lot of sense.
But I thought that was that was really fascinating.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah, And we got to talk to A. J. Trell
after practice and kind of ask him about James Pierce
Junior but too. And someone even brought up the pre
draft process flags about like James's character that kind of
just circulated and AJ's like, what were the flags? Like
he seemed like genuinely shocked too. He's like, Okay, give
me a specific Like, I don't understand why anyone would
(08:38):
talk about his character in anything but a good way.
He's like, I got nothing bad to say, and right
now it was it was. It was really refreshing too
to just see that natural reaction come across his face
where he's like, well.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Why, honestly, I what that tells me is that Ajterrell
is not reading a single bit of drafts content. And
I love that for him. I love that for you, Aj.
All right, let's pivot to Kyle Pits. We also learned
on Monday that Kyle Pits is dealing with an injury
of some sort Raheem Morris would not specify exactly what
(09:13):
that is. There are reports out there that that's say,
it could be a foot again Rheem Morris won't specify,
so we won't either.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I love when people talk about injuries. Sometimes this is
a quick side note where you just say, like a.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Foot, right, he's got a hip, he's got an upper arm.
We all do, thank you, coach. But yeah, no, that's
always been one of my favorite quirks as well. So
that is, yes, he just has an undisclosed asterisk injury.
He hasn't been out there on the field. Don't expect
(09:48):
him to be out there on the field. We'll see
what happens when training camp rolls around. But you know, Taren,
I just kind of thought that we might talk about, like,
what is a reasonable expectation for Kyle Pitts going into
year five here in Atlanta, because it seems like every
year the expectations slowly build throughout the offseason and then
(10:09):
you know, last year there were moments where I genuinely
was like, Okay, cool, this is great. He had a
stretch a five game run there where he had maybe
his best five games, and I think it kind of
culminated with that two touchdown game in Tampa Bay last year.
But he was used on these corner routes and he's
breaking open and getting like forty yard receptions, like there
(10:29):
were genuine flashes, but like, what should we expect from
Kyle Pitts after we've seen kind of everything unfold over
the last four years.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
It's tough because you want to see what he produced
his rookie year, especially for those in Atlanta, But I
don't necessarily know that it's realistic. It is difficult to
get one thousand yards in the first place, let alone
when you have two wide receivers who are either crossing
that boundary or knocking at it already. Drake London broke
on thousand yards last year. Darnell Mooney came yards short
(11:00):
of breaking a thousand yards, and so and Drake is
in his third year, yes, and he had just hit
one thousand yards. And with Darnell he hit one thousand
yards in his second year and he's now in his
sixth year. And so that just goes to show like
how difficult it can be. And so to always be like, oh,
(11:21):
but Kyle had this his fresh or not freshman, I
know you don't like that when I.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Use college and I know when I caught myself his
rookie year. It is just like, especially at a tight
end position, Like, it's great that he's done it. It's
great that people know he's capable of it, But is
it realistic to expect him to do it year after year?
Speaker 4 (11:40):
No?
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, I mean what I liked, And as a positive note,
I like that he had a career high four touchdowns
last year. He's increased his touchdown count year over year,
that maybe his role is evolving to make room for
Drake London and Darnell Mooney in the passing game and
using Kyle more so with his size, with his ability
(12:02):
to get a ball toward the end zone more so.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
So are you looking almost at the number of touchdowns
maybe a little bit more than the number of yards?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, his usage?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yeah, Okay, I like that because and maybe the last
touchdown that he had in twenty twenty four was the
most important and maybe the most telling for twenty twenty five,
and that was the one in Washington that Michael Penix
delivered on fourth down. And maybe hopefully that is a
little bit of a sign of things to come. We've
heard from Michael Pennox this offseason saying, yeah, like I'm
(12:32):
working with Kyle Pitts. I want to get that relationship
established and get him involved because we see the type
of weapon he can be.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
But right, because just because he's not on the practice field,
we need to remember doesn't mean he's not here for
he Morris has said, quote, he's been here, He's done
such a great job of all the stuff we've asked
him to do.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
That's a great, great point.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
And even Michael Penick Junior said he's been throwing with Kyle.
So even though he's not at practice, who knows how
involved in what he's doing behind the scenes.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yeah, and Raheie Morris said extremely cautious when talking about
Kyle Pits, right.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
So better safe than sorry.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Extreme, You're not going anywhere near a field, right, So yeah,
that it is again all voluntary at this point. These
are workouts. Nothing matters until we get to September October,
and that is still a ways away. So we're we're
gonna kind of keep everything realistic when it comes to
Kyle Pits an update everybody as it goes. But that
(13:29):
is the news for right now. Don't expect to see
him on the field for at least a little bit.
We are going to wrap up before we get into
kind of my conversation with Tory about the expectations for
Bijon and year three with honestly kind of like the
biggest on field occurrence that happened in the second media
practice availability. We'll get to why that is in a second, Butterion,
(13:52):
do you want to break down kind of the notable
event if you will?
Speaker 2 (13:56):
There was a fight. I get excited over this kind
of thing. But like even at NASCAR when there was
like a post race fight, everyone's like ooh, and so
in practice, anytime there's like a fight, like ooh, and
so I.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Feel like it's almost like when you see a celebrity
out in like the real world, yeah, and you're almost like, oh,
the norm You're like, whoa, Yeah, it's just like a
glitch in the matrix. Almost, it's like, hey, that that happened.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Cool little drama. Who does love a little drama?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
And every every staff feels a little bit differently. Some
some like the fights, they like the energy, the intensity.
Some hate it and then look at it as a
little childish or immature, non professional. I honestly don't know
where Morris falls on that spectrum. Do you want to
explain kind of like who was involved in then and
maybe how it? Yes, it was resolved to.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Be completely honest, did not see the fight itself because
with where to pull back the curtain a little bit,
with where the media was able to stand. At practice,
we were at like one far end zone and they
were midfield. And then they also had players instead of
on the sideline kind of like behind the lines behind
and blocking us.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Watched high school warm ups or something, you know, like
how the players that aren't necessarily involved in the warm
ups will line up across from sideline to sideline, like.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Yeah, or sideline the sideline rather than along to.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Kind of like block the other team from the I
never understood that if you wanted to watch, you could watch.
It was not that hard.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Well, it was difficult for us to see.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
I was just scouting the other team. That was my
job before games.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
With my binoculars. I'm like zooming in between the.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Kid from like recess schools out just like with the
little notepad running back. Yeah, I just went way over
your head. I watched it in real time anyway, and.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
So I didn't see the actual fight breakout. I don't
know that anyone in the media did, so we can't
say what exactly happened. But all I know is all
of a sudden, people were like swarming in the middle
of the field and you're like hey, hey, hey, and
like break it up, and like the classic ooh, is
there's something going on, And you could see that it
was Matthew berger On pulled away. I'm ninety nine percent
(15:58):
sure the other one was David on Umana being pulled away.
So it was a battle in the trenches that must
have gotten I don't know, I don't want to say
out of hand, like just like yeah, just intense, like
there is no contact during this part of off season,
but you never know like what's going on, like what's
being said. David Anyamata is apparently a mad trash talker
(16:18):
on the field. Matthew Bergeron has been a feisty guy
since he arrived in Atlanta. Like this isn't the first
skirmish that he's gotten involved in that I've seen. And
so the point of this, though is they split them up.
But then you could tell the music was cut and
Raheem Morris pulled the entire team together. I couldn't hear him,
but you could like just tell like he was being vocal,
(16:40):
being loud and like almost passionately like bringing the team
back together and then there were no issues after that.
You could even see Matthew Bergeron talking with Terry Foutnau
on the sideline later, so it calmed down. I wish
I could have seen what happened, especially with no contact, like, ooh,
what did David say that, like tipped tip bergeron over
or vice versa. You never know. I don't want to
(17:01):
put blame on one or the other. But it's interesting that
this is happening in OTAs and like during a no
contact period. But do you think that's like passion toward
the game? Do you think it's just normal in the
trenches trash talk or I don't know. I wish I
could be a fly on the wall. I'd get squished
(17:22):
in that fight, Taren.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
I loved everything about that moment out there on the
PRACX field. I loved all of it. I loved the
fact that two of your main guys in the trenches
got heated, that their emotions flared up. I liked that
in an offseason where Grady Jarrett is departing in Chicago,
David Onyamada is now the veteran in the middle and
(17:46):
he is setting a tone. We know that he is
a fiery aggressive guy on game day. I didn't know
he was bringing that to the Prax field out during
OTAs and Matthew Bergeron showed his toughness multiple times in
his first two seasons. The dude does not back down.
So these again are kind of like your identities of
either side of the ball. I love that they got
(18:07):
a little bit into it on a what would otherwise
be a random Monday OTA practice. It just gives a
little urgency to everything that's happening. And then I loved
how Raheem Morris handled it. I loved seeing I'm saying
loved a lot. I really enjoyed seeing him kind of
come in, pull everybody together and take ownership. It was
(18:28):
like a remember the Titans moment almost where you kind
of have the nostalgia for the romance of football and
like a general leading an army. And it's kind of
felt like one of those moments again early in an
offseason where you're trying to set the tone for what
the upcoming year could be. So again, like it could
be rose colored to say all of these things. Ultimately,
(18:48):
like is it gonna matter at the end of the day.
Probably not, But in an otherwise, you know, practice where
we didn't get to see a ton or learn a
great deal. It was a moment that I think could
be in a grand story if things break. The right
way you look back is like that was a fun
little footnote early on where you felt the vibe kind
of intensify a little bit.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
You and I watched that fight from completely different point
of views. You're watching it with the snapchat filter where
you zoom in and all the little hearts show up.
Oh yeah, it's like a light paint, the rose colored glasses.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Just like harps playing in the background.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Right, I'm like the little girl who has a smirk
on her face with the burning building in the background,
like keep it going, flood them at it like ooh yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
It was no matter which way you look at it,
it was certainly something to behold on Monday out there
on the field. Did I land that plane? Who knows?
But it's still off season. We'd'll have to be in
mid season form for many months. But we thank you
guys so much for joining us for this part. Tarren,
(19:50):
thank you for breaking down the second OTA media practice,
and we will catch up with you very soon again
to get into mini camp and that'll take a little
bit of a break before training camp kicks off.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Who all right, y'all, what's up. Don't worry, We're fine.
But now Will is in a different seat over here,
and I'm in this seat. Taren is out and about
working on a.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
Story she vanished's but we're back.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
I'm back.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
I've been out for a couple of days celebrating my
sister's wedding, which was really great. So I am playing
catch up kind of a bit, like all of you are,
with everything that has been going on in Falcons Land
the last four or five days. And one of the
things that I really really wanted to have a conversation
about with Will, specifically for you guys, was a story
(20:39):
that he wrote on Atlanta Falcons dot com about the
steps that Jon is taking to enhance his explosives in
his third year with the Atlanta Falcons and third year
in the league at large. And Will I very much
enjoyed the story. I know it's a story that you've
been working on for a little bit. It's kind of
been in the hopper for for us as we've been
(21:01):
waiting to get beajon on the record for all of this,
and he finally was back from Germany and you were
able to talk to him earlier this week to go
along with this story. So first things first, off the top,
why was this a story that you wanted to tell?
Speaker 5 (21:15):
And kind of where did the idea of the story
come from for you?
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Honestly, it came to me like it just it happened organically,
because I think part of the role of any journalists,
and there are a lot of great ones that cover
this team, is just to kind of be open and listen.
Because one of the more interesting aspects I think of
this job that you don't understand until you are in
that situation and fighting against it is the tendency to
(21:42):
really just focus on the next question you're gonna ask, yeah,
and kind of get in your own head and you
hear your own voice a little bit more than maybe
the person or the coach that you're talking to. And
this was just kind of a one on one with
me and Michael Petree is where it started. And I
was like, I kind of know what I'm just gonna
ask you about. I'm just gonna ask you about Jean. Well,
I'm not like running through all of these questions in
(22:02):
my head, and it was just a real open conversation,
and so that allowed me to really just absorb what
he was saying, and it stuck out. I was like, man,
you guys are really focused on Bajehan Robinson extending some
of these twelve yard runs fifteen yard runs into thirty
yard runs, fifty yard runs, and so start doing a
little bit of digging and the numbers bear that out.
(22:23):
It's like, as good as Bajon Robinson was last year,
there is still a clear area for him to improve.
And that's kind of where this story came about. Was like,
that's that's the one thing left for him to check off.
And if he does, then yeah, I mean he's already
even higher in that like elites here, which is already
in right. So that's what's so crazy about this is
(22:44):
few elite elite players really do still have like that
one clear box left to check. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
It's interesting too because as you literally simultaneously, as you're
having this conversation with Michael Petrie, who's the Falcons running
backs coach, I'm in a separate conversation with offensive coordinators
Zach Robinson about this very thing about how they want
to take Bajon's game to the next level by way
of explosives and being able to figure out ways to
(23:11):
get him there. And I think what's really interesting about
this is you're talking about Jon's ability, and I know
Zach Robinson has talked about Raheem Morris like his ability.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
To make people miss is second to nine.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
I mean, it's it's pretty remarkable to watch what he
does out on the football field. It's kind of this
like artwork. It's like an art form what he does.
But what is really interesting is they all have said
the same thing. All these coaches have said the same thing,
that there is a next step to that elusiveness. And
you wrote about this in your conversations with them. What
(23:43):
is that next step?
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, so it's it's something where I think a lot
of people would look at all, Right, you're just natural
god given speed as something you can't you can't coach.
You either are somebody, Yeah, you're somebody who's capable of
taking it seventy yards to the house, or you're not.
But that's partially true, right, you know, I do think
you know Usain Bolt, I'm never going to reach him, right,
as much as I practice and try, you can tie
(24:07):
parachute to my back, I'm not getting there. But it's
more about the actual technique of making somebody miss, which
you've mentioned Bijon does as well as literally anybody finished
second only Derrick Henry with ninety nine force miss tackles
last season. But it's kind of like that last guy
when you get into open field and maybe you're not
stringing together a chain of moves, which I think Bijon
(24:29):
is second to literally nobody, like not even Derrick Henry
in that his ability to keep the kinetic chain flowing
and just cut, cut, cut, stop, cut, accelerate, like all
of that in the blink and eye is so good.
But one thing that Zach said was when you kind
of have that free safety, how do we not make
(24:49):
that move too early, which allows the angle to be
a little bit easier for the defender to then kind
of cut you off and recover and maybe ultimately make
your tackle. If you can get right up on him
and close that gap quickly, that is going to make
the decision and reaction time much quicker for that defender
because you know where you're going, he's got to react,
(25:10):
so you close that reaction time. And then if you
are as elusive as Bajon is that's really all you
need if you can just get up on a one
yard margin between him and that defender, boom like you're gone.
And so it is there is some technique to this,
and there is some you don't want to be thinking like.
That's one of the things the Bajeon has always said, No,
I don't think when I'm out there. I just trust
(25:31):
my instincts, I feel it, I go. But it is
something you can practice out here on the practice field,
in training camp, during OTA's mini camp, things like that.
So that is kind of how they are actively working
with Bijon to say, okay, you got everything else, here's
like the last piece of the puzzle to add.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
Yeah, it's almost kind of like making it to your point.
It's making the move closer to the point of contact
versus toes, yes, presses toes.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
That's what That was the.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Phrase that Zach Robinson used, which I loved. So when
you're talking to Vinson about this and you're kind of like, hey,
the coaches are saying that this is a goal of
yours in twenty twenty five, what is his response to that.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Uh, He's been working on this every single day. Yeah, right, Yeah,
so it sounds like he is one hundred percent on
board as well. And you know, he is the type
of player where we talked to him last year he said,
I watched Alan Iverson for some of my elusiveness and
just to draw inspiration. So he is somebody who is
creative in the way that he tries to improve and
in the way that he studies other athletes. You know,
(26:33):
he didn't get into anybody specifically that he's watching, right,
He's not turning on the Usain Bolt tape because I
don't know what that would afford him. But he the
favorite or my favorite quote from him that is the
first one in the story is we're done with thirty
yard runs. You know, now it's time to get those
sixty yards fifty yards again. If you're looking at where
(26:54):
Beajon ranks in twenty plus yard runs, it is kind
of right up there with what or sorry, ten yard runs.
It's right up there with guys like Saquon, guys like
Jamiir Gibbs, guys like Derrick Henry, right, the best of
the best. Then if you look at twenty plus yard runs,
he drops back to like seventeenth.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
Yeah, So what's interesting is you did have in here.
Three players with more explosive runs than Robinson last year
were Derrick Henry who had thirty seven, Jamiir Gibbs, who
had thirty four, in Saquon Barkley, who had thirty. Each
of those three players also had a carry that gained
at least seventy yards, while Bajon's longest run in twenty twenty.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
Four was thirty seven yards.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
So there is a discrepancy in I think the to
your point, like a thirty plus yard gain is still
an explosive but there you're looking at these guys getting
fifty plus.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah, you're often has to stay on the field most
times after a thirty yard game, right, Yeah, after a
seventy yard game, probably not right, you know, most most
chances are that you're getting off the field because that's touchdown.
And so I think Bijon offers as high a floor
as any running back in the league. When you give
the ball, there's as good a chance as with any
player that it is going to be an eight yard
(28:04):
gain or a ten yard gain. But his ceiling right now,
when you're looking at some of the other very best
ones in terms of distance gained on these runs, isn't
as high as where you would expect it to be,
So that is simply what is left to add to that,
and that does involve more than just Beajon. It does
involve the offensive lineman sustaining blocks, maybe the receivers getting
to that second level ceiling off those alleys. Again, like,
(28:27):
I'm very confident that this is going to improve in
twenty twenty five because all of the pieces are in
place for it to get better. So all that was
left was really for them to just emphasize it and
focus on it. We saw how much better Bajon's pass
blocking got in year two because he was focused on that.
So given that we saw that improvement, I'm pretty optimistic
(28:49):
that we'll see some improvement here as well.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
It's interesting because we're talking about Bajon in the upper
echelon of running backs in the league and we have
since he's been in the league, and like this is
just the next step of his development. You know, we're
talking about Bejon and it's kind of like your nitpicking
is game a little bit, but I think that's what
you do with these players.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Yeah, the best players allow for the nitpicks. Yeah, because
it's so you know, there's not such a clear detriment
in his game. It's just like, how are we just
getting a little bit better, a little bit better and
we go from a ninety eight to a ninety nine
to a one hundred, Like that's what we're talking about
with Jon.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
Yeah, So I really, as I said off the top,
I really enjoyed this piece that you wrote, which everybody
can check it out on Atlanta Falcons dot com.
Speaker 5 (29:32):
Make sure and go read it.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
I would honestly recommend following along as we're talking about this,
pull it up, read it for yourself. But what was
something interesting that you maybe found as you were going
through this this case study on where Beajon's game goes
from here? Was there anything that kind of stuck out
to you as like, oh, that's an interesting tidbit of information.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
You know, I think all of the interesting stuff because
of what we just talked about, like he is so
fleshed out that there's nothing to this level that he's
really gonna be working on. What I'm kind of interested in.
What we touched on a little bit with Petrie as well,
was the other aspect is still beyond the pass catcher,
And that was something when he was drafted and coming
(30:16):
out of Texas, really everybody was like, that's his superpower
is like he can run these routes like a receiver.
And remember he was working with I think it was
Devonte Adams like as a rookie kind of that summer
between the draft and then getting here in Atlanta, And
I asked Petrie, like, does a change in offensive design
because I think one of the biggest changes going from
(30:38):
Arthur Smith's era to Rahee Morrison Zach Robinson is is
the way that these route concepts all work together. Like
does that sometimes impact the vision that you almost had
for a player, where like Bijon in one offense as
a pass catcher may be different in a different offense.
And so that is something that he wouldn't get too
deep into it is you might expect a coach isn't
(30:58):
gonna reveal too much trade secrets there. But just one
other note for fans to kind of maybe keep an
eye on in training camp in the preseason. I don't
know how much Runjon is going to get in the preseason, frankly,
but just keep it on the back burner. I guess
this season is how is Bijon used as a pass
catcher in this offense specifically, because I do still think
that what we saw last year was great. If you're
(31:21):
looking for ways to build upon it, there is some
avenue there. And think back to the Washington game, that
misconnection between Panics Andjon that's probably going for like a touchdown.
He talked about explosives. That's one, right now, that's one.
Speaker 4 (31:33):
And that was the one that I was going to
bring up in this conversation, is like, Okay, there's this
little will route and it's gonna be probably a thirty
forty yard and to your point, it could potentially be
a touchdown. Bajon doesn't have the cushion to the sideline.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
You know, you always oh, that's the one against Carolina Carolina. Yea, yeah, yeah,
a great example too.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
It's this will route and he's coming down the sideline,
his the defenders on his back hip. He's in good position,
but he's right up against.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
His side of his own cushion, eat up his.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Own cushion to the point where, if you're Michael Pennix,
that's a difficult throat, which he nails.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
He hits that throw, go back and watch it. It's
like right in the bread basket.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
But if Bejon was a half yard away from the sideline,
that's a catch instead of catching it out of bounds.
And that's kind of that's on Beajon, And that's one
of those things to your point about how his role
expanding as a pass catcher, that's an area you you
turn on that right there, that's an easy adjustment to make. Hey, Bjon,
(32:30):
make sure that you're not to the boundary. Give Michael
Penix a little in yourself, a little bit of cushion
to where he's not throwing this to you with one
foot out of bounds. He's throwing this to you in
step with about this much away from from the sideline.
That to me is like exactly what you're talking about
is like an easy tweak. That is the difference in
(32:50):
a out of bounds, they're an incompletion and Michael Pennocks
connecting to Bejon Robinson for a forty five yard game downfield.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
So that's a wrap. I couldn't do it any better.
I literally couldn't say it any better. That was that like,
good night, everybody, go home, drive safe.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
Perfect, Yeah, perfectly said, thank you, thank you very much.
I'll be here all day. But but yeah, no will.
I thank you so much for sitting down and switching
seats and letting me come in and talk to you
a little bit about this this story. I again, I
cannot recommend enough that people go read it.
Speaker 5 (33:22):
Honestly, go back and watch some of.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
Bajon's long runs and kind of see what it is
that we're talking about. That's something else that I would
recommend people do along with reading the stories, go back
and watch bajons highlights from twenty twenty four so that
you can actually see what we're talking about. You can
look at all of those on our YouTube channel Atlanta
Falcons or Atlanta Falcons dot com.
Speaker 5 (33:42):
Honestly, just go Google.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
It's giving me a story idea. I'm like, should we
do an essential clips just like the things to get
you ready for the whatever? Maybe no free ideas.
Speaker 5 (33:53):
No free ideas. Yeah, maybe check back in let us
out of the podcast. No, but thank you guys so
much for joining us.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
We have a rookie minie or not rookie municant mandatory
minute tamp is coming up very very soon. I believe
starting next week, we will be there from start to
finish and.
Speaker 5 (34:08):
Hopefully we'll get to see some of some really cool things.
Speaker 4 (34:11):
I know we're already I've already really enjoyed watching Michael
Pennocks and Drake London's connection, and.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
I'm sure we will talk more about that at a
later date.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
But everybody, make sure you like subscribe to the podcast channels.
Speaker 5 (34:23):
You can check us out on YouTube, Spotify, anywhere you
get your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
For Will McFadden, I'm Tory mclaney, and for tern Walk
who was here earlier. Thank you guys so much, and
we will talk to you very soon
Dirty Birds. What's up? And welcome to the Atlanta Falcons
podcast Network. I'm your host Will McFadden. I am joined
by Tarren Walk and Tarn We are here to talk
about the second OTA practice that we got to view
so far this offseason for the Atlanta Falcons. First off,
how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I'm doing well. I got a tan from the OTA
practice because it was actually sunny this time and not rainy.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Does your hair get more blonde like in the say yes,
that is mine. I'm excited for that.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I won't wear a hat for that reason. I'm like, oh,
this is my natural highlight.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
There you go. I sometimes like, actually, I'm gonna shout
out Joe Patrick. He turned me on to the popped
collar move now for the sunburn like on the back
of your neck, because like that's kind of why I'll
wear a hat sometimes because I always wear it backwards.
It's just to really shade my neck. But now that
I can walk around looking like an eighties jock all
(00:54):
the time, which is my pollar or collar pops, I
may just do that instead for the aesthetics, right, or there.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Were these like hats on TikTok, their big bucket hats essentially, yeah,
fans in them what and the fans I can face
toward your face and I'm like, I might look like
a fool, but I'm.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
It's like the like I might buy one of those
beer drinking hats, but they fans attached to them instead.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
All the tiktoks are like, get this for your dad
for father's and I'm like, get this for myself for training?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Can get this for me? Right now? What are we doing?
We got to stop this podcast. We're going to get
some bucket hat fans. All right, Well, I think that's
enough of an intro. We do have a little bit
of news up at the top about just OTAs and
some observations. Then on the second half of the show,
I will be joined by Tory mclaney and we're gonna
talk a little bit about what Jon Robinson's kind of
(01:41):
main offseason goal has been, what he's been working towards
is he prepares to enter year three and hopefully how
it can take Atlanta's offense to another level in twenty
twenty five. But first, tarenh, why don't you go ahead
and kind of like share with us a little bit
about what the plan has been with James Pierce Junior
so far to start his own on field work here
in Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yes. So on the last podcast, I mentioned how James
Pierce Junior was not participating in the eleven eleven work
and that was true, and so yesterday on well this
will be yesterday on Monday, when we got to speak
to Raheem Morris again since that practice, I asked if
that was by nature on purpose or kind of like
what's going on there? And he explained that it is
(02:23):
on purpose because they are quote ramping him up, and
I think that's just a different it's just a different
route that they're taking with him compared to Jalen Walker.
And I think I naturally just lumped the two together
because they're both first round edge rushers. Yeah, and you
can't mention Jalen without James sometimes that and Jalen was
taking first team reps during eleven eleven like not a lot,
(02:46):
but enough where you're like, oh, noting that. And then
while James Pierce Junior is on the sideline. So it
was just a different of planning there because now with James,
Raheem said that James was participating in a eleven eleven
work during practices that weren't open to the media because
even though I am employed by the Falcons, I do
not get to watch every single practice. I'm still limited
(03:09):
to the open practices, and so I did not see
James Pierce Junior participating in these team exercises during close practices,
I'm only seeing what we're seeing as a media hole.
And so then on Monday, during the second open practice,
you did see James Pierce Junior out there and getting
incorporated with the second team during eleven eleven work.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Yeah, And I think so ramping up is something that
you know, when I was here previously with Dan Quinn,
that was a phrase you would hear a lot. Sometimes
it was about an injured player and kind of coming back,
you know, a DeMarco Helms or a Braylen Trice. Sometimes
it was about a rookie. And what's always been so
fascinating to me because you can kind of quickly identify
(03:53):
that's an NFL player, and that's you know, a different
whether that's a.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
That will be an n play yeah, like.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
That's a developing NFL player or you know a practice
squad player who's in year two or year three. But
like you see the flashes, but with an NFL player
with a Kayden Nellis. It's the consistency. It's there every
single play. They're kind of making those plays in those
splash moments. And then you know, when you get to
Jesse Bates level, it's like those big, big swing impact plays.
Like that's the progression that you see. But even amongst rookies,
(04:25):
there are the levels. And I've been fascinated by watching
somebody who like Xavier Watts right, who played deep into
the playoffs, comes from a big program and Notre Dame,
and like just walks onto the field and probably has
a little bit of a natural confidence. All these guys
do to be honest, but you just kind of see
that it clicks and he knows exactly what he's doing.
And jam wien Walker is another good example, coming from
(04:47):
a big program like Georgia. And that's not to say
that James Pierce doesn't know what he's doing or is
a step behind anybody in any shape or form, but
it it is just to say that not all of
these guys enter the NFL on ex exactly the same
starting point, same playing field, same foundation of knowledge. They're
all getting taught at different places, learning from different coaches.
(05:09):
And different programs, and you got to assimilate in your team.
So that was a big kind of stress point for
Raheem in his talks with the media so far, is
a lot of this is just seeing what the rookies
know and then teaching them how to practice, because when
they put him out there for eleven on eleven work,
they want every single rep to not just matter for
(05:29):
that individual player, but for all of the other twenty
one players out there, and you can't have any one
player kind of being a weak link in a rep,
otherwise the whole rep might suffer for it. So I
think that that's kind of why we maybe saw what
James Pierce slowly ramping up and things like that, And
he's also hinted it a little bit of a unique
(05:50):
role in this defense. So it could just simply be hey,
there's a lot for this player to learn, and it's
taken him a minute or two to get out there
on the field and full team action.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
He has a different plan than Jalen because even thinking
about Jalen, he's not just jumping into the deep end either.
They have a specific plan in place for Jalen Walker.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
They're tearing him back. Yeah, exactly, so that might make
more sense why he's out there. Yeah, it's like he's
going from something where he had a lot on his plate.
So now it's like, all right, focus on this. So
we want to get you as many reps at this
as possible. James Pearce, you brought him in here knowing
he can rush the passer, knowing he already knows how
to do that. So maybe now it's more just like,
(06:31):
we want to make sure that every again, every rep
that you do is being done exactly in the right
way so that you are improving as quickly as possible.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, a silly analogy just came to mind, naturally.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Love it.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
You could have, like, say, Jalen Walker as an apple
and then James Pierce Junior as an orange. They're both fruit,
but you eat him at different times and for different reasons.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Yeah. Absolutely one is not better than the other. It's
just one might be you know, you want my one
orange slice it the halftime of a soccer match, and
then you.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Might want an apple before run in the morning.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Love it perfect. One other thing that I thought was interesting,
just to wrap up the James Piers Junior kind of conversation,
was what Raheem had to say about kind of like
the rookie mentorship and pairings and just over the years
seeing players kind of naturally gravitate towards one another, whether
it be because they have like personalities or played the
same position and they just are seeing the game in
(07:25):
the same way, or they seek each other out. But
I thought it was really interesting who they have kind
of James Pierce Junior connecting with do you want to
you want to share that as J.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Terrell?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Right, not the same position group, which isn't uncommon, but.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
He Raheem Morris just kind of said that personality wise,
he sensed a similarity in those two, and honestly, it
made perfect sense. A. J. Trell was here as a
rookie my very last year the first time around, and
I too kind of got exactly what Raheem was saying.
He came in as a very experienced rookie who had
played in a lot of National Chapsampionship games against some
(08:01):
of the best receivers frankly in the NFL today, Yeah,
and was just had a serious kind of professional yeah
about them both intents. Yeah, they're serious guys. They care
about their their business. So that made a lot of sense.
But I thought that was that was really fascinating.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah, And we got to talk to A. J. Trell
after practice and kind of ask him about James Pierce
Junior but too. And someone even brought up the pre
draft process flags about like James's character that kind of
just circulated and AJ's like, what were the flags? Like
he seemed like genuinely shocked too. He's like, Okay, give
me a specific Like, I don't understand why anyone would
(08:38):
talk about his character in anything but a good way.
He's like, I got nothing bad to say, and right
now it was it was. It was really refreshing too
to just see that natural reaction come across his face
where he's like, well.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Why, honestly, I what that tells me is that Ajterrell
is not reading a single bit of drafts content. And
I love that for him. I love that for you, Aj.
All right, let's pivot to Kyle Pits. We also learned
on Monday that Kyle Pits is dealing with an injury
of some sort Raheem Morris would not specify exactly what
(09:13):
that is. There are reports out there that that's say,
it could be a foot again Rheem Morris won't specify,
so we won't either.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I love when people talk about injuries. Sometimes this is
a quick side note where you just say, like a.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Foot, right, he's got a hip, he's got an upper arm.
We all do, thank you, coach. But yeah, no, that's
always been one of my favorite quirks as well. So
that is, yes, he just has an undisclosed asterisk injury.
He hasn't been out there on the field. Don't expect
(09:48):
him to be out there on the field. We'll see
what happens when training camp rolls around. But you know, Taren,
I just kind of thought that we might talk about, like,
what is a reasonable expectation for Kyle Pitts going into
year five here in Atlanta, because it seems like every
year the expectations slowly build throughout the offseason and then
(10:09):
you know, last year there were moments where I genuinely
was like, Okay, cool, this is great. He had a
stretch a five game run there where he had maybe
his best five games, and I think it kind of
culminated with that two touchdown game in Tampa Bay last year.
But he was used on these corner routes and he's
breaking open and getting like forty yard receptions, like there
(10:29):
were genuine flashes, but like, what should we expect from
Kyle Pitts after we've seen kind of everything unfold over
the last four years.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
It's tough because you want to see what he produced
his rookie year, especially for those in Atlanta, But I
don't necessarily know that it's realistic. It is difficult to
get one thousand yards in the first place, let alone
when you have two wide receivers who are either crossing
that boundary or knocking at it already. Drake London broke
on thousand yards last year. Darnell Mooney came yards short
(11:00):
of breaking a thousand yards, and so and Drake is
in his third year, yes, and he had just hit
one thousand yards. And with Darnell he hit one thousand
yards in his second year and he's now in his
sixth year. And so that just goes to show like
how difficult it can be. And so to always be like, oh,
(11:21):
but Kyle had this his fresh or not freshman, I
know you don't like that when I.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Use college and I know when I caught myself his
rookie year. It is just like, especially at a tight
end position, Like, it's great that he's done it. It's
great that people know he's capable of it, But is
it realistic to expect him to do it year after year?
Speaker 4 (11:40):
No?
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, I mean what I liked, And as a positive note,
I like that he had a career high four touchdowns
last year. He's increased his touchdown count year over year,
that maybe his role is evolving to make room for
Drake London and Darnell Mooney in the passing game and
using Kyle more so with his size, with his ability
(12:02):
to get a ball toward the end zone more so.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
So are you looking almost at the number of touchdowns
maybe a little bit more than the number of yards?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, his usage?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yeah, Okay, I like that because and maybe the last
touchdown that he had in twenty twenty four was the
most important and maybe the most telling for twenty twenty five,
and that was the one in Washington that Michael Penix
delivered on fourth down. And maybe hopefully that is a
little bit of a sign of things to come. We've
heard from Michael Pennox this offseason saying, yeah, like I'm
(12:32):
working with Kyle Pitts. I want to get that relationship
established and get him involved because we see the type
of weapon he can be.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
But right, because just because he's not on the practice field,
we need to remember doesn't mean he's not here for
he Morris has said, quote, he's been here, He's done
such a great job of all the stuff we've asked
him to do.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
That's a great, great point.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
And even Michael Penick Junior said he's been throwing with Kyle.
So even though he's not at practice, who knows how
involved in what he's doing behind the scenes.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yeah, and Raheie Morris said extremely cautious when talking about
Kyle Pits, right.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
So better safe than sorry.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Extreme, You're not going anywhere near a field, right, So yeah,
that it is again all voluntary at this point. These
are workouts. Nothing matters until we get to September October,
and that is still a ways away. So we're we're
gonna kind of keep everything realistic when it comes to
Kyle Pits an update everybody as it goes. But that
(13:29):
is the news for right now. Don't expect to see
him on the field for at least a little bit.
We are going to wrap up before we get into
kind of my conversation with Tory about the expectations for
Bijon and year three with honestly kind of like the
biggest on field occurrence that happened in the second media
practice availability. We'll get to why that is in a second, Butterion,
(13:52):
do you want to break down kind of the notable
event if you will?
Speaker 2 (13:56):
There was a fight. I get excited over this kind
of thing. But like even at NASCAR when there was
like a post race fight, everyone's like ooh, and so
in practice, anytime there's like a fight, like ooh, and
so I.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Feel like it's almost like when you see a celebrity
out in like the real world, yeah, and you're almost like, oh,
the norm You're like, whoa, Yeah, it's just like a
glitch in the matrix. Almost, it's like, hey, that that happened.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Cool little drama. Who does love a little drama?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
And every every staff feels a little bit differently. Some
some like the fights, they like the energy, the intensity.
Some hate it and then look at it as a
little childish or immature, non professional. I honestly don't know
where Morris falls on that spectrum. Do you want to
explain kind of like who was involved in then and
maybe how it? Yes, it was resolved to.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Be completely honest, did not see the fight itself because
with where to pull back the curtain a little bit,
with where the media was able to stand. At practice,
we were at like one far end zone and they
were midfield. And then they also had players instead of
on the sideline kind of like behind the lines behind
and blocking us.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Watched high school warm ups or something, you know, like
how the players that aren't necessarily involved in the warm
ups will line up across from sideline to sideline, like.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Yeah, or sideline the sideline rather than along to.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Kind of like block the other team from the I
never understood that if you wanted to watch, you could watch.
It was not that hard.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Well, it was difficult for us to see.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
I was just scouting the other team. That was my
job before games.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
With my binoculars. I'm like zooming in between the.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Kid from like recess schools out just like with the
little notepad running back. Yeah, I just went way over
your head. I watched it in real time anyway, and.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
So I didn't see the actual fight breakout. I don't
know that anyone in the media did, so we can't
say what exactly happened. But all I know is all
of a sudden, people were like swarming in the middle
of the field and you're like hey, hey, hey, and
like break it up, and like the classic ooh, is
there's something going on, And you could see that it
was Matthew berger On pulled away. I'm ninety nine percent
(15:58):
sure the other one was David on Umana being pulled away.
So it was a battle in the trenches that must
have gotten I don't know, I don't want to say
out of hand, like just like yeah, just intense, like
there is no contact during this part of off season,
but you never know like what's going on, like what's
being said. David Anyamata is apparently a mad trash talker
(16:18):
on the field. Matthew Bergeron has been a feisty guy
since he arrived in Atlanta. Like this isn't the first
skirmish that he's gotten involved in that I've seen. And
so the point of this, though is they split them up.
But then you could tell the music was cut and
Raheem Morris pulled the entire team together. I couldn't hear him,
but you could like just tell like he was being vocal,
(16:40):
being loud and like almost passionately like bringing the team
back together and then there were no issues after that.
You could even see Matthew Bergeron talking with Terry Foutnau
on the sideline later, so it calmed down. I wish
I could have seen what happened, especially with no contact, like, ooh,
what did David say that, like tipped tip bergeron over
or vice versa. You never know. I don't want to
(17:01):
put blame on one or the other. But it's interesting that
this is happening in OTAs and like during a no
contact period. But do you think that's like passion toward
the game? Do you think it's just normal in the
trenches trash talk or I don't know. I wish I
could be a fly on the wall. I'd get squished
(17:22):
in that fight, Taren.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
I loved everything about that moment out there on the
PRACX field. I loved all of it. I loved the
fact that two of your main guys in the trenches
got heated, that their emotions flared up. I liked that
in an offseason where Grady Jarrett is departing in Chicago,
David Onyamada is now the veteran in the middle and
(17:46):
he is setting a tone. We know that he is
a fiery aggressive guy on game day. I didn't know
he was bringing that to the Prax field out during
OTAs and Matthew Bergeron showed his toughness multiple times in
his first two seasons. The dude does not back down.
So these again are kind of like your identities of
either side of the ball. I love that they got
(18:07):
a little bit into it on a what would otherwise
be a random Monday OTA practice. It just gives a
little urgency to everything that's happening. And then I loved
how Raheem Morris handled it. I loved seeing I'm saying
loved a lot. I really enjoyed seeing him kind of
come in, pull everybody together and take ownership. It was
(18:28):
like a remember the Titans moment almost where you kind
of have the nostalgia for the romance of football and
like a general leading an army. And it's kind of
felt like one of those moments again early in an
offseason where you're trying to set the tone for what
the upcoming year could be. So again, like it could
be rose colored to say all of these things. Ultimately,
(18:48):
like is it gonna matter at the end of the day.
Probably not, But in an otherwise, you know, practice where
we didn't get to see a ton or learn a
great deal. It was a moment that I think could
be in a grand story if things break. The right
way you look back is like that was a fun
little footnote early on where you felt the vibe kind
of intensify a little bit.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
You and I watched that fight from completely different point
of views. You're watching it with the snapchat filter where
you zoom in and all the little hearts show up.
Oh yeah, it's like a light paint, the rose colored glasses.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Just like harps playing in the background.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Right, I'm like the little girl who has a smirk
on her face with the burning building in the background,
like keep it going, flood them at it like ooh yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
It was no matter which way you look at it,
it was certainly something to behold on Monday out there
on the field. Did I land that plane? Who knows?
But it's still off season. We'd'll have to be in
mid season form for many months. But we thank you
guys so much for joining us for this part. Tarren,
(19:50):
thank you for breaking down the second OTA media practice,
and we will catch up with you very soon again
to get into mini camp and that'll take a little
bit of a break before training camp kicks off.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Who all right, y'all, what's up. Don't worry, We're fine.
But now Will is in a different seat over here,
and I'm in this seat. Taren is out and about
working on a.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
Story she vanished's but we're back.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
I'm back.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
I've been out for a couple of days celebrating my
sister's wedding, which was really great. So I am playing
catch up kind of a bit, like all of you are,
with everything that has been going on in Falcons Land
the last four or five days. And one of the
things that I really really wanted to have a conversation
about with Will, specifically for you guys, was a story
(20:39):
that he wrote on Atlanta Falcons dot com about the
steps that Jon is taking to enhance his explosives in
his third year with the Atlanta Falcons and third year
in the league at large. And Will I very much
enjoyed the story. I know it's a story that you've
been working on for a little bit. It's kind of
been in the hopper for for us as we've been
(21:01):
waiting to get beajon on the record for all of this,
and he finally was back from Germany and you were
able to talk to him earlier this week to go
along with this story. So first things first, off the top,
why was this a story that you wanted to tell?
Speaker 5 (21:15):
And kind of where did the idea of the story
come from for you?
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Honestly, it came to me like it just it happened organically,
because I think part of the role of any journalists,
and there are a lot of great ones that cover
this team, is just to kind of be open and listen.
Because one of the more interesting aspects I think of
this job that you don't understand until you are in
that situation and fighting against it is the tendency to
(21:42):
really just focus on the next question you're gonna ask, yeah,
and kind of get in your own head and you
hear your own voice a little bit more than maybe
the person or the coach that you're talking to. And
this was just kind of a one on one with
me and Michael Petree is where it started. And I
was like, I kind of know what I'm just gonna
ask you about. I'm just gonna ask you about Jean. Well,
I'm not like running through all of these questions in
(22:02):
my head, and it was just a real open conversation,
and so that allowed me to really just absorb what
he was saying, and it stuck out. I was like, man,
you guys are really focused on Bajehan Robinson extending some
of these twelve yard runs fifteen yard runs into thirty
yard runs, fifty yard runs, and so start doing a
little bit of digging and the numbers bear that out.
(22:23):
It's like, as good as Bajon Robinson was last year,
there is still a clear area for him to improve.
And that's kind of where this story came about. Was like,
that's that's the one thing left for him to check off.
And if he does, then yeah, I mean he's already
even higher in that like elites here, which is already
in right. So that's what's so crazy about this is
(22:44):
few elite elite players really do still have like that
one clear box left to check. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
It's interesting too because as you literally simultaneously, as you're
having this conversation with Michael Petrie, who's the Falcons running
backs coach, I'm in a separate conversation with offensive coordinators
Zach Robinson about this very thing about how they want
to take Bajon's game to the next level by way
of explosives and being able to figure out ways to
(23:11):
get him there. And I think what's really interesting about
this is you're talking about Jon's ability, and I know
Zach Robinson has talked about Raheem Morris like his ability.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
To make people miss is second to nine.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
I mean, it's it's pretty remarkable to watch what he
does out on the football field. It's kind of this
like artwork. It's like an art form what he does.
But what is really interesting is they all have said
the same thing. All these coaches have said the same thing,
that there is a next step to that elusiveness. And
you wrote about this in your conversations with them. What
(23:43):
is that next step?
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, so it's it's something where I think a lot
of people would look at all, Right, you're just natural
god given speed as something you can't you can't coach.
You either are somebody, Yeah, you're somebody who's capable of
taking it seventy yards to the house, or you're not.
But that's partially true, right, you know, I do think
you know Usain Bolt, I'm never going to reach him, right,
as much as I practice and try, you can tie
(24:07):
parachute to my back, I'm not getting there. But it's
more about the actual technique of making somebody miss, which
you've mentioned Bijon does as well as literally anybody finished
second only Derrick Henry with ninety nine force miss tackles
last season. But it's kind of like that last guy
when you get into open field and maybe you're not
stringing together a chain of moves, which I think Bijon
(24:29):
is second to literally nobody, like not even Derrick Henry
in that his ability to keep the kinetic chain flowing
and just cut, cut, cut, stop, cut, accelerate, like all
of that in the blink and eye is so good.
But one thing that Zach said was when you kind
of have that free safety, how do we not make
(24:49):
that move too early, which allows the angle to be
a little bit easier for the defender to then kind
of cut you off and recover and maybe ultimately make
your tackle. If you can get right up on him
and close that gap quickly, that is going to make
the decision and reaction time much quicker for that defender
because you know where you're going, he's got to react,
(25:10):
so you close that reaction time. And then if you
are as elusive as Bajon is that's really all you
need if you can just get up on a one
yard margin between him and that defender, boom like you're gone.
And so it is there is some technique to this,
and there is some you don't want to be thinking like.
That's one of the things the Bajeon has always said, No,
I don't think when I'm out there. I just trust
(25:31):
my instincts, I feel it, I go. But it is
something you can practice out here on the practice field,
in training camp, during OTA's mini camp, things like that.
So that is kind of how they are actively working
with Bijon to say, okay, you got everything else, here's
like the last piece of the puzzle to add.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
Yeah, it's almost kind of like making it to your point.
It's making the move closer to the point of contact
versus toes, yes, presses toes.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
That's what That was the.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Phrase that Zach Robinson used, which I loved. So when
you're talking to Vinson about this and you're kind of like, hey,
the coaches are saying that this is a goal of
yours in twenty twenty five, what is his response to that.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Uh, He's been working on this every single day. Yeah, right, Yeah,
so it sounds like he is one hundred percent on
board as well. And you know, he is the type
of player where we talked to him last year he said,
I watched Alan Iverson for some of my elusiveness and
just to draw inspiration. So he is somebody who is
creative in the way that he tries to improve and
in the way that he studies other athletes. You know,
(26:33):
he didn't get into anybody specifically that he's watching, right,
He's not turning on the Usain Bolt tape because I
don't know what that would afford him. But he the
favorite or my favorite quote from him that is the
first one in the story is we're done with thirty
yard runs. You know, now it's time to get those
sixty yards fifty yards again. If you're looking at where
(26:54):
Beajon ranks in twenty plus yard runs, it is kind
of right up there with what or sorry, ten yard runs.
It's right up there with guys like Saquon, guys like
Jamiir Gibbs, guys like Derrick Henry, right, the best of
the best. Then if you look at twenty plus yard runs,
he drops back to like seventeenth.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
Yeah, So what's interesting is you did have in here.
Three players with more explosive runs than Robinson last year
were Derrick Henry who had thirty seven, Jamiir Gibbs, who
had thirty four, in Saquon Barkley, who had thirty. Each
of those three players also had a carry that gained
at least seventy yards, while Bajon's longest run in twenty twenty.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
Four was thirty seven yards.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
So there is a discrepancy in I think the to
your point, like a thirty plus yard gain is still
an explosive but there you're looking at these guys getting
fifty plus.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah, you're often has to stay on the field most
times after a thirty yard game, right, Yeah, after a
seventy yard game, probably not right, you know, most most
chances are that you're getting off the field because that's touchdown.
And so I think Bijon offers as high a floor
as any running back in the league. When you give
the ball, there's as good a chance as with any
player that it is going to be an eight yard
(28:04):
gain or a ten yard gain. But his ceiling right now,
when you're looking at some of the other very best
ones in terms of distance gained on these runs, isn't
as high as where you would expect it to be,
So that is simply what is left to add to that,
and that does involve more than just Beajon. It does
involve the offensive lineman sustaining blocks, maybe the receivers getting
to that second level ceiling off those alleys. Again, like,
(28:27):
I'm very confident that this is going to improve in
twenty twenty five because all of the pieces are in
place for it to get better. So all that was
left was really for them to just emphasize it and
focus on it. We saw how much better Bajon's pass
blocking got in year two because he was focused on that.
So given that we saw that improvement, I'm pretty optimistic
(28:49):
that we'll see some improvement here as well.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
It's interesting because we're talking about Bajon in the upper
echelon of running backs in the league and we have
since he's been in the league, and like this is
just the next step of his development. You know, we're
talking about Bejon and it's kind of like your nitpicking
is game a little bit, but I think that's what
you do with these players.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Yeah, the best players allow for the nitpicks. Yeah, because
it's so you know, there's not such a clear detriment
in his game. It's just like, how are we just
getting a little bit better, a little bit better and
we go from a ninety eight to a ninety nine
to a one hundred, Like that's what we're talking about
with Jon.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
Yeah, So I really, as I said off the top,
I really enjoyed this piece that you wrote, which everybody
can check it out on Atlanta Falcons dot com.
Speaker 5 (29:32):
Make sure and go read it.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
I would honestly recommend following along as we're talking about this,
pull it up, read it for yourself. But what was
something interesting that you maybe found as you were going
through this this case study on where Beajon's game goes
from here? Was there anything that kind of stuck out
to you as like, oh, that's an interesting tidbit of information.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
You know, I think all of the interesting stuff because
of what we just talked about, like he is so
fleshed out that there's nothing to this level that he's
really gonna be working on. What I'm kind of interested in.
What we touched on a little bit with Petrie as well,
was the other aspect is still beyond the pass catcher,
And that was something when he was drafted and coming
(30:16):
out of Texas, really everybody was like, that's his superpower
is like he can run these routes like a receiver.
And remember he was working with I think it was
Devonte Adams like as a rookie kind of that summer
between the draft and then getting here in Atlanta, And
I asked Petrie, like, does a change in offensive design
because I think one of the biggest changes going from
(30:38):
Arthur Smith's era to Rahee Morrison Zach Robinson is is
the way that these route concepts all work together. Like
does that sometimes impact the vision that you almost had
for a player, where like Bijon in one offense as
a pass catcher may be different in a different offense.
And so that is something that he wouldn't get too
deep into it is you might expect a coach isn't
(30:58):
gonna reveal too much trade secrets there. But just one
other note for fans to kind of maybe keep an
eye on in training camp in the preseason. I don't
know how much Runjon is going to get in the preseason, frankly,
but just keep it on the back burner. I guess
this season is how is Bijon used as a pass
catcher in this offense specifically, because I do still think
that what we saw last year was great. If you're
(31:21):
looking for ways to build upon it, there is some
avenue there. And think back to the Washington game, that
misconnection between Panics Andjon that's probably going for like a touchdown.
He talked about explosives. That's one, right now, that's one.
Speaker 4 (31:33):
And that was the one that I was going to
bring up in this conversation, is like, Okay, there's this
little will route and it's gonna be probably a thirty
forty yard and to your point, it could potentially be
a touchdown. Bajon doesn't have the cushion to the sideline.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
You know, you always oh, that's the one against Carolina Carolina. Yea, yeah, yeah,
a great example too.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
It's this will route and he's coming down the sideline,
his the defenders on his back hip. He's in good position,
but he's right up against.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
His side of his own cushion, eat up his.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Own cushion to the point where, if you're Michael Pennix,
that's a difficult throat, which he nails.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
He hits that throw, go back and watch it. It's
like right in the bread basket.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
But if Bejon was a half yard away from the sideline,
that's a catch instead of catching it out of bounds.
And that's kind of that's on Beajon, And that's one
of those things to your point about how his role
expanding as a pass catcher, that's an area you you
turn on that right there, that's an easy adjustment to make. Hey, Bjon,
(32:30):
make sure that you're not to the boundary. Give Michael
Penix a little in yourself, a little bit of cushion
to where he's not throwing this to you with one
foot out of bounds. He's throwing this to you in
step with about this much away from from the sideline.
That to me is like exactly what you're talking about
is like an easy tweak. That is the difference in
(32:50):
a out of bounds, they're an incompletion and Michael Pennocks
connecting to Bejon Robinson for a forty five yard game downfield.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
So that's a wrap. I couldn't do it any better.
I literally couldn't say it any better. That was that like,
good night, everybody, go home, drive safe.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
Perfect, Yeah, perfectly said, thank you, thank you very much.
I'll be here all day. But but yeah, no will.
I thank you so much for sitting down and switching
seats and letting me come in and talk to you
a little bit about this this story. I again, I
cannot recommend enough that people go read it.
Speaker 5 (33:22):
Honestly, go back and watch some of.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
Bajon's long runs and kind of see what it is
that we're talking about. That's something else that I would
recommend people do along with reading the stories, go back
and watch bajons highlights from twenty twenty four so that
you can actually see what we're talking about. You can
look at all of those on our YouTube channel Atlanta
Falcons or Atlanta Falcons dot com.
Speaker 5 (33:42):
Honestly, just go Google.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
It's giving me a story idea. I'm like, should we
do an essential clips just like the things to get
you ready for the whatever? Maybe no free ideas.
Speaker 5 (33:53):
No free ideas. Yeah, maybe check back in let us
out of the podcast. No, but thank you guys so
much for joining us.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
We have a rookie minie or not rookie municant mandatory
minute tamp is coming up very very soon. I believe
starting next week, we will be there from start to
finish and.
Speaker 5 (34:08):
Hopefully we'll get to see some of some really cool things.
Speaker 4 (34:11):
I know we're already I've already really enjoyed watching Michael
Pennocks and Drake London's connection, and.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
I'm sure we will talk more about that at a
later date.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
But everybody, make sure you like subscribe to the podcast channels.
Speaker 5 (34:23):
You can check us out on YouTube, Spotify, anywhere you
get your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
For Will McFadden, I'm Tory mclaney, and for tern Walk
who was here earlier. Thank you guys so much, and
we will talk to you very soon
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.