August 26, 2024 • 33 mins
Will McFadden sits down with Terrin Waack to discuss her 53-man roster projection for the Atlanta Falcons. The organization has already begun to trim the roster, but there are some more difficult decisions to come. Will and Terrin walk through each position and highlight a handful of players who could be firmly on the bubble the day before the roster deadline.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Dirty Birds. What's up? And welcome to another edition of
Falcons Final Whistle presented by Zaxby's I'm your host Will
McFadden joined by Tarren Walk and we are going to
go through Aaron's fifty three man roster prediction. It is
the third and final edition that we will have before
the Falcons have to make the decisions themselves and they
(00:23):
have to cut down their roster to fifty three members
by Tuesday at four pm Eastern. Taren, you're the final
one to kind of go through this exercise. I had
never done it before. It was tricky for me. I
think it just wrapping my head around what some of
these decisions meant for this season and perhaps beyond. Just
(00:46):
what was this exercise like for you?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Dare I say we save the best for last? Just kidding.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
I know people are gonna not like some of my decisions,
but bring them up. It just I was stressing out
and mine is just a prediction injection that I can't
imagine what it's like being in those actual conversations and
having to make those actual cuts with real humans where
I feel like mine's like playland, Like yeah, these are
real people, but I don't have a say, and this actually,
(01:11):
like Terry Fonto is not coming up to my desk
and be like, all right, Taren, who should we keep
between these two players?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Like if he did, you should see.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Me running away because I don't want to be responsible
for these people's livelihoods.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
So with that said, like I feel bad for the
coaches in the upcoming days, and I feel bad for
the players who ultimately don't make the cut, but even
those who do, Like it's a tough time. You're losing
friends in the locker room, you're losing teammates on the
roster and people that have been here for like the
past month or so. So it is a tough time.
I think even Taylor Heineke said like it's one of
(01:43):
the worst days of the year in the NFL, And
I think that's true. Like dreams are made, but dreams
are also shattered.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, I mean candidly, Like even in our section of
the building and where we are located, the digital team
right now is different from where it was previously when
I was here and we were a little bit even
closer to kind of where the front office people sat,
and players would literally kind of come past desk and
(02:11):
it was it was tough, Like it's really really hard.
And so even though you know, we don't interact with
players and staff all that much, we're kind of in
our own little area working on our own stuff. Like
these are people that you do see around and you
try to be very cognizant of like what they're going
through because you're right, like, it's a tough ti'm across
(02:32):
the league. But that's also you know, part of why
when Rahiem Morris kind of held out a lot of
the starters and key reserves, like it did give certain players,
you know, Bradley and I right, he had so much
action this preseason, and even though he was one of
the first thirteen players released, like, he got a great
(02:52):
audition for the thirty one other teams around the league,
and I think the Falcons really liked what they saw
from him as well. So if he ends up back
on the practice squad, I wouldn't be shocked. But that
is kind of the flip side of that coin of
everybody focusing on the starters, need those reps really the
reserves like that could be their one shot. Yeah, And
that's kind of what I do like about the fact
that the Falcons really did give three full preseason games
(03:16):
to guys much further down on the depth chart. So
did that make this year any harder for you? When
you're looking at the fifty three man roster, And sure,
some positions like inside linebacker, we feel pretty good about
who those guys are. But others, specifically defensive line, maybe
outside linebacker, cornerback, like some of these guys have popped.
(03:36):
Did that kind of tighten the race for you in anyway?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Oh? Well, when I started to like figure out who
I was going to keep and whatnot, the first thing
I did was go back to the list of players
who did not play against the Ravens, and I kind
of just like locked those thirty seven in. The only
one I didn't was safety Dane Kirkshank, if I'm pronouncing
that correctly, because he's been injured so we haven't seen
him since then, and I think he did sit that game,
(03:59):
beare because of the injury, not because he was a
starter or a high level backup. So he's the only
one out of that list at thirty seven who I
ultimately didn't end up putting on my fifty three I
think at least don't. So nobody go check my tweet
in the story and go side by side, and if.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
You do do that, I encourage you to find a
different hobby because that's frankly insane.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I low key respect it so at me, but otherwise don't.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
And so I started from there because if the mentality
was we've seen enough from these guys, then I'm guessing
they're on the team. And so from there I kind
of I had what's fifty three minus thirty seven, fifty.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Three minus thirty seven sixteen?
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Yeah, so I had sixteen spots love and then well
seventeen because of Dane. And from there it's just kind
of like filling in the blanks of like who I
don't think is going to get cut even if they
did play in all three games. For example, wide receiver
Casey Washington, I think he's making this roster.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I think they've been really happy with what they have.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Seen from him, and even though he was a sixth
rounder one of the three, I don't see them getting
rid of him because if they do, I don't think
he'll clear waivers and be available for the practice squad.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Because that's another thing to consider.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Just because they're cut doesn't mean they can go straight
onto the practice squad. They have to yep, get through
the shopping spree essentially.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Exactly, Yeah, I mean they do. They get put back
on the shelf, and any of the other teams around
the league are able to put in a waiver claim.
Which is why it's always interesting when people not only
do a fifty three man roster prediction, but also then
are like projecting practice squad because it's likely that we
have no idea who the pro personnel members of the
front office are even looking at. Across the right. There
(05:41):
could be four new players on this practice squad. There
could be zero new players. There could be fifteen new players.
Like I have no idea, but that's kind of what's
so exciting at this point in time. The rookies are
a good point because like there's almost two different categories,
as you just pointed out, like the guys who did
play in all of these games. J. D. Bertrand is
(06:02):
another probably great example. Jase McLellan another good example. Exactly,
it's like, we're very confident that those guys are gonna
be on the roster, and yet they did play. So
that's where the nuance comes in. It's like, sure, you
know what you're looking at but it may come with
a grain of salt, or there may be an exception
to the otherwise pretty standard rule. So let's go ahead
and dive into it. We're gonna start with the quarterback position.
(06:25):
Tory and I had three quarterbacks sticking around. You've also
got three quarterbacks sticking around, the same three that we
all know and love. Kirk Cousins, Michael Pennix Junior, Taylor Heineke.
Talk to me about Taylor Heinekey because I know right
now he is a very popular name to discuss on
the bubble for the Falcons.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
I went back and forth with Taylor Heineke for a while,
like the elite retype delite retype, because the more I
went back and forth, I don't think he's going to
be someone who would be around to sign to the
practice squad.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
We saw that Taylor Heinekee.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Could be a good option in a backup role last year,
and I think maybe other team will value that more
than the Falcons are because they already have Michael Pennock junior.
But I don't think they're willing to take that risk.
I personally wasn't with my fifty three man roster, so
that's why he ultimately made the cut.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
You're right, like, there's a lot of teams. I was
almost surprised at the number of NFL teams that kind
of like base jumped into training camp, which is like
a quarterback parachute they hope deploys. You know, you look
at like Las Vegas, right with Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell.
There's not the most proven option there. I know Gardner
Minshew has been in the league for a long time,
but like he and Taylor Heineke at one point, probably
(07:34):
in kind of the same conversation, this journeyman backup who
you believe maybe has the potential for more. So you're right, like,
if Taylor Heiniekee becomes available, I think someone would swoove in.
I just assumed that there's maybe three teams out there
that would be kind of like, sure, we'll take Taylor Heineke.
We'll look at that. So that becomes a very kind
of nuanced conversation once again, So let's see how the
(07:55):
rest of this all shakes out. Because against Domino, this
is where it all you'd maybe put a pin in
in that quarterback. If you're the front office and you're
like let's see what every how else we want this
all to look. So running back, everybody is kept the
same for this whole time. It's John Robinson, Tyler al Jeer,
Jase McClellan, Avery Williams. Any difficulty in these four? Did
(08:16):
you really want Carlos Washington or was it kind of
clear cut?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
I think it was clear cut.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
I really like Carlos Washington as like a person, But
I just don't see the Falcons choosing him over Jase McClellan,
because again, there's more stock in Jas, there's more potential potentially, Yeah,
we don't know yet.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
It's still you're.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Starting running back at Alabama for a season.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Like, yeah, I know I should say it was a
lot of potential in the Alabama product yours truly, but yeah,
I like and I also didn't. We thought Carlos was
going to pop off more in the preseason. I know,
you were rooting for two thousand yards a ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
I was just like, he's going to lead the NFL
in rushing yards.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
There was going to be more. There was the attempts,
there wasn't the distance.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
You know what was interesting is when I was looking up,
you know, the numbers for this piece. Editing it, I
noticed Spencer Brown actually had like fifteen cars and like
actually seventy seven yard Like he actually was second on
the team in rushing yards and had the highest average
yards per carry. I think Spencer Brown joined the team
a little too late to really get any series consideration here,
but that was Yeah, it was just kind of disappointing,
(09:26):
but not because of Carlos Washington in particular, because again,
a lot of it depends on the offensive line, a
lot of it, but they played some pretty good defensive
lines I think in the preseason when you go against
Miami Baltimore and then Jacksonville, like those are pretty and
then the Jacksonville game was against the starting defense, right,
So yeah, it's it was tough slotting out there, I
(09:46):
think for the run game.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
And this is one of those situations where I think
back to the difficult conversations Harry and Raheem have to have,
because you and I had Carlos right in here, and
it was a great conversation, and so now leaving him off,
I'm like, oh, I.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Had the same exact feeling. So let's let's not linger
on it on the pain, Let's get to wide receiver
this is one that is kind of bounced up and down.
I think so. Yeah, Torri and Shehally had five. She
left Chris Blair off. However, that's really caveat right. It
was right after rond eiel Moore's injury. She was kind
(10:19):
of having I think, if this is fair to say
a placeholder sixth. She just didn't know who exactly that
was going to be. I had the benefit of riding
mine after the Baltimore game, and at that point we
had Chris Blair, who was third in the NFL in
receiving yards in the preseason, So it was a very
easy decision for me to add him as that sixth player.
(10:41):
You do not have Chris Blair, he fourth, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
He's tied for four yards.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
But and this was another one I went back and
forth because the reason I ultimately did not include Chris
Chris Blair is because I needed the spot which went
to the defense.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
And we can come to that later. Unless you want
me to tell him now who I pick over, we
can save it. Okay, good? Oh, I wasn't ready.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
But it's just they have so many options, and you know,
Drake and Darnell are the ones, and then you have
Rey Ray in there too, and then you have a
solid backup in Casey, who's shown a lot. I think
he has a lot of growing to do, but the
potential is there, Like it's just kind of like crisping
things up.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
He's another Carlos Washington to me though, where it's like
the attempts were there, the yardage maybe wasn't like it
wasn't uncommon to see Casey Washington like six targets two catches.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
Right. Again, he's a rookie. He's got to clean that up.
I think that's what you're pointing at for sure. And
I just don't think he would go through the waivers.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Yeah, it's fair.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
It's just out of all the draft picks, I only
cut one, and that was Zion Log because what he do, Like,
I just never heard his name this preseason.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
And I think he's an excellent practice squad candidate. Yeah yep,
like you still got drafted. Kudos to you.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
I think he will end up.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Your tough rotation to crack right exactly.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
That one was way too deep at which we will
get into there too. So I just picked Casey ultimately
over Chris, even though Chris had better numbers. I think
it has to do with what they see in each
and what could possibly be Okay, bind into the potential
a little more with Casey Washington than I am Chris Blair.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
That's a good way to put it. And I think again,
what kind of Forrey and I talked a little bit
about was the clone notion, right the RHEM likes to
talk about. And I made the point that Chris Blair
could be a little bit of a clone of Caderol
Hodge and you or actually Amna who wrote a great
piece about Chris Blair over the weekends to go check
that out. But she mentioned how Chris was, you know,
(12:47):
kind of using special teams as a little bit of
a pathway to try to make the roster and focusing
on that aspect in camp, and that would be like
perfect if he can get under Cadol Hodge's wing and
just learn how to be this like savvy that A
and fifth receiver, fourth receiver, but then like kick butt
at special teams.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
But I look at Casey Washington as well, and what
was kind of one of the main things that they
said about him when they drafted him is we view
him as versatile within this offense. He can do kind
of all three roles, so that in and of itself,
it's like three clones, you know, So I get what
you're saying.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
It's kind of recency buys too, because he was a
draft pick.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
You know. I don't know, maybe I'm putting too much
into draft stock, but you picked him for a reason
and it just happened.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah, that's safe to fault to have, right, if you're
gonna fall back on any rule, Like, that's not a
bad one to get to fall back to, especially a
first year guy right around.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
I always forget Caderrel Hodge and I feel bad.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Like when we were talking about wide receivers coming back
to this team, I just could be like, it's only
Drake London and everyone be like Caderrel Hodge too, and I'm.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Like, oh yeah, but that's he's like one of those
players where and usually we talked about offensive lineman. This way,
it's almost like it's not a bad thing that nobody's
talking about him because I guarantee you out there on
the field, like his teammates him, the coaching staff loves him.
The reason he's he's making a lot of plays out
in practice. It's just kind of ho hum, you know,
like it's not as exciting as even in Casey Washington.
(14:09):
I get it. That's the stuff we're we're drawn to
in camp. And caderrel Hodges just meanwhile, just solid, just
crushing it every single day. He made my roster mine
as well. So we've got the tight end position. Next,
you have three. I had three, Tory had four, but
again she had she went first. I think things have
(14:30):
trended a different way. So talk to me about John
Fitzpatrick and ultimately leaving him off.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
I went back and forth.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
It's just it's kind of like exposure theory a bit
too rather than thinking of the negatives. For me, it's
like I just saw more from Ross Dwelly than I
did John Fitzpatrick.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
I think it was between the two.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
I didn't have this base to keep a fourth and
because I mean, cutting Chris Blair was really tough. Yeah,
trying to cut someone else to get John Fitzpatrick in
there wasn't going to happen. So I think I think
it was just the signings of Charlie Warner and Ross Dwelly.
They have showed up and shown out more in my mind,
(15:08):
and I think we always talk about them being the
blockers and whatnot. But both Charlie and Ross have been
utilized in the passing game too, like ye in good ways.
Like I've seen Ross with a near one handed diving catch.
I think it ultimately was out of bounds, but it
was still athletically impressive and shows what he can do.
And so it's it wasn't me leaving John Fitzpatrick off
(15:31):
because he didn't do well. It was me picking the
three I thought were strongest.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
And I agree with that approach. That's half full for once. Yeah,
I look at you that day. Oh my god, I'm
so proud. I used to think. And this maybe even
goes back to kind of the previous offense that was
in here, right, this almost no name offense. And I
don't mean that as a slight to like Drake Lennon,
(15:57):
Kyle Pitts, but John Robinson, Tyler, al Chair, everybody who
was he knew their names on the offense last year.
But just kind of this, if everybody's getting three catches
in a game and you have seven players catching three passes,
that it's like so difficult for a defense to actually
know who is your number one or number four. So
you're like spreading it around, right, And that is kind
(16:17):
of where I would be, like, you know, Luke Stocker,
to pull out a name from the past, right, bring
him in. What can he do? Oh man? He could
be like this guy in this offense. And now I've
kind of shifted that thinking and going back to the
way like Kyle Shanahan used Levine toy Lolo or Josh Palmer,
who were tight ends in that twenty sixteen offense. They
(16:38):
only had four catches five catches all year, two of
them were for touchdowns, right, And so it's kind of
picking your spots for when to use these guys. It's
not that Charlie Warner can't catch pass, right, It's that
he's also a dang good blocker. That's why I nominated
him for Camp Champ after Wednesday scrimmage is he was
just getting after people. So when you have a guy
(16:59):
who was at someone in one area and capable in another,
it's not really like we're going to use the capable
quality so many times that you have to respect it
the way you respect the excellent quality. It's just picking
the right spot to utilize that skill to maximum effect.
And that's what I think you're going to see out
of the kind of backup tight ends. Yeah, almost like
a surprise exactly. I like it more that way. Yeah,
(17:21):
like you kind of okay, block block block oop, now
sneak out the back door surprise. Today's episode of Falcons
Final Whistle is brought to you by Zaxby's. And after
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to refuel, go get yourself some Zaxbies. All right, offensive line,
you had I believe eight as well. We've all had
the same eight, so read it off. Jake Matthews, Matthew
(18:05):
burrs Around, Drew Dalmond, Chris Linstrom, Kayla McGarry, Storm Norton,
Kyle Hinton, and Ryan noosel Any anything there that you
really want to touch on.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
I mean, just having all the starter's bag is great. Yeah,
there was no like battle for those five spots. It's
just like, all right, this was easy. And then picking
a few strong backups that you kind of notice peak
a bit more in the preseason.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
And backups have been here as well, exactly, and.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
This is a maybe not age wise, but this is
an older group together.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
An experience experience. That's sword They've They've got a lot
of chemists experienced. It's it's something that even the backups
in these games. And I'm speaking more, I think about
the internal three or interior three with Hinton Newsle and
then Jevon Gwynn, who I hope is back on this
practice squad because I loved watching him play, but it's
(18:59):
they were really doing some things that were kind of nuanced,
like passing off stunts and twists and late blitzers, and
I was really impressed, and I was like that that
is an experienced offensive line. When even your twos are
doing kind of some tricky stuff, it just is indicative
of a group that's been together now for a little bit.
So yep, I think we can move on to the
defensive line. We're all crazy and it's just so tough
(19:22):
to cut anybody. And so when Tory started out with
eight guys on our list, and I was like eight guys.
I think they're going to keep like six guys because
they're going to have the outside linebackers too, and then
they're going to have no I got to it. I
couldn't do any more or any less than eight. You've
got eight.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
So it was six or eight.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Because if I had to cut anybody, not that I
want to, it would have been between Eddie Goldman and
Contavious Street just because the other ones are so strong. Again,
it's a hard picking, and so when I looked at
those two, I'm like, I can't pick because they both
had really strong preseason. I remember the scrimmage is perfect
(20:01):
example of this. It was Eddie Goldman had a really
strong first half and then Kintavie Street had a really
strong second. Yeah, like they were just in the backfield.
And so then I was like, no, you can't do it.
I can't do it, So I'm not going to So
there's eight.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Eddie Goldman is actually like we were talking about Zion Logan,
and I feel like if Eddie Goldman wasn't a player
coming off of a couple of seasons kind of away
from the field, no brainer, then he probably wouldn't have
been out there as often as he was during the
preseason and in practice. So maybe you got a rookie
like Zion more snaps in some of those areas, but
(20:36):
because Eddie kind of needs those snaps, I think to
get the feel for the game back a little bit.
You see how that has a ripple effect maybe further
down the depth chart and kind of the same thing,
but in reverse. With Kntavious Street, he was somebody who
I noticed very early, like day one of camp, as
the placeholder for Grady Jarrett. Like when you looked at
(20:57):
who were the starters in there with kind of the
first team into your your defensive line, it was sometimes
like David Onyamada, Zach Harrison, and Kntavius Street. Sometimes it
was like Takwon Graham, Zach Harrison, Kntavius Street, But like
KNTAVIIU Street was always just kind of like right there
in the middle, and I had to assume that's gonna
be Grady Jarrett when he is back in his acclamation
(21:19):
and more like up to full speed again. I'm talking
early camp.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
I think is also signed shortly after Grady's injury.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Yeah, okay, that and they're similar types of players going
back and rewatching kind of the Miami preseason game, Like
you can see the quickness that Kntavious Street plays with
at times. So yeah, again we're talking about kind of
like clones. Contavious Streets a valuable back up there. Eddie
Goldman's a little bit of a one on one on
this roster. Like if let's say, if they were going
(21:47):
to go to six, you think it's clear that it
was would be Goldman and Street.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Yeah, because I think Street might be picked up by
someone else if he is, really that's good. I don't
know that Goldman is because Atlanta has put all of
their eggs in his basket. Yeah, like they have wanted
that man exactly, and so I think he would end
up here on the practice squad or something and then
(22:13):
elevated as many times as you can be.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Yeah, okay, but I think eight again for this this
defense feels right. And part of that is because when
you look at what the pass rush where it's going
to come from, I think the defensive linemen are going
to be just as much part of that as the
outside linebackers. So looking at the outside linebackers, you have
five and this is where I think you know, or
(22:40):
Chris Blair and Ryan John Fitzpatrick. Don't know why I
want to say Ryan Fitzpatrick. Them not being on this
roster allows for another camp stand out to make the cut.
So you've got Matt Jewton, Lorenzo Carter, Arnold, mccatie, James Smith, Williams,
who I had as well. But you've got one extra.
You've got D'Angelo and Moore.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Yes, because we all know I'm a special team supporter.
If I sort of put the Angela Malone under specialists,
I probably actually should have. I should have just thrown
him down there. But I will hang my hat on
this dynamic kickoff because it's so vanilla right now. But
I think it's gonna turn into fun fetti in the season.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yeah, that was maybe your best one yet. Hey, I
love that.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
I didn't know where to go with it.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Now I'm like over excited about it. But the Angela
Malone was so good on special teams in the preseason.
He had not only a team high what was it,
I think six?
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Right? Six?
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Not only a team high, that's an NFL best six tackles. Wow,
when you looked at the whole league, he had the
most special team stops. Yeah, and I just I think
it was Baltimore where we were like Malone again Malone
with the stop. It was either there Miami.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I mean Miami was the first. It was definitely Miami
was kind of like the breakout where he was just
doing it like in on punt, on kickoff, on like
all of them. And then he doubled down in Baltimore
and it was like there's Dangel alone. Yeah, oh my god,
there he is again, like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
And then another thing is we talked to him after
practice one day and the full time switch to outside linebacker.
I think he's so much more comfortable with it, and
he did kind of grow and develop that this could
be the season of growth, Like he's getting his in
with special teams, but I wouldn't be surprised if he
starts to earn some opportunities with the defense too well.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
And even when he was coming out of college, liked
Angelo Loan was in a little bit of this hybrid
three four outside linebacker edge guy, and the things that
he did well were like rush the passer or drop
into coverage, and now I think you're seeing him able
to do more of that in this outside linebacker three
four look as opposed to what was kind of the
(24:44):
Ryan Nielsen four to three hand in the dirt we're
going to go, and he wasn't really suited for that
type of work.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
I think you're trying to fit a square in a
circle and now the circle just gets to be the circle.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Yeah, and he gets to ball out on special teams,
which if you're saying he led the NFL in special
teams tackles, like the k about the preseason is like
you got to earn your roster spot on special teams, Well,
there you go. I think he made a pretty good
case and he made your roster. So inside linebacker, the
same four that has always been Kate Alstroy Anderson, Nate Lamon,
j D Bertrand let's use this space really quickly though,
(25:14):
just to touch on kind of the injury updates that
Raheem provided on Friday night.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Which one was the quad, in which one is the groin.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
So I believe groin is Elis and quad is Nate Laman.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Regardless, they're both nursing some injuries right now. I know
Nate did not put his jersey on at all for
the final preseason game, whereas Cayden did suit up for
warm ups. I mean all the starters suited up for
warm ups, but then they changed out.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
It was like a tease. It was such a tease.
I was like, Oh, are they going to do it?
Speaker 1 (25:44):
And then they did not?
Speaker 3 (25:46):
But that only interesting to see, Like how raheem Moore
said their day to day, So it'd be interesting to
see how long that day to day continues. Does it
continue into Week one preparation, does it continue into the
Week one game? Like is JD gonna get us to
start in week one as a rookie? So he stepped
up to the plate in the scrimmage like him and
(26:06):
Troy Anderson held their own together.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
It wouldn't It would stink to start off the season
with injuries in that group because we've talked about all
precent how strong that group is.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
But you would want you'd want Kayden Ellis or Nate Lambon.
I would think to be in there against Pittsburgh again
knowing their experience with Arthur Smith's off Like if j
D Bertrand is in there, who wasn't around last year
and is a rookie against an offense that we expect
to have a lot of moving pieces. Just from what
we saw here, that would be a tougher spot. I'd
(26:37):
feel much better about Kaden Ellis being back, or Nate
Lamon or both honestly, but all four out there, but
all four out there at the same time, it would
be amazing. All right, back of the linebackers, cornerback, we've
got six players the same six the entire way. So
that's crazy. As much as we were talking about that
being a spot for camp battles and like who is
the depth, what's going to emerge, it's pretty consistent. We've
(26:59):
got a j trel Mike cues D offered Clark Phillips,
Kevin King, and Antonio Hamilton. Any any thoughts there that
were kind of unexpected for you, I.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Wouldn't say unexpected. If I needed a space on the defense,
Antonio Hamilton would have been the.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
One interesting, but.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
He was on that He was on that list for
Baltimore that didn't play, so he was like an automatic
slide into. But another way to wiggle around would have
been making Kevin King a safety. But I the numbers,
a number like changing his position doesn't change the body count,
so that didn't end up happening. But yeah, I think,
obviously AJ is going to be here for a minute,
(27:40):
he just signed his extension. Then you have Mike Hughes
and Clark Phillips who were essentially competing for that role
all throughout the preseason, with Mike essentially getting the nod
with the depth chart putting him as the one, and
then Clark has a great option right behind him. He's
his a little special nickel, like he's got his own
little spot.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Kevin, I just think his versatility will be a huge
asset for either cornerback or safety.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
So I could have put him in either group.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
And I wouldn't even be shocked if you see when
they release the fifty three men roster, if they just
have this as defensive backs and they have just ten
guys listed as defensive backs, right because Kevin King in
the scrimmage on Wednesday was playing in dime package and
also kind of a safety box safety hybrid role, and
(28:28):
then in the final preseason game played safety for a
long time out there, So I definitely feel like they
are exploring that potential in case they do put DeMarco
Helms on injured reserve once fifth, and then that does
the math. You can maybe keep nine defensive backs, but
still have kind of six corners and four safeties. These
(28:49):
one player fills both spots for you, that would be
maybe the upside here. So let's quickly get safety Jesse Bates,
Justin Simmons, Richie Grant, DeMarco Hellams. I. You know, where
do you think they would go if let's say they
put DeMarco Elms on injured reserve? You think they try
to backfill that safety spot or do you think, yeah,
(29:09):
is that the opportunity to get somebody else on here?
Speaker 3 (29:11):
I think that I think Micah Abernathy would fill that void.
I think I noted that in my story too, because
he was spoken very highly of as soon as DeMarco
was hurt, where it's like, this is the opportunity for
him to step up and show us that he can
do it. And I know they really liked him even
last year in that role. So I think if they
do put DeMarco on IR, then Micah has his way
(29:35):
back in.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Yeah, let's quickly close out with special teams and like quickly,
I mean, we don't even really have to talk about them.
It's young Waku, Bradley Pinion and Liam McCullough it's done
that way, since it will be that way on Tuesday.
I'm very confident about that. So let's wrap up with this.
Uh oh, if there's one player who you don't have
on your fifty three men roster, but you wouldn't be
(29:56):
shocked to see on Tuesday at four o'clocks Blair, it
would be Chris Blair.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Yeah, that one's going to eat at me. People on
Twitter are already like you should have kept Chris Blayir.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
I'm like, I know, if all right, So if you
were going to put Chris Blair on here, who would
you take off? Oh no, and you don't have I
mean again you stuck by your fifty three again kind
of like that final toss up? Was it? Dangela below was?
Speaker 3 (30:18):
But like the more I think about dangel, the more
I'm confident in that decision.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
M hm. I mean, if anything, this is I think
Antonio Hamilton is. I think it's more given what the
injury situation at safety is, Like, I think it's more
important to keep somebody like that in the secondary. I
wonder if it wouldn't be like a Kentavious Street or
(30:45):
a Taylor Heineke or somebody you know, like.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
That, but again bottom like five.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
This.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Yeah, this fifty three though, feels strong. It feels kind
of like what it could be, Like I think that
there's a very realistic chance this is the fifty three,
And honestly it's indicative of a strong camp, like the
fact that they were able to kind of set aside
a lot of this roster for the final couple of
preseason games and we saw young players emerge and actually
(31:12):
really make strong cases. We're not trying to pull guys
onto this fifty three man roster, We're trying to keep
some people off of it and double long like that's
a much better place to be in. So any last
thoughts about this exercise and kind of the next twenty
four hours before I let you go.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
So I remember a practice one day.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
I can't remember who I was talking to, but we
were like, what if the NFL required X amount per position?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Like oh okay, like mandatory minimums or maximums.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
Both, Like you had to have five running backs? No
questions asked, Oh my god, you know what I mean.
I don't even want to think about that. That would break
my brain. Five running backs like high school prompts you
would get.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Or like three guys standing around most of the game. Okay,
that was a bad.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
One to put it.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
But like required only sixty linemen required for safeties, required
four cornerbacks, like really specific, like that you don't have fun, that.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Would be see. I almost go in the opposite direction
because I am for experimentation. I want people to throw
stuff at the wall, Like I want people to get crazy,
and that would hind people in right, but I want
somebody to be like, we're going to keep one safety
and we're gonna have fifteen cornerbacks on the roster, you know,
like yeah, let's let's just get crazy with it. Let's
go ahead and wrap up this podcast. This was a
(32:25):
pretty long one, so oops. Thank you guys so much
for listening and watching today's Falcons Final Whistle presented by Zaxby's.
The fifty three man roster will be revealed Tuesday by
four pm Eastern time and we will find out who
is on it. Who is here for the regular season,
which is right around the corner. Falcon Steelers is coming up,
(32:47):
so we will be here for all of it. But again,
thank you for joining us for all of training camp.
This was great. It was a pleasure bringing all of
this action to you so for Aaron walk I am
Will McFadden. We will see you guys soon. Until then,
take here
Dirty Birds. What's up? And welcome to another edition of
Falcons Final Whistle presented by Zaxby's I'm your host Will
McFadden joined by Tarren Walk and we are going to
go through Aaron's fifty three man roster prediction. It is
the third and final edition that we will have before
the Falcons have to make the decisions themselves and they
(00:23):
have to cut down their roster to fifty three members
by Tuesday at four pm Eastern. Taren, you're the final
one to kind of go through this exercise. I had
never done it before. It was tricky for me. I
think it just wrapping my head around what some of
these decisions meant for this season and perhaps beyond. Just
(00:46):
what was this exercise like for you?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Dare I say we save the best for last? Just kidding.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
I know people are gonna not like some of my decisions,
but bring them up. It just I was stressing out
and mine is just a prediction injection that I can't
imagine what it's like being in those actual conversations and
having to make those actual cuts with real humans where
I feel like mine's like playland, Like yeah, these are
real people, but I don't have a say, and this actually,
(01:11):
like Terry Fonto is not coming up to my desk
and be like, all right, Taren, who should we keep
between these two players?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Like if he did, you should see.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Me running away because I don't want to be responsible
for these people's livelihoods.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
So with that said, like I feel bad for the
coaches in the upcoming days, and I feel bad for
the players who ultimately don't make the cut, but even
those who do, Like it's a tough time. You're losing
friends in the locker room, you're losing teammates on the
roster and people that have been here for like the
past month or so. So it is a tough time.
I think even Taylor Heineke said like it's one of
(01:43):
the worst days of the year in the NFL, And
I think that's true. Like dreams are made, but dreams
are also shattered.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, I mean candidly, Like even in our section of
the building and where we are located, the digital team
right now is different from where it was previously when
I was here and we were a little bit even
closer to kind of where the front office people sat,
and players would literally kind of come past desk and
(02:11):
it was it was tough, Like it's really really hard.
And so even though you know, we don't interact with
players and staff all that much, we're kind of in
our own little area working on our own stuff. Like
these are people that you do see around and you
try to be very cognizant of like what they're going
through because you're right, like, it's a tough ti'm across
(02:32):
the league. But that's also you know, part of why
when Rahiem Morris kind of held out a lot of
the starters and key reserves, like it did give certain players,
you know, Bradley and I right, he had so much
action this preseason, and even though he was one of
the first thirteen players released, like, he got a great
(02:52):
audition for the thirty one other teams around the league,
and I think the Falcons really liked what they saw
from him as well. So if he ends up back
on the practice squad, I wouldn't be shocked. But that
is kind of the flip side of that coin of
everybody focusing on the starters, need those reps really the
reserves like that could be their one shot. Yeah, And
that's kind of what I do like about the fact
that the Falcons really did give three full preseason games
(03:16):
to guys much further down on the depth chart. So
did that make this year any harder for you? When
you're looking at the fifty three man roster, And sure,
some positions like inside linebacker, we feel pretty good about
who those guys are. But others, specifically defensive line, maybe
outside linebacker, cornerback, like some of these guys have popped.
(03:36):
Did that kind of tighten the race for you in anyway?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Oh? Well, when I started to like figure out who
I was going to keep and whatnot, the first thing
I did was go back to the list of players
who did not play against the Ravens, and I kind
of just like locked those thirty seven in. The only
one I didn't was safety Dane Kirkshank, if I'm pronouncing
that correctly, because he's been injured so we haven't seen
him since then, and I think he did sit that game,
(03:59):
beare because of the injury, not because he was a
starter or a high level backup. So he's the only
one out of that list at thirty seven who I
ultimately didn't end up putting on my fifty three I
think at least don't. So nobody go check my tweet
in the story and go side by side, and if.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
You do do that, I encourage you to find a
different hobby because that's frankly insane.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I low key respect it so at me, but otherwise don't.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
And so I started from there because if the mentality
was we've seen enough from these guys, then I'm guessing
they're on the team. And so from there I kind
of I had what's fifty three minus thirty seven, fifty.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Three minus thirty seven sixteen?
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Yeah, so I had sixteen spots love and then well
seventeen because of Dane. And from there it's just kind
of like filling in the blanks of like who I
don't think is going to get cut even if they
did play in all three games. For example, wide receiver
Casey Washington, I think he's making this roster.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I think they've been really happy with what they have.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Seen from him, and even though he was a sixth
rounder one of the three, I don't see them getting
rid of him because if they do, I don't think
he'll clear waivers and be available for the practice squad.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Because that's another thing to consider.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Just because they're cut doesn't mean they can go straight
onto the practice squad. They have to yep, get through
the shopping spree essentially.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Exactly, Yeah, I mean they do. They get put back
on the shelf, and any of the other teams around
the league are able to put in a waiver claim.
Which is why it's always interesting when people not only
do a fifty three man roster prediction, but also then
are like projecting practice squad because it's likely that we
have no idea who the pro personnel members of the
front office are even looking at. Across the right. There
(05:41):
could be four new players on this practice squad. There
could be zero new players. There could be fifteen new players.
Like I have no idea, but that's kind of what's
so exciting at this point in time. The rookies are
a good point because like there's almost two different categories,
as you just pointed out, like the guys who did
play in all of these games. J. D. Bertrand is
(06:02):
another probably great example. Jase McLellan another good example. Exactly,
it's like, we're very confident that those guys are gonna
be on the roster, and yet they did play. So
that's where the nuance comes in. It's like, sure, you
know what you're looking at but it may come with
a grain of salt, or there may be an exception
to the otherwise pretty standard rule. So let's go ahead
and dive into it. We're gonna start with the quarterback position.
(06:25):
Tory and I had three quarterbacks sticking around. You've also
got three quarterbacks sticking around, the same three that we
all know and love. Kirk Cousins, Michael Pennix Junior, Taylor Heineke.
Talk to me about Taylor Heinekey because I know right
now he is a very popular name to discuss on
the bubble for the Falcons.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
I went back and forth with Taylor Heineke for a while,
like the elite retype delite retype, because the more I
went back and forth, I don't think he's going to
be someone who would be around to sign to the
practice squad.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
We saw that Taylor Heinekee.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Could be a good option in a backup role last year,
and I think maybe other team will value that more
than the Falcons are because they already have Michael Pennock junior.
But I don't think they're willing to take that risk.
I personally wasn't with my fifty three man roster, so
that's why he ultimately made the cut.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
You're right, like, there's a lot of teams. I was
almost surprised at the number of NFL teams that kind
of like base jumped into training camp, which is like
a quarterback parachute they hope deploys. You know, you look
at like Las Vegas, right with Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell.
There's not the most proven option there. I know Gardner
Minshew has been in the league for a long time,
but like he and Taylor Heineke at one point, probably
(07:34):
in kind of the same conversation, this journeyman backup who
you believe maybe has the potential for more. So you're right, like,
if Taylor Heiniekee becomes available, I think someone would swoove in.
I just assumed that there's maybe three teams out there
that would be kind of like, sure, we'll take Taylor Heineke.
We'll look at that. So that becomes a very kind
of nuanced conversation once again, So let's see how the
(07:55):
rest of this all shakes out. Because against Domino, this
is where it all you'd maybe put a pin in
in that quarterback. If you're the front office and you're
like let's see what every how else we want this
all to look. So running back, everybody is kept the
same for this whole time. It's John Robinson, Tyler al Jeer,
Jase McClellan, Avery Williams. Any difficulty in these four? Did
(08:16):
you really want Carlos Washington or was it kind of
clear cut?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
I think it was clear cut.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
I really like Carlos Washington as like a person, But
I just don't see the Falcons choosing him over Jase McClellan,
because again, there's more stock in Jas, there's more potential potentially, Yeah,
we don't know yet.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
It's still you're.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Starting running back at Alabama for a season.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Like, yeah, I know I should say it was a
lot of potential in the Alabama product yours truly, but yeah,
I like and I also didn't. We thought Carlos was
going to pop off more in the preseason. I know,
you were rooting for two thousand yards a ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
I was just like, he's going to lead the NFL
in rushing yards.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
There was going to be more. There was the attempts,
there wasn't the distance.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
You know what was interesting is when I was looking up,
you know, the numbers for this piece. Editing it, I
noticed Spencer Brown actually had like fifteen cars and like
actually seventy seven yard Like he actually was second on
the team in rushing yards and had the highest average
yards per carry. I think Spencer Brown joined the team
a little too late to really get any series consideration here,
but that was Yeah, it was just kind of disappointing,
(09:26):
but not because of Carlos Washington in particular, because again,
a lot of it depends on the offensive line, a
lot of it, but they played some pretty good defensive
lines I think in the preseason when you go against
Miami Baltimore and then Jacksonville, like those are pretty and
then the Jacksonville game was against the starting defense, right,
So yeah, it's it was tough slotting out there, I
(09:46):
think for the run game.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
And this is one of those situations where I think
back to the difficult conversations Harry and Raheem have to have,
because you and I had Carlos right in here, and
it was a great conversation, and so now leaving him off,
I'm like, oh, I.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Had the same exact feeling. So let's let's not linger
on it on the pain, Let's get to wide receiver
this is one that is kind of bounced up and down.
I think so. Yeah, Torri and Shehally had five. She
left Chris Blair off. However, that's really caveat right. It
was right after rond eiel Moore's injury. She was kind
(10:19):
of having I think, if this is fair to say
a placeholder sixth. She just didn't know who exactly that
was going to be. I had the benefit of riding
mine after the Baltimore game, and at that point we
had Chris Blair, who was third in the NFL in
receiving yards in the preseason, So it was a very
easy decision for me to add him as that sixth player.
(10:41):
You do not have Chris Blair, he fourth, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
He's tied for four yards.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
But and this was another one I went back and
forth because the reason I ultimately did not include Chris
Chris Blair is because I needed the spot which went
to the defense.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
And we can come to that later. Unless you want
me to tell him now who I pick over, we
can save it. Okay, good? Oh, I wasn't ready.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
But it's just they have so many options, and you know,
Drake and Darnell are the ones, and then you have
Rey Ray in there too, and then you have a
solid backup in Casey, who's shown a lot. I think
he has a lot of growing to do, but the
potential is there, Like it's just kind of like crisping
things up.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
He's another Carlos Washington to me though, where it's like
the attempts were there, the yardage maybe wasn't like it
wasn't uncommon to see Casey Washington like six targets two catches.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
Right. Again, he's a rookie. He's got to clean that up.
I think that's what you're pointing at for sure. And
I just don't think he would go through the waivers.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Yeah, it's fair.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
It's just out of all the draft picks, I only
cut one, and that was Zion Log because what he do, Like,
I just never heard his name this preseason.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
And I think he's an excellent practice squad candidate. Yeah yep,
like you still got drafted. Kudos to you.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
I think he will end up.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Your tough rotation to crack right exactly.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
That one was way too deep at which we will
get into there too. So I just picked Casey ultimately
over Chris, even though Chris had better numbers. I think
it has to do with what they see in each
and what could possibly be Okay, bind into the potential
a little more with Casey Washington than I am Chris Blair.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
That's a good way to put it. And I think again,
what kind of Forrey and I talked a little bit
about was the clone notion, right the RHEM likes to
talk about. And I made the point that Chris Blair
could be a little bit of a clone of Caderol
Hodge and you or actually Amna who wrote a great
piece about Chris Blair over the weekends to go check
that out. But she mentioned how Chris was, you know,
(12:47):
kind of using special teams as a little bit of
a pathway to try to make the roster and focusing
on that aspect in camp, and that would be like
perfect if he can get under Cadol Hodge's wing and
just learn how to be this like savvy that A
and fifth receiver, fourth receiver, but then like kick butt
at special teams.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
But I look at Casey Washington as well, and what
was kind of one of the main things that they
said about him when they drafted him is we view
him as versatile within this offense. He can do kind
of all three roles, so that in and of itself,
it's like three clones, you know, So I get what
you're saying.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
It's kind of recency buys too, because he was a
draft pick.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
You know. I don't know, maybe I'm putting too much
into draft stock, but you picked him for a reason
and it just happened.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Yeah, that's safe to fault to have, right, if you're
gonna fall back on any rule, Like, that's not a
bad one to get to fall back to, especially a
first year guy right around.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
I always forget Caderrel Hodge and I feel bad.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Like when we were talking about wide receivers coming back
to this team, I just could be like, it's only
Drake London and everyone be like Caderrel Hodge too, and I'm.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Like, oh yeah, but that's he's like one of those
players where and usually we talked about offensive lineman. This way,
it's almost like it's not a bad thing that nobody's
talking about him because I guarantee you out there on
the field, like his teammates him, the coaching staff loves him.
The reason he's he's making a lot of plays out
in practice. It's just kind of ho hum, you know,
like it's not as exciting as even in Casey Washington.
(14:09):
I get it. That's the stuff we're we're drawn to
in camp. And caderrel Hodges just meanwhile, just solid, just
crushing it every single day. He made my roster mine
as well. So we've got the tight end position. Next,
you have three. I had three, Tory had four, but
again she had she went first. I think things have
(14:30):
trended a different way. So talk to me about John
Fitzpatrick and ultimately leaving him off.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
I went back and forth.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
It's just it's kind of like exposure theory a bit
too rather than thinking of the negatives. For me, it's
like I just saw more from Ross Dwelly than I
did John Fitzpatrick.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
I think it was between the two.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
I didn't have this base to keep a fourth and
because I mean, cutting Chris Blair was really tough. Yeah,
trying to cut someone else to get John Fitzpatrick in
there wasn't going to happen. So I think I think
it was just the signings of Charlie Warner and Ross Dwelly.
They have showed up and shown out more in my mind,
(15:08):
and I think we always talk about them being the
blockers and whatnot. But both Charlie and Ross have been
utilized in the passing game too, like ye in good ways.
Like I've seen Ross with a near one handed diving catch.
I think it ultimately was out of bounds, but it
was still athletically impressive and shows what he can do.
And so it's it wasn't me leaving John Fitzpatrick off
(15:31):
because he didn't do well. It was me picking the
three I thought were strongest.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
And I agree with that approach. That's half full for once. Yeah,
I look at you that day. Oh my god, I'm
so proud. I used to think. And this maybe even
goes back to kind of the previous offense that was
in here, right, this almost no name offense. And I
don't mean that as a slight to like Drake Lennon,
(15:57):
Kyle Pitts, but John Robinson, Tyler, al Chair, everybody who
was he knew their names on the offense last year.
But just kind of this, if everybody's getting three catches
in a game and you have seven players catching three passes,
that it's like so difficult for a defense to actually
know who is your number one or number four. So
you're like spreading it around, right, And that is kind
(16:17):
of where I would be, like, you know, Luke Stocker,
to pull out a name from the past, right, bring
him in. What can he do? Oh man? He could
be like this guy in this offense. And now I've
kind of shifted that thinking and going back to the
way like Kyle Shanahan used Levine toy Lolo or Josh Palmer,
who were tight ends in that twenty sixteen offense. They
(16:38):
only had four catches five catches all year, two of
them were for touchdowns, right, And so it's kind of
picking your spots for when to use these guys. It's
not that Charlie Warner can't catch pass, right, It's that
he's also a dang good blocker. That's why I nominated
him for Camp Champ after Wednesday scrimmage is he was
just getting after people. So when you have a guy
(16:59):
who was at someone in one area and capable in another,
it's not really like we're going to use the capable
quality so many times that you have to respect it
the way you respect the excellent quality. It's just picking
the right spot to utilize that skill to maximum effect.
And that's what I think you're going to see out
of the kind of backup tight ends. Yeah, almost like
a surprise exactly. I like it more that way. Yeah,
(17:21):
like you kind of okay, block block block oop, now
sneak out the back door surprise. Today's episode of Falcons
Final Whistle is brought to you by Zaxby's. And after
a long game, when I'm tired and I need to refuel,
I turned to Zaxbis their marinated handbreaded fried to perfection
chicken fingers. They hit the spot every time. Get yours
(17:44):
with seasoned crinkle fries, a nice drink in whichever of
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it always hits just right. So next time you need
to refuel, go get yourself some Zaxbies. All right, offensive line,
you had I believe eight as well. We've all had
the same eight, so read it off. Jake Matthews, Matthew
(18:05):
burrs Around, Drew Dalmond, Chris Linstrom, Kayla McGarry, Storm Norton,
Kyle Hinton, and Ryan noosel Any anything there that you
really want to touch on.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
I mean, just having all the starter's bag is great. Yeah,
there was no like battle for those five spots. It's
just like, all right, this was easy. And then picking
a few strong backups that you kind of notice peak
a bit more in the preseason.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
And backups have been here as well, exactly, and.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
This is a maybe not age wise, but this is
an older group together.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
An experience experience. That's sword They've They've got a lot
of chemists experienced. It's it's something that even the backups
in these games. And I'm speaking more, I think about
the internal three or interior three with Hinton Newsle and
then Jevon Gwynn, who I hope is back on this
practice squad because I loved watching him play, but it's
(18:59):
they were really doing some things that were kind of nuanced,
like passing off stunts and twists and late blitzers, and
I was really impressed, and I was like that that
is an experienced offensive line. When even your twos are
doing kind of some tricky stuff, it just is indicative
of a group that's been together now for a little bit.
So yep, I think we can move on to the
defensive line. We're all crazy and it's just so tough
(19:22):
to cut anybody. And so when Tory started out with
eight guys on our list, and I was like eight guys.
I think they're going to keep like six guys because
they're going to have the outside linebackers too, and then
they're going to have no I got to it. I
couldn't do any more or any less than eight. You've
got eight.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
So it was six or eight.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Because if I had to cut anybody, not that I
want to, it would have been between Eddie Goldman and
Contavious Street just because the other ones are so strong. Again,
it's a hard picking, and so when I looked at
those two, I'm like, I can't pick because they both
had really strong preseason. I remember the scrimmage is perfect
(20:01):
example of this. It was Eddie Goldman had a really
strong first half and then Kintavie Street had a really
strong second. Yeah, like they were just in the backfield.
And so then I was like, no, you can't do it.
I can't do it, So I'm not going to So
there's eight.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Eddie Goldman is actually like we were talking about Zion Logan,
and I feel like if Eddie Goldman wasn't a player
coming off of a couple of seasons kind of away
from the field, no brainer, then he probably wouldn't have
been out there as often as he was during the
preseason and in practice. So maybe you got a rookie
like Zion more snaps in some of those areas, but
(20:36):
because Eddie kind of needs those snaps, I think to
get the feel for the game back a little bit.
You see how that has a ripple effect maybe further
down the depth chart and kind of the same thing,
but in reverse. With Kntavious Street, he was somebody who
I noticed very early, like day one of camp, as
the placeholder for Grady Jarrett. Like when you looked at
(20:57):
who were the starters in there with kind of the
first team into your your defensive line, it was sometimes
like David Onyamada, Zach Harrison, and Kntavius Street. Sometimes it
was like Takwon Graham, Zach Harrison, Kntavius Street, But like
KNTAVIIU Street was always just kind of like right there
in the middle, and I had to assume that's gonna
be Grady Jarrett when he is back in his acclamation
(21:19):
and more like up to full speed again. I'm talking
early camp.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
I think is also signed shortly after Grady's injury.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Yeah, okay, that and they're similar types of players going
back and rewatching kind of the Miami preseason game, Like
you can see the quickness that Kntavious Street plays with
at times. So yeah, again we're talking about kind of
like clones. Contavious Streets a valuable back up there. Eddie
Goldman's a little bit of a one on one on
this roster. Like if let's say, if they were going
(21:47):
to go to six, you think it's clear that it
was would be Goldman and Street.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Yeah, because I think Street might be picked up by
someone else if he is, really that's good. I don't
know that Goldman is because Atlanta has put all of
their eggs in his basket. Yeah, like they have wanted
that man exactly, and so I think he would end
up here on the practice squad or something and then
(22:13):
elevated as many times as you can be.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Yeah, okay, but I think eight again for this this
defense feels right. And part of that is because when
you look at what the pass rush where it's going
to come from, I think the defensive linemen are going
to be just as much part of that as the
outside linebackers. So looking at the outside linebackers, you have
five and this is where I think you know, or
(22:40):
Chris Blair and Ryan John Fitzpatrick. Don't know why I
want to say Ryan Fitzpatrick. Them not being on this
roster allows for another camp stand out to make the cut.
So you've got Matt Jewton, Lorenzo Carter, Arnold, mccatie, James Smith, Williams,
who I had as well. But you've got one extra.
You've got D'Angelo and Moore.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Yes, because we all know I'm a special team supporter.
If I sort of put the Angela Malone under specialists,
I probably actually should have. I should have just thrown
him down there. But I will hang my hat on
this dynamic kickoff because it's so vanilla right now. But
I think it's gonna turn into fun fetti in the season.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yeah, that was maybe your best one yet. Hey, I
love that.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
I didn't know where to go with it.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Now I'm like over excited about it. But the Angela
Malone was so good on special teams in the preseason.
He had not only a team high what was it,
I think six?
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Right? Six?
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Not only a team high, that's an NFL best six tackles. Wow,
when you looked at the whole league, he had the
most special team stops. Yeah, and I just I think
it was Baltimore where we were like Malone again Malone
with the stop. It was either there Miami.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I mean Miami was the first. It was definitely Miami
was kind of like the breakout where he was just
doing it like in on punt, on kickoff, on like
all of them. And then he doubled down in Baltimore
and it was like there's Dangel alone. Yeah, oh my god,
there he is again, like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
And then another thing is we talked to him after
practice one day and the full time switch to outside linebacker.
I think he's so much more comfortable with it, and
he did kind of grow and develop that this could
be the season of growth, Like he's getting his in
with special teams, but I wouldn't be surprised if he
starts to earn some opportunities with the defense too well.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
And even when he was coming out of college, liked
Angelo Loan was in a little bit of this hybrid
three four outside linebacker edge guy, and the things that
he did well were like rush the passer or drop
into coverage, and now I think you're seeing him able
to do more of that in this outside linebacker three
four look as opposed to what was kind of the
(24:44):
Ryan Nielsen four to three hand in the dirt we're
going to go, and he wasn't really suited for that
type of work.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
I think you're trying to fit a square in a
circle and now the circle just gets to be the circle.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Yeah, and he gets to ball out on special teams,
which if you're saying he led the NFL in special
teams tackles, like the k about the preseason is like
you got to earn your roster spot on special teams, Well,
there you go. I think he made a pretty good
case and he made your roster. So inside linebacker, the
same four that has always been Kate Alstroy Anderson, Nate Lamon,
j D Bertrand let's use this space really quickly though,
(25:14):
just to touch on kind of the injury updates that
Raheem provided on Friday night.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Which one was the quad, in which one is the groin.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
So I believe groin is Elis and quad is Nate Laman.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Regardless, they're both nursing some injuries right now. I know
Nate did not put his jersey on at all for
the final preseason game, whereas Cayden did suit up for
warm ups. I mean all the starters suited up for
warm ups, but then they changed out.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
It was like a tease. It was such a tease.
I was like, Oh, are they going to do it?
Speaker 1 (25:44):
And then they did not?
Speaker 3 (25:46):
But that only interesting to see, Like how raheem Moore
said their day to day, So it'd be interesting to
see how long that day to day continues. Does it
continue into Week one preparation, does it continue into the
Week one game? Like is JD gonna get us to
start in week one as a rookie? So he stepped
up to the plate in the scrimmage like him and
(26:06):
Troy Anderson held their own together.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
It wouldn't It would stink to start off the season
with injuries in that group because we've talked about all
precent how strong that group is.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
But you would want you'd want Kayden Ellis or Nate Lambon.
I would think to be in there against Pittsburgh again
knowing their experience with Arthur Smith's off Like if j
D Bertrand is in there, who wasn't around last year
and is a rookie against an offense that we expect
to have a lot of moving pieces. Just from what
we saw here, that would be a tougher spot. I'd
(26:37):
feel much better about Kaden Ellis being back, or Nate
Lamon or both honestly, but all four out there, but
all four out there at the same time, it would
be amazing. All right, back of the linebackers, cornerback, we've
got six players the same six the entire way. So
that's crazy. As much as we were talking about that
being a spot for camp battles and like who is
the depth, what's going to emerge, it's pretty consistent. We've
(26:59):
got a j trel Mike cues D offered Clark Phillips,
Kevin King, and Antonio Hamilton. Any any thoughts there that
were kind of unexpected for you, I.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Wouldn't say unexpected. If I needed a space on the defense,
Antonio Hamilton would have been the.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
One interesting, but.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
He was on that He was on that list for
Baltimore that didn't play, so he was like an automatic
slide into. But another way to wiggle around would have
been making Kevin King a safety. But I the numbers,
a number like changing his position doesn't change the body count,
so that didn't end up happening. But yeah, I think,
obviously AJ is going to be here for a minute,
(27:40):
he just signed his extension. Then you have Mike Hughes
and Clark Phillips who were essentially competing for that role
all throughout the preseason, with Mike essentially getting the nod
with the depth chart putting him as the one, and
then Clark has a great option right behind him. He's
his a little special nickel, like he's got his own
little spot.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Kevin, I just think his versatility will be a huge
asset for either cornerback or safety.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
So I could have put him in either group.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
And I wouldn't even be shocked if you see when
they release the fifty three men roster, if they just
have this as defensive backs and they have just ten
guys listed as defensive backs, right because Kevin King in
the scrimmage on Wednesday was playing in dime package and
also kind of a safety box safety hybrid role, and
(28:28):
then in the final preseason game played safety for a
long time out there, So I definitely feel like they
are exploring that potential in case they do put DeMarco
Helms on injured reserve once fifth, and then that does
the math. You can maybe keep nine defensive backs, but
still have kind of six corners and four safeties. These
(28:49):
one player fills both spots for you, that would be
maybe the upside here. So let's quickly get safety Jesse Bates,
Justin Simmons, Richie Grant, DeMarco Hellams. I. You know, where
do you think they would go if let's say they
put DeMarco Elms on injured reserve? You think they try
to backfill that safety spot or do you think, yeah,
(29:09):
is that the opportunity to get somebody else on here?
Speaker 3 (29:11):
I think that I think Micah Abernathy would fill that void.
I think I noted that in my story too, because
he was spoken very highly of as soon as DeMarco
was hurt, where it's like, this is the opportunity for
him to step up and show us that he can
do it. And I know they really liked him even
last year in that role. So I think if they
do put DeMarco on IR, then Micah has his way
(29:35):
back in.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Yeah, let's quickly close out with special teams and like quickly,
I mean, we don't even really have to talk about them.
It's young Waku, Bradley Pinion and Liam McCullough it's done
that way, since it will be that way on Tuesday.
I'm very confident about that. So let's wrap up with this.
Uh oh, if there's one player who you don't have
on your fifty three men roster, but you wouldn't be
(29:56):
shocked to see on Tuesday at four o'clocks Blair, it
would be Chris Blair.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Yeah, that one's going to eat at me. People on
Twitter are already like you should have kept Chris Blayir.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
I'm like, I know, if all right, So if you
were going to put Chris Blair on here, who would
you take off? Oh no, and you don't have I
mean again you stuck by your fifty three again kind
of like that final toss up? Was it? Dangela below was?
Speaker 3 (30:18):
But like the more I think about dangel, the more
I'm confident in that decision.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
M hm. I mean, if anything, this is I think
Antonio Hamilton is. I think it's more given what the
injury situation at safety is, Like, I think it's more
important to keep somebody like that in the secondary. I
wonder if it wouldn't be like a Kentavious Street or
(30:45):
a Taylor Heineke or somebody you know, like.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
That, but again bottom like five.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
This.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Yeah, this fifty three though, feels strong. It feels kind
of like what it could be, Like I think that
there's a very realistic chance this is the fifty three,
And honestly it's indicative of a strong camp, like the
fact that they were able to kind of set aside
a lot of this roster for the final couple of
preseason games and we saw young players emerge and actually
(31:12):
really make strong cases. We're not trying to pull guys
onto this fifty three man roster, We're trying to keep
some people off of it and double long like that's
a much better place to be in. So any last
thoughts about this exercise and kind of the next twenty
four hours before I let you go.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
So I remember a practice one day.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
I can't remember who I was talking to, but we
were like, what if the NFL required X amount per position?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Like oh okay, like mandatory minimums or maximums.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
Both, Like you had to have five running backs? No
questions asked, Oh my god, you know what I mean.
I don't even want to think about that. That would break
my brain. Five running backs like high school prompts you
would get.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Or like three guys standing around most of the game. Okay,
that was a bad.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
One to put it.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
But like required only sixty linemen required for safeties, required
four cornerbacks, like really specific, like that you don't have fun, that.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Would be see. I almost go in the opposite direction
because I am for experimentation. I want people to throw
stuff at the wall, Like I want people to get crazy,
and that would hind people in right, but I want
somebody to be like, we're going to keep one safety
and we're gonna have fifteen cornerbacks on the roster, you know,
like yeah, let's let's just get crazy with it. Let's
go ahead and wrap up this podcast. This was a
(32:25):
pretty long one, so oops. Thank you guys so much
for listening and watching today's Falcons Final Whistle presented by Zaxby's.
The fifty three man roster will be revealed Tuesday by
four pm Eastern time and we will find out who
is on it. Who is here for the regular season,
which is right around the corner. Falcon Steelers is coming up,
(32:47):
so we will be here for all of it. But again,
thank you for joining us for all of training camp.
This was great. It was a pleasure bringing all of
this action to you so for Aaron walk I am
Will McFadden. We will see you guys soon. Until then,
take here
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