August 21, 2025 • 30 mins
Kaleb McGary goes down in practice, and Will McFadden, Terrin Waack, and Tori McElhaney break down what that means for the Falcons moving forward. They address the questions that injury raises in the offensive line room as well as possible avenues the team could pursue. They then talk about the 4 players most "on the bubble" of making the initial 53-man roster, arguing for and against each one. Finally, they wrap up with who fans should be watching in Friday's preseason game vs the Dallas Cowboys.
0:00 - Intro & Injury News
8:27 - On the Bubble: Clark Phillips III
11:32 - David Sills V
15:00 - Carlos Washington Jr.
18:39 - DeAngelo Malone
22:52 - Offensive line roster spots
26:17 - Players to watch & Outro
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Dirty Birds. What's up and welcome back. I'm your host
Will mcfatt and I am joined by Tory mcleaney and
Taron Walk and we're here to recap the last practice
of the preseason before roster cutdowns before the final preseason game.
Got a lot to discuss, but unfortunately, as it's Wednesday,
August twentieth, three point fifty pm, after practice, we got
(00:21):
to talk about some big news. Yeah, that happened. First, Tarn,
you want to walk us through that.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
The Falcons starting right tackle Kayla McGary was carted off
during practice. From where we were standing, which was like
the opposite side from where the injury happened, you could
not see exactly what happened. But what was interesting and
may tell more about the injury than anything else, is
the fact that team period hadn't even started, So it's
(00:47):
not like it happened during eleven on eleven. It either
happened during position drills or in between the two periods.
Because all of a sudden, you just say, the whole
team huddle together, And I genuinely thought at the time, like, oh,
they're just having a pre team huddle last practice, who
rof let's go, But then all of a sudden, you
see the cart leave and you can see he was
in pain and like it was definitely his left leg
(01:08):
that seemed to be giving him his issue. But this
is from a distance, so I can't say definitely, but
it seemed to be his leg and he did not
return to practice.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah, And obviously, you know, when when you see a
situation like that with a starter, somebody who signed a
contract extension not too long ago as part of the
team's future has been since he's been here, it's it's
really hard to take. And that is certainly something you
do not want to see in camp in the preseason
at all, frankly, and it's what teams try to avoid.
But it wasn't the only news involving the right tackle spot, today.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Was it Tarren No news came out about Storm Notte
and the backup tackle that he has to undergo surgery
for what we always knew as a lower body injury,
but it's reported that it's an ankle surgery Adam schefter
yet Adam Schefter, and that it could possibly be six
to eight weeks out.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Yeah, and if he has to miss that period of time,
if Kayla McGary, you know, is out for an extended
period of time. Again, we don't know the prognosis on
that right now. Maybe good, but we don't know. Tory,
what's kind of your level of concern now about Atlanta's
right tackle position, which is Michael Pennock's blind side.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
I am very concerned. I was concerned about tackle depth.
I was concerned about offensive line depth just in general,
even going back to last Friday night when we were
watching the second preseason game against the Tennessee Titans. And
I mean, the second team offensive line has been a
group that I feel like I've talked a lot about
(02:38):
because of the they're kind of not really wowing me
in camp and not really wowing me in the preseason.
And it is concerning when you see holding penaltys, you
see false start penalties, and there were just some operational
things that not being able to run the ball like
there are just some things that have popped up over
the course of camp in preseason that was concerning me
(03:01):
before we even are talking about the injuries and the
news of today, regardless of how those things ultimately end up.
And I'm sure we'll get more news down the road.
As you know, we know that Cayleer McGarry's undergoing an MRI.
I'm sure we're gonna get news about that soon, But
to me, it's like there was already a level of
(03:22):
concern that I had for offensive line depth, particularly at tackle.
Now it only heightens it. And I think, like my
concern has gone from if I already was concerned like
out of six, like all of this injury news, and
I guess the timeline that we'll be working with after
all of this is something I am if I was
(03:43):
at a six before, I'm out of eight now, And
so I think when I look at where this thing goes,
I think you got a I mean, fifty three man
roster cut downs are right around the corner, as we
will talk about in this show.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
And I do not think that you can't.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I don't think you can afford to overlook potentially some
tackles falling off of other fifty three man rosters elsewhere.
I don't think you can overlook the idea of putting
packages together and going out and getting someone like I. Really,
I think that we're at that point where that has
to be priority number one.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, let's rewind the clocks a year when this happened
in Miami and you had Braylen Trice and the Marco
Hellms both go down. Kind of what happened in the
immediate athmath Matthew Judon and Justin Simmons, And you know
they'll say that that wasn't necessarily related. But you wonder
if you gotta fill the void exactly, do they have
kind of anything in the coffers? They have assets they
(04:39):
feel they can move because if Kaylea McGarry is going
to miss a significant amount of time, that is significant,
not to reuse a word there, but like you need to,
I think replace him with a starting caliber player. And
I did a little trip around the free agency pool
of who's still out there. There's not a lot of
big names and starting caliber guys. So you know, if
(05:00):
they need to, there's a lot of avenues they can pursue.
But Taren, what do you think, like, isn't an in
house guy and is it Elijah Wilkinson they've been kind
of given some reps on the outside or do you
think that they'll give a serious hard look at players
who get cut and external candidates to bring in.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I think you have to do both. I think you
put an extra eye on Elijah Wilkinson in this Friday's
final preseason game against the Cowboys. Wilkinson is who stepped
up today in practice and filled in the McGarry size void.
Speaking of like filling in a void, you just have.
Speaker 5 (05:32):
To do it.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And when it comes to looking elsewhere, let's get through
this weekend. First, Let's get through roster cuts because you
might have to look elsewhere.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Yeah, because at that.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Point too, you're what today's Wednesday all the way to Tuesday,
six days, you'll know more about how injured Cale McGarry is.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Yeah, the significance.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
So who knows justin fields was carted off in the
first practice of preseason and then he was back. I
don't know that this is the case just because of
how it happened. You were talking earlier about like non
contact injuries could be even worse than a contact injury
or I don't.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Know if I phrased that correctly. You phrased it better
than me earlier.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Historically in my experience, non contact is can be a
bad indicator. Yeah, it can be a fine indicator, but
like you.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Know, you never know, And look at me being the
positive Polly, like maybe.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
He just tweak something in the heat, I think again,
I go back to what I was like, regardless, No,
I have to face the fact of like, tackle depth
is not where you needed to be, and I think that, like,
and then I'm also saying, just.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
To throw an idea out there, someone tweeted me and
was like, so is Matthew Bergern going to move back
to tackle? He was a college tackle at Syracuse for
four years. And I'm like, no, let's not be moving
things around. Go if it's one of those things where
cayleb McGarry can potentially come back a couple weeks down
the road, you you know you maybe you get them
back after the bye week, make it to that point,
(07:07):
don't go like changing things around.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Like at this point, let's let's pump the brakes on.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Moving anybody and see what you can do, both with
your in house guys, but also I if I'm Terry Fano,
i am in the entire front office, all I'm doing
for the next six days is have a list of
every tackle in the league and figure out what you
can do. Throw different scenarios at the board and figure
(07:33):
it out.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Hope the MRI comes back better than what everyone thinks.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
I would have a line of call operators, just like plugging,
plugging them in, getting people on the line and talking
to gms across the league.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah, there's text messages to all of them. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Ultimately, at the end.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Of the day, we don't really know where this thing
is exactly, and I think you have to look at
all avenues and you know, of course, like fallow along
on Atlanta Falcon, we will have as much information as
we can get as this thing moves forward, and as
we get more information about the significance of the Kayla
McGarry injury. So make sure you're just you're checking along
(08:11):
with that as this news rolls through.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Yes, and there's a chance, as as Tarren said that,
by the time you hear this episode, yeah, you have
developed and things are different. So this is a fluid situation.
But let's go ahead and get to kind of what
we had planned to talk about today anyway, which are
roster cuts. This the news on Wednesday obviously plays a
big role, as we just discussed in roster cuts, but
(08:36):
this is the time of year when you've got some
players on the bubble, people are debating who should make it,
who shouldn't. We thought we'd go through a little bit
of the same exercise here. So we've got four of
the key guys I think are really competing for a
spot on this fifty three minus roster, and we're going
to start right at the top with with Clark Phillips,
who was last year's CAM champ, now dealing with a
rib injury and has missed a good bit of a
(08:58):
second part of training camp. The last two press. All right, Taren,
you're gonna argue for Clark Phillips making this roster, and Tori,
you're gonna make the case against it.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
I think even with the rib injury, you're gonna go
back and look at last year's film and kind of
just the experience he has on the defense and give
him the benefit of the doubt in this case, Whereas
if it's someone who has no experience and was injured,
I'd be like against. So I think it's different just
because Clark has so much experience in Atlanta, where if
(09:31):
it was someone who hadn't played in this defense or
in this city that it would be against.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
So my whole thought process when it comes to Clark
Phillips is like, let's say that you carry six cornerbacks. Yep,
Your six are gonna be Mike Hughes AJ trail Natron
Brooks because he has earned himself a roster spot in
my opinion. Billy Bowman d offered, and I think your
(09:59):
sixth spot is either going to be between Clark Phillips
or Mike Ford, and I say, and I say against
for Clark Phillips because I think, similar to Neutron Brooks,
Mike Ford has played a lot of different positions for
this secondary. In the last two weeks, especially, he's been
rotating in at nickel. He's worked some outside reps in
(10:21):
preseason games. We know for a fact he is a
big special teams player. I don't know if I can
say the same thing about Clark Phillips. So if you're
looking for a value, what value does somebody add at
this point in time, because I feel like I haven't
seen Clark Phillips and then it's unfortunate that this rib
injury came when it did, and it's unfortunate that we
(10:43):
haven't really seen Clark Phillips working in that nickel spot
the way that I think the Falcons maybe even originally
planned for him. Like I go back to I was
at owners meetings and Raheem Morris is sitting there being like, Yeah,
we're thinking we're moving Clark inside to Nickel. We had
we didn't see Clark Phillips at all play Nickel during
training camp when he was healthy. So if you're already
(11:03):
working under the assumption that that value goes down because
he's not cross training and he's maybe not having a
big role on special teams, to me, it's like, how
can you How can he take up a roster spot
for somebody who does have that value and can move
the needle for you in that way. So that's my
that's my two cents on that.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
I am curious.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I want people to sound off on the in the
comments about what their decisions on these things would be too.
Another name that I do think is something that we
can so someone that we can really talk about is
David Sills, the fifth and honestly make the case. May
I'm going to make the case again again with the
(11:46):
same exact way of thinking. David Sills is someone who
has worked his way up I think the pecking order
of the roster. I think he is somebody who has
and tearin. You can correct me if I'm wrong, but
he's been taking first team reps, both in the spot
of Drake London kind of acting as his clone per se,
but also alongside Drake London is kind of this like
(12:08):
big receiver set, So there's already kind of a push
for him at receiver. But then also something that came
up last preseason game last Friday night was the fact
that Raheem Wor said they really wanted.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Him to focus on special teams.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
And again it goes back to adding value, adding value
if you have someone who if you're going to carry
seven receivers, like you got to have somebody who can
do a little bit of everything. And the fact that
they were like, let's see what he can do on
special teams to me and like, to me, that kind
of shows me that they're really really trying to figure
out a way for him to be on this roster.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
But see, here's here's the thing, is like the fact
that they're now having to just work him into special
teams and things like that, I agree, like that could
be an indicator of all, right, we have a vision
for you and we want to now add a little
bit more to your plate. But when I look at
the Attle four wide receiver specifically, you do see a
lot of guys with special teams chops specifically at returner,
and you know, I don't know where Sill's like value
(13:08):
is specifically in that role. I've seen them work. De Alford,
I've seen him work Dylan Drummond like some of those guys.
We know Rey Ray does that. We know that Jamal
Agnew was brought here kind of to do that, but
he's been injured and hurt. So there's just so many
kind of unknowns to me. Yeah, and I think that
Casey Washington stepping up, on the one hand, helps clarify
some things. On the other hand, it does muddy the
(13:28):
water right a little bit because now you're looking at
at Drake, Darnell, Ray, Ray, Kadarrel. I assume who's one
of those special teams cases Casey, that's five, right, And
then whom I'm leaving off.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
Jamal Agnew, Like what happens with him?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
See Jamal if like he do we have him penciled in.
I don't know he could be a player word debating
right here exactly. And then now I'm just thinking with
the offensive line stuff, right, if you're gonna be light
at one of these positions, receiver I do think is
a more available position out there. I really think they
like David Sills. I'm not even necessarily arguing against the player.
(14:05):
It's more the circumstance and building together the piece of
the fifty three man roster and a sixth or seventh
receiver at this point in time when you're just looking
at the first four weeks maybe and you need a
tack like does the value proposition change there a little bit?
And I think the math may have.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
And also think about this too. The Falcons are not
a team that has not carried a lot of receivers practice.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
It's not an offense.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
But like, yeah, that to me also kind of is like, Okay, yeah,
we're talking about David Sills, Dylan Drummond, like Jesse Matthews,
like Nick Nash, the all of these receivers that are
Chris Blair keep going on, Like all of these guys
I think could show up on this practice squad at
some point or another. So but you know, we could
(14:48):
talk practice if we really wanted to spend an extra
thirty minutes here, we could talk practice squad guys continuously,
But we don't need to do that. We need to
move forward the next guy on this list is a
guy who I think it's very interesting. I think that
he is under the same set of circumstances as Clark
Phillips in that he has been injured for a lot
of training camp. We have not seen him, but we've
(15:09):
seen other people step up at the position. In that
person is Carlos Washington. Will you are arguing for Carlos
Washington on this roster?
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Why heck yes, I'm arguing for Carlos Washington because I frankly,
I think he looked better in practice then he maybe
has his entire time here and I think, frankly better
than the other three candidates behind him trying to kind
of knock him from that presumed third spot, right And
because he hasn't been out there, I think Nathan Carter
has really been a player who has stepped up. Obviously
(15:40):
at the touchdown on Friday, could have had another really
long run that kind of got discounted unfortunately. So he's
doing the most in that spot. But Carlos Washington has
been here, He's got the trust of Michael Petrie, the
running backs coach, He's got kind of the organization, he
knows that room, and again he played well before he
got hurt. So is there you know, an opportunity to
(16:02):
maybe squeaking pass waivers bringing back on the practice squad,
Like who knows, But I think he has done enough
just historically to kind of warrant that third running back spot,
you know, with it being Tyler all Jeers last year,
like you'd like to maybe have somebody that you feel
very comfortable with on the roster. I don't know, if
right and how they want to kind of like jettison
off the rest of their running back room and just
(16:22):
go in with like Jon and Tyler and then introduce
a new guy kind of with that situation. So I
think Carlos Washington Raheem even said today with some of
these players that have been injured, you got to look
back at what they have done, what you know about them,
because they're not out there to show you anything new
right now. So you compare the new with kind of
what you know, and you make that decision. And I
think we know a good bit about Carlos Washington, and
(16:42):
I like what we know.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
It's funny that you said the circumstances between Phillips and
Carlos Washington are similar, because I'm doing the opposite for
the two I know. I know that's why I think
I'm really curious to see what you're sorry. Well, Carlos
has been here, and I really like Carlos. We've talked
to him, We've gotten to know this, and I do
think he was having his strongest camp yet. Multiple people
(17:05):
said so. But I think, my it's not even benefit
of the doubt this time. But I think the injury
in this case because he doesn't have live game reps
like Clark did last year, or at least not nearly
as much experience in live games in like not including
preseason at all.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Here.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
That's where I'm like, I could see Carlos not making
the fifty three man roster for that reason. So I
think that's my difference between Clark and Carlos is the
experience in live games in the regular season. And so
I also think a big reason for this. And I
kind of really liked how Torri and your fifty three
(17:43):
man roster. You only kept two running backs I did,
which is that's.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Why I.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Yeah, really bold. But at the same time, I think
this offense is gonna have to make sacrifices with how
much depth there is on the defense.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
Yeah, and you're gonna care a freak ton of defensive line. Yeah,
and so if.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
You those numbers are gonna put John Robinson and Hyler
Algier strap in, it's gonna be a ride.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Buckle up, let's go.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, Oh I got.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I'm just it's a good point though, with the two
running backs on the fifty three, it's like it's tough,
but you you make the fifty three initially to get
to that cutdown limit, and then you can tweak after that.
So just because they have two on the fifty three
doesn't mean that they're going into the first game with
only two running backs and oh my gosh, what happens
if you know So that is just a caveat for sure.
(18:36):
We're gonna wrap up the player part, and then I
do want to just we started talking about the offensive
line at the top, So once we talked about this
last player, just get a little thoughts on maybe how
many actually end up on the fifty three. So just
be thinking about that. But you two, in the meantime
are gonna be talking about d Angelom alone, a player
you know, well known amongst listeners of this podcast because
(18:57):
we we love them. So I'm gonna give taren you
the easy job you can targe for dangel Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
I stood my ground on D'angela Malone last year, put
him on my fifty three man projection, and I'm going
to do the same this year because he is an
asset in multiple facets.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Ooh, there you go, there you go? What was that?
Speaker 2 (19:20):
That's the one right there? But he made the roster
last year because of his special teams contributions. He was
a huge standout and I'm pretty sure Raheem Morris said
he is a special teams starter. Was that him?
Speaker 3 (19:31):
He also said that he's the barnyard bully of special
teams for uh this team?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
So I love that. And now because he is cross
training from being out on the edge too insidelinebacker, I
think there are It's like with David Sills. They're trying
to find a way to keep him where he's involved
in more than one way, except it's the reverse where
David Sills has the offensive experience and they're trying to
get him involved in special teams. It's special teams for
(19:57):
D'Angelo Malone. Where can we best put him the defense?
Speaker 3 (20:01):
So the only reason I'm going against d Angelo Malone
is because they are making me and.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
I do I do? I do well.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Say, I will say I'm playing Devil's advocate here more
than I feel like I actually feel this way. I
love Dangelo Malone. I agree with what Taren's saying. I
think he is adding value. I wrote a whole freaking
story about dangel and Malone and the cross training he's
doing and why Jeff Ulbrick felt this would be something
good for him to do, and how he falls into
the same vein as even a Kaden Ellis or a
(20:33):
Jalen Walker.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
So I say all that to say, but he shouldn't made.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
But but d'angela Malone not on the fifty three man roster.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
I think the argument that I can present that makes
the most sense in my head is like, Okay, what
happens if Troy Anderson is at one hundred percent? What
happens if your inside linebacker group is at one hundred
percent and you have all of your guys they're very healthy?
Death is really good. You feel really good about where
it is. And then what happens if at edge rusher
(21:01):
you also feel very good about where you are depth.
You also feel good about not having injuries. You also
feel like you really don't need that one piece. Yes,
I do think Dangela Malone adds value to kind of
the depth part of all of that. But if we're
talking about needing a roster spot for someone who's gonna
make an immediate impact on the defense or even the offense,
(21:21):
is that person Dangelo Malone? And if it turns out
that you are carrying Troy Anderson on the roster, do
you even need D'Angelo Malone as an inside linebacker? If
you are very healthy at Edgdresser, do you feel like
you need Dangela Malone?
Speaker 4 (21:36):
I don't necessarily think you do.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Would they have cross trained D'Angelo the D'Angelo Malone if
Troy Anderson was not on pup.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
I I and also Ronnie Harrison they so, I do
think they.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Still would have because Jeff Olbrick said when he came in,
so we're talking back in January February, and he's evaluating
this roster, d'angela Malone was someone he identified as someone
he would like to see moving more to a stack
line back.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
I think it's like a defensive design yea. And how
they want to use certain guys to create these like exotic,
confusing looks for players. But to your point, I mean,
you feel you have two of those guys in Caiden
and Jalen. You've added Divine Diabolo, who I really like
it inside Liemacker. We don't know where Troy stands, but
stands the reason you could get him back at some point.
(22:23):
And then j D. Bertrand you know, is there too.
And I like what Josh Woods. He's an experienced Everyone's
Special Teams chot, so like there are options here for
this team at inside linebacker. And even though Danchelong alone
is an interesting and good young player who've made some
splash plays late last year, yeah, it kind of becomes
it's a good thing, I think ultimately, right because we
(22:43):
were talking about d Angelo alone like last year and
previously about like all right, he's he's going to potentially
be like an important piece and yeah, and now it's
all right, is he gonna make the roster? So let's
circle back to offensive line because I do think that
that is going into Friday's game like the number one
thing that at least I'm gonna be kind of like
looking for position group wise, how many do you think
(23:05):
Tori are actually gonna end up making that initial fifty
three man roster at this point.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
I do think eight or nine I think is a
fair number.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
I use a falthy number.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
I do think it's a healthy number because I do
think that Okay, yes, just because they make it an
initial fifty three man does not mean that they stay
on that initial fifty three or do not stay on
the fifty three man I tend to when I'm going
through roster construction. In my own mind, you have your
starting five offensive line, you have a backup center, you
have an backup interior, and you.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
Have a backup tackle. So that's eight.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
I do nine because I think, just the way this
roster is right now, you do have a draft pick
who you could potentially hold on to that number nine
spot in Jack Nelson. But even in saying that, again,
just because you have these guys on the fifty three
man roster come Tuesday's cuts does not mean that we
(23:54):
are not switching out three or four individuals on either
the practice squad or the fifty three man roster when
other individuals fall off of other rosters across the league.
So even though I'm saying, like a healthy eight or
nine that you're penciling in I think, honestly that number
is going It's not necessarily the number. To me, it's
who is the number? And how does that change is
(24:19):
kind of how I see it.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Who I agree that eight is like a healthy number.
But after the injury, some other media members and I
were discussing it and we're like, it wouldn't be that
big of a surprise to see six, or.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
That's what I mean. That's why I'm right. Is I'm
actually on the lower side. Is I kind of think
for for your reason, like if they're not maybe going
to be on the fifty three long term, then then
use those extra spots on a guy like D'angela Malone,
on David Sills, on players who I do think have
earned this spot on the roster. If don't just kind
of keep a guy just to save that spot, if
(24:54):
your intention is to kind of like swap him out
on Thursday, yeah, go ahead and keep that spot for
I think it's going to be a very heavy practice
squad of offensive linemen, and I think you'll evaluate them
for kind of that week and then you make a
call up or two maybe going into Week one, to
bolster your depth. But I don't know, I could see
this being a lighter group than usual.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
I think that's incredibly fair.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
And I actually think that y'all are convincing me, like
on the spot, you know, Like I think that that
is a very compelling argument, Like would you keep an
offensive lineman on the roster and forego a Clark Phillips
or Carlos Washington simply for the sake of having eight
offensive linemen that you potentially don't even really think is
(25:39):
going to have the opportunity to be up on game day?
Like it, it's a great thought provoking question.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Scholars have debated for years.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Have debated the fifty three you else, rely, I don't
have to make these decisions.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
It's challenging when you go through exercises like this, And
I encourage anybody at home go make a little mock
fifty three man roster prediction. Tory had hers come out.
It was excellent. I'm gonna have mine come out on Friday,
Terren Scottger's on Sunday, Monday, Sunday. I think, so it's
going to be it's gonna be like a high time
of fifty three minute roster predictions. We're all probably bound
to be wrong. Maybe one of us is right, maybe
(26:13):
all of us right, who knows, but do your own
I encourage it's fun exercise. So really quickly before we
wrap up today's show, as I mentioned, final preseason game
on Friday, eight pm Eastern Time against the Dallas Cowboys, Karen,
I want to know one player that you are interested
to watch on Friday night.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Just whoever plays at right tackle, whether that's Elijah Wilkinson
again or if they get some switcheroo in there. I
think all eyes have to be on that position given
Wednesday's injuries.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Yeah, I agree, because you know, between Jack Nelson and
Elijah Wilkinson, who they were both playing tackle. I think
Jack Nelson has been playing predominantly right tackle over the
course of the preseason, and Elijah Wilkinson went from left
guard that first Friday Night to then left tackle this
past Friday night.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
So I agree.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
For me, I'm really looking forward to watching CJ. Henderson play.
I this is somebody who I think I have you know,
followed along with his career. He was in that same
draft class as AJ Traill, Jeff Akuda, like you know, like.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
There were that's a great corner class.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
But here's the thing is, like only AJ Trareill has
truly established himself as the top dog of that group.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
So good on the Falcons, like the.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Draft, like that was a fun class coming out. I
guess yes, but yeah, you're right. Yeah didn't really pin up.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
So we didn't really get to see CJ.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Henderson at all last week because the Falcons didn't sign
him until really late in the week. And you're not
just gonna throw somebody out there like the day after
they get signed here when they haven't even been on
the grass. So RAHIEMWRS talks about like acclamation period and
that we will potentially see quite a bit of CJ.
Henderson on this Friday night in Dallas to kind of
just see what he has. And I don't know if
(27:52):
that's gonna change anything at all. It may be a
little too little, too late, but I'm looking forward to
seeing what he has. I think that's a very very
interesting signing at this point in time in the preseason.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
We actually talked to CJ. Henderson today too, and there
was an analogy used that I really liked that he's
implementing at the moment is he's kind of cramming for
a test essentially, because you're trying to learn the playbook
and with the game already this Friday, it's just kind
of cramming that information. And so if you're a good grammer,
I don't know if that's a now sure, but like
if you're good at cramming before tests, I kind of was,
(28:27):
then we could see a lot out of him Friday,
because even just Wednesday today in practice he had an
interception with the second team defense.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
And he's got nice size, you know, he'd have a
little size to the group obviously for me for something. Yeah,
there's something interesting there. Yeah, And if he plays well
on Friday, like I do, think he could add a
little bit of a unique element to this cutdown. Mine
is going to be a player in the trenches. Lakale London,
who is you know, somebody who I don't think a
lot of fans are super familiar with. He's been like
(28:55):
a preseason darling of mine. I think the last couple
of years.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
I've thoroughly enjoyed the London since the day that Grady
Jarrett went down with the season ending injury two years
ago and Kalen stepped up, and I thought he played
very well at the tail end of that season.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
He did I mean, he he was really good and
enjoying practices too, and some of the individual drills. I've
noticed him in both preseason games kind of making some plays.
So he's played well, but I just don't think a
lot of he's not getting a lot of hoopla and
we know the depth.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
Of SpongeBob references.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Yes, no, that's how I was like, should I make this?
Speaker 4 (29:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (29:29):
But it was great. You do a better job right now. Yeah.
So it's it's kind of like, can he do enough
to scratch that like back spot on the deep rotation
or not? Because I think he's worthy of it. But
you got a guy like Morgan Fox there, you got
some interior. Yeah, Like there's a lot of names. So
he's been great. Has he done enough? Who knows? But
(29:51):
I if it's the last time I get to watch
him this season, I'm gonna enjoy it. On Friday night,
I'll be sad.
Speaker 5 (29:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I know. That's the one thing to remember when it
comes to roster cuts. My annual disclaimer. These athletes are
people too, and this is their livelihood. It is not
a fun day in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
It is not a fun day. But this was a
somewhat fun pod some like, you know, some stuff that
we would rather not have had to talk about today,
obviously when it comes to big injuries. But that is
life in the NFL, and the regular season is right
around the corner, so they've got to figure out some
answers to some of the questions that just popped up.
(30:26):
One more preseason game to do that, Friday night, eight pm,
Dallas Cowboys. But we will be back after roster cutdowns
to kind of do a second part of this whole conversation,
see where we landed, see what we got right wrong,
and how everything shook out. So for Taren Tory, I'm
will and we will see you guys next time.
Dirty Birds. What's up and welcome back. I'm your host
Will mcfatt and I am joined by Tory mcleaney and
Taron Walk and we're here to recap the last practice
of the preseason before roster cutdowns before the final preseason game.
Got a lot to discuss, but unfortunately, as it's Wednesday,
August twentieth, three point fifty pm, after practice, we got
(00:21):
to talk about some big news. Yeah, that happened. First, Tarn,
you want to walk us through that.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
The Falcons starting right tackle Kayla McGary was carted off
during practice. From where we were standing, which was like
the opposite side from where the injury happened, you could
not see exactly what happened. But what was interesting and
may tell more about the injury than anything else, is
the fact that team period hadn't even started, So it's
(00:47):
not like it happened during eleven on eleven. It either
happened during position drills or in between the two periods.
Because all of a sudden, you just say, the whole
team huddle together, And I genuinely thought at the time, like, oh,
they're just having a pre team huddle last practice, who
rof let's go, But then all of a sudden, you
see the cart leave and you can see he was
in pain and like it was definitely his left leg
(01:08):
that seemed to be giving him his issue. But this
is from a distance, so I can't say definitely, but
it seemed to be his leg and he did not
return to practice.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah, And obviously, you know, when when you see a
situation like that with a starter, somebody who signed a
contract extension not too long ago as part of the
team's future has been since he's been here, it's it's
really hard to take. And that is certainly something you
do not want to see in camp in the preseason
at all, frankly, and it's what teams try to avoid.
But it wasn't the only news involving the right tackle spot, today.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Was it Tarren No news came out about Storm Notte
and the backup tackle that he has to undergo surgery
for what we always knew as a lower body injury,
but it's reported that it's an ankle surgery Adam schefter
yet Adam Schefter, and that it could possibly be six
to eight weeks out.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Yeah, and if he has to miss that period of time,
if Kayla McGary, you know, is out for an extended
period of time. Again, we don't know the prognosis on
that right now. Maybe good, but we don't know. Tory,
what's kind of your level of concern now about Atlanta's
right tackle position, which is Michael Pennock's blind side.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
I am very concerned. I was concerned about tackle depth.
I was concerned about offensive line depth just in general,
even going back to last Friday night when we were
watching the second preseason game against the Tennessee Titans. And
I mean, the second team offensive line has been a
group that I feel like I've talked a lot about
(02:38):
because of the they're kind of not really wowing me
in camp and not really wowing me in the preseason.
And it is concerning when you see holding penaltys, you
see false start penalties, and there were just some operational
things that not being able to run the ball like
there are just some things that have popped up over
the course of camp in preseason that was concerning me
(03:01):
before we even are talking about the injuries and the
news of today, regardless of how those things ultimately end up.
And I'm sure we'll get more news down the road.
As you know, we know that Cayleer McGarry's undergoing an MRI.
I'm sure we're gonna get news about that soon, But
to me, it's like there was already a level of
(03:22):
concern that I had for offensive line depth, particularly at tackle.
Now it only heightens it. And I think, like my
concern has gone from if I already was concerned like
out of six, like all of this injury news, and
I guess the timeline that we'll be working with after
all of this is something I am if I was
(03:43):
at a six before, I'm out of eight now, And
so I think when I look at where this thing goes,
I think you got a I mean, fifty three man
roster cut downs are right around the corner, as we
will talk about in this show.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
And I do not think that you can't.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I don't think you can afford to overlook potentially some
tackles falling off of other fifty three man rosters elsewhere.
I don't think you can overlook the idea of putting
packages together and going out and getting someone like I. Really,
I think that we're at that point where that has
to be priority number one.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, let's rewind the clocks a year when this happened
in Miami and you had Braylen Trice and the Marco
Hellms both go down. Kind of what happened in the
immediate athmath Matthew Judon and Justin Simmons, And you know
they'll say that that wasn't necessarily related. But you wonder
if you gotta fill the void exactly, do they have
kind of anything in the coffers? They have assets they
(04:39):
feel they can move because if Kaylea McGarry is going
to miss a significant amount of time, that is significant,
not to reuse a word there, but like you need to,
I think replace him with a starting caliber player. And
I did a little trip around the free agency pool
of who's still out there. There's not a lot of
big names and starting caliber guys. So you know, if
(05:00):
they need to, there's a lot of avenues they can pursue.
But Taren, what do you think, like, isn't an in
house guy and is it Elijah Wilkinson they've been kind
of given some reps on the outside or do you
think that they'll give a serious hard look at players
who get cut and external candidates to bring in.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I think you have to do both. I think you
put an extra eye on Elijah Wilkinson in this Friday's
final preseason game against the Cowboys. Wilkinson is who stepped
up today in practice and filled in the McGarry size void.
Speaking of like filling in a void, you just have.
Speaker 5 (05:32):
To do it.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And when it comes to looking elsewhere, let's get through
this weekend. First, Let's get through roster cuts because you
might have to look elsewhere.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Yeah, because at that.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Point too, you're what today's Wednesday all the way to Tuesday,
six days, you'll know more about how injured Cale McGarry is.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Yeah, the significance.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
So who knows justin fields was carted off in the
first practice of preseason and then he was back. I
don't know that this is the case just because of
how it happened. You were talking earlier about like non
contact injuries could be even worse than a contact injury
or I don't.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Know if I phrased that correctly. You phrased it better
than me earlier.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Historically in my experience, non contact is can be a
bad indicator. Yeah, it can be a fine indicator, but
like you.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Know, you never know, And look at me being the
positive Polly, like maybe.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
He just tweak something in the heat, I think again,
I go back to what I was like, regardless, No,
I have to face the fact of like, tackle depth
is not where you needed to be, and I think that, like,
and then I'm also saying, just.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
To throw an idea out there, someone tweeted me and
was like, so is Matthew Bergern going to move back
to tackle? He was a college tackle at Syracuse for
four years. And I'm like, no, let's not be moving
things around. Go if it's one of those things where
cayleb McGarry can potentially come back a couple weeks down
the road, you you know you maybe you get them
back after the bye week, make it to that point,
(07:07):
don't go like changing things around.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Like at this point, let's let's pump the brakes on.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Moving anybody and see what you can do, both with
your in house guys, but also I if I'm Terry Fano,
i am in the entire front office, all I'm doing
for the next six days is have a list of
every tackle in the league and figure out what you
can do. Throw different scenarios at the board and figure
(07:33):
it out.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Hope the MRI comes back better than what everyone thinks.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
I would have a line of call operators, just like plugging,
plugging them in, getting people on the line and talking
to gms across the league.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah, there's text messages to all of them. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Ultimately, at the end.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Of the day, we don't really know where this thing
is exactly, and I think you have to look at
all avenues and you know, of course, like fallow along
on Atlanta Falcon, we will have as much information as
we can get as this thing moves forward, and as
we get more information about the significance of the Kayla
McGarry injury. So make sure you're just you're checking along
(08:11):
with that as this news rolls through.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Yes, and there's a chance, as as Tarren said that,
by the time you hear this episode, yeah, you have
developed and things are different. So this is a fluid situation.
But let's go ahead and get to kind of what
we had planned to talk about today anyway, which are
roster cuts. This the news on Wednesday obviously plays a
big role, as we just discussed in roster cuts, but
(08:36):
this is the time of year when you've got some
players on the bubble, people are debating who should make it,
who shouldn't. We thought we'd go through a little bit
of the same exercise here. So we've got four of
the key guys I think are really competing for a
spot on this fifty three minus roster, and we're going
to start right at the top with with Clark Phillips,
who was last year's CAM champ, now dealing with a
rib injury and has missed a good bit of a
(08:58):
second part of training camp. The last two press. All right, Taren,
you're gonna argue for Clark Phillips making this roster, and Tori,
you're gonna make the case against it.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
I think even with the rib injury, you're gonna go
back and look at last year's film and kind of
just the experience he has on the defense and give
him the benefit of the doubt in this case, Whereas
if it's someone who has no experience and was injured,
I'd be like against. So I think it's different just
because Clark has so much experience in Atlanta, where if
(09:31):
it was someone who hadn't played in this defense or
in this city that it would be against.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
So my whole thought process when it comes to Clark
Phillips is like, let's say that you carry six cornerbacks. Yep,
Your six are gonna be Mike Hughes AJ trail Natron
Brooks because he has earned himself a roster spot in
my opinion. Billy Bowman d offered, and I think your
(09:59):
sixth spot is either going to be between Clark Phillips
or Mike Ford, and I say, and I say against
for Clark Phillips because I think, similar to Neutron Brooks,
Mike Ford has played a lot of different positions for
this secondary. In the last two weeks, especially, he's been
rotating in at nickel. He's worked some outside reps in
(10:21):
preseason games. We know for a fact he is a
big special teams player. I don't know if I can
say the same thing about Clark Phillips. So if you're
looking for a value, what value does somebody add at
this point in time, because I feel like I haven't
seen Clark Phillips and then it's unfortunate that this rib
injury came when it did, and it's unfortunate that we
(10:43):
haven't really seen Clark Phillips working in that nickel spot
the way that I think the Falcons maybe even originally
planned for him. Like I go back to I was
at owners meetings and Raheem Morris is sitting there being like, Yeah,
we're thinking we're moving Clark inside to Nickel. We had
we didn't see Clark Phillips at all play Nickel during
training camp when he was healthy. So if you're already
(11:03):
working under the assumption that that value goes down because
he's not cross training and he's maybe not having a
big role on special teams, to me, it's like, how
can you How can he take up a roster spot
for somebody who does have that value and can move
the needle for you in that way. So that's my
that's my two cents on that.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
I am curious.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I want people to sound off on the in the
comments about what their decisions on these things would be too.
Another name that I do think is something that we
can so someone that we can really talk about is
David Sills, the fifth and honestly make the case. May
I'm going to make the case again again with the
(11:46):
same exact way of thinking. David Sills is someone who
has worked his way up I think the pecking order
of the roster. I think he is somebody who has
and tearin. You can correct me if I'm wrong, but
he's been taking first team reps, both in the spot
of Drake London kind of acting as his clone per se,
but also alongside Drake London is kind of this like
(12:08):
big receiver set, So there's already kind of a push
for him at receiver. But then also something that came
up last preseason game last Friday night was the fact
that Raheem Wor said they really wanted.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Him to focus on special teams.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
And again it goes back to adding value, adding value
if you have someone who if you're going to carry
seven receivers, like you got to have somebody who can
do a little bit of everything. And the fact that
they were like, let's see what he can do on
special teams to me and like, to me, that kind
of shows me that they're really really trying to figure
out a way for him to be on this roster.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
But see, here's here's the thing, is like the fact
that they're now having to just work him into special
teams and things like that, I agree, like that could
be an indicator of all, right, we have a vision
for you and we want to now add a little
bit more to your plate. But when I look at
the Attle four wide receiver specifically, you do see a
lot of guys with special teams chops specifically at returner,
and you know, I don't know where Sill's like value
(13:08):
is specifically in that role. I've seen them work. De Alford,
I've seen him work Dylan Drummond like some of those guys.
We know Rey Ray does that. We know that Jamal
Agnew was brought here kind of to do that, but
he's been injured and hurt. So there's just so many
kind of unknowns to me. Yeah, and I think that
Casey Washington stepping up, on the one hand, helps clarify
some things. On the other hand, it does muddy the
(13:28):
water right a little bit because now you're looking at
at Drake, Darnell, Ray, Ray, Kadarrel. I assume who's one
of those special teams cases Casey, that's five, right, And
then whom I'm leaving off.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
Jamal Agnew, Like what happens with him?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
See Jamal if like he do we have him penciled in.
I don't know he could be a player word debating
right here exactly. And then now I'm just thinking with
the offensive line stuff, right, if you're gonna be light
at one of these positions, receiver I do think is
a more available position out there. I really think they
like David Sills. I'm not even necessarily arguing against the player.
(14:05):
It's more the circumstance and building together the piece of
the fifty three man roster and a sixth or seventh
receiver at this point in time when you're just looking
at the first four weeks maybe and you need a
tack like does the value proposition change there a little bit?
And I think the math may have.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
And also think about this too. The Falcons are not
a team that has not carried a lot of receivers practice.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
It's not an offense.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
But like, yeah, that to me also kind of is like, Okay, yeah,
we're talking about David Sills, Dylan Drummond, like Jesse Matthews,
like Nick Nash, the all of these receivers that are
Chris Blair keep going on, Like all of these guys
I think could show up on this practice squad at
some point or another. So but you know, we could
(14:48):
talk practice if we really wanted to spend an extra
thirty minutes here, we could talk practice squad guys continuously,
But we don't need to do that. We need to
move forward the next guy on this list is a
guy who I think it's very interesting. I think that
he is under the same set of circumstances as Clark
Phillips in that he has been injured for a lot
of training camp. We have not seen him, but we've
(15:09):
seen other people step up at the position. In that
person is Carlos Washington. Will you are arguing for Carlos
Washington on this roster?
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Why heck yes, I'm arguing for Carlos Washington because I frankly,
I think he looked better in practice then he maybe
has his entire time here and I think, frankly better
than the other three candidates behind him trying to kind
of knock him from that presumed third spot, right And
because he hasn't been out there, I think Nathan Carter
has really been a player who has stepped up. Obviously
(15:40):
at the touchdown on Friday, could have had another really
long run that kind of got discounted unfortunately. So he's
doing the most in that spot. But Carlos Washington has
been here, He's got the trust of Michael Petrie, the
running backs coach, He's got kind of the organization, he
knows that room, and again he played well before he
got hurt. So is there you know, an opportunity to
(16:02):
maybe squeaking pass waivers bringing back on the practice squad,
Like who knows, But I think he has done enough
just historically to kind of warrant that third running back spot,
you know, with it being Tyler all Jeers last year,
like you'd like to maybe have somebody that you feel
very comfortable with on the roster. I don't know, if
right and how they want to kind of like jettison
off the rest of their running back room and just
(16:22):
go in with like Jon and Tyler and then introduce
a new guy kind of with that situation. So I
think Carlos Washington Raheem even said today with some of
these players that have been injured, you got to look
back at what they have done, what you know about them,
because they're not out there to show you anything new
right now. So you compare the new with kind of
what you know, and you make that decision. And I
think we know a good bit about Carlos Washington, and
(16:42):
I like what we know.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
It's funny that you said the circumstances between Phillips and
Carlos Washington are similar, because I'm doing the opposite for
the two I know. I know that's why I think
I'm really curious to see what you're sorry. Well, Carlos
has been here, and I really like Carlos. We've talked
to him, We've gotten to know this, and I do
think he was having his strongest camp yet. Multiple people
(17:05):
said so. But I think, my it's not even benefit
of the doubt this time. But I think the injury
in this case because he doesn't have live game reps
like Clark did last year, or at least not nearly
as much experience in live games in like not including
preseason at all.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Here.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
That's where I'm like, I could see Carlos not making
the fifty three man roster for that reason. So I
think that's my difference between Clark and Carlos is the
experience in live games in the regular season. And so
I also think a big reason for this. And I
kind of really liked how Torri and your fifty three
(17:43):
man roster. You only kept two running backs I did,
which is that's.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Why I.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Yeah, really bold. But at the same time, I think
this offense is gonna have to make sacrifices with how
much depth there is on the defense.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
Yeah, and you're gonna care a freak ton of defensive line. Yeah,
and so if.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
You those numbers are gonna put John Robinson and Hyler
Algier strap in, it's gonna be a ride.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Buckle up, let's go.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, Oh I got.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I'm just it's a good point though, with the two
running backs on the fifty three, it's like it's tough,
but you you make the fifty three initially to get
to that cutdown limit, and then you can tweak after that.
So just because they have two on the fifty three
doesn't mean that they're going into the first game with
only two running backs and oh my gosh, what happens
if you know So that is just a caveat for sure.
(18:36):
We're gonna wrap up the player part, and then I
do want to just we started talking about the offensive
line at the top, So once we talked about this
last player, just get a little thoughts on maybe how
many actually end up on the fifty three. So just
be thinking about that. But you two, in the meantime
are gonna be talking about d Angelom alone, a player
you know, well known amongst listeners of this podcast because
(18:57):
we we love them. So I'm gonna give taren you
the easy job you can targe for dangel Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
I stood my ground on D'angela Malone last year, put
him on my fifty three man projection, and I'm going
to do the same this year because he is an
asset in multiple facets.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Ooh, there you go, there you go? What was that?
Speaker 2 (19:20):
That's the one right there? But he made the roster
last year because of his special teams contributions. He was
a huge standout and I'm pretty sure Raheem Morris said
he is a special teams starter. Was that him?
Speaker 3 (19:31):
He also said that he's the barnyard bully of special
teams for uh this team?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
So I love that. And now because he is cross
training from being out on the edge too insidelinebacker, I
think there are It's like with David Sills. They're trying
to find a way to keep him where he's involved
in more than one way, except it's the reverse where
David Sills has the offensive experience and they're trying to
get him involved in special teams. It's special teams for
(19:57):
D'Angelo Malone. Where can we best put him the defense?
Speaker 3 (20:01):
So the only reason I'm going against d Angelo Malone
is because they are making me and.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
I do I do? I do well.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Say, I will say I'm playing Devil's advocate here more
than I feel like I actually feel this way. I
love Dangelo Malone. I agree with what Taren's saying. I
think he is adding value. I wrote a whole freaking
story about dangel and Malone and the cross training he's
doing and why Jeff Ulbrick felt this would be something
good for him to do, and how he falls into
the same vein as even a Kaden Ellis or a
(20:33):
Jalen Walker.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
So I say all that to say, but he shouldn't made.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
But but d'angela Malone not on the fifty three man roster.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
I think the argument that I can present that makes
the most sense in my head is like, Okay, what
happens if Troy Anderson is at one hundred percent? What
happens if your inside linebacker group is at one hundred
percent and you have all of your guys they're very healthy?
Death is really good. You feel really good about where
it is. And then what happens if at edge rusher
(21:01):
you also feel very good about where you are depth.
You also feel good about not having injuries. You also
feel like you really don't need that one piece. Yes,
I do think Dangela Malone adds value to kind of
the depth part of all of that. But if we're
talking about needing a roster spot for someone who's gonna
make an immediate impact on the defense or even the offense,
(21:21):
is that person Dangelo Malone? And if it turns out
that you are carrying Troy Anderson on the roster, do
you even need D'Angelo Malone as an inside linebacker? If
you are very healthy at Edgdresser, do you feel like
you need Dangela Malone?
Speaker 4 (21:36):
I don't necessarily think you do.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Would they have cross trained D'Angelo the D'Angelo Malone if
Troy Anderson was not on pup.
Speaker 5 (21:45):
I I and also Ronnie Harrison they so, I do
think they.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Still would have because Jeff Olbrick said when he came in,
so we're talking back in January February, and he's evaluating
this roster, d'angela Malone was someone he identified as someone
he would like to see moving more to a stack
line back.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
I think it's like a defensive design yea. And how
they want to use certain guys to create these like exotic,
confusing looks for players. But to your point, I mean,
you feel you have two of those guys in Caiden
and Jalen. You've added Divine Diabolo, who I really like
it inside Liemacker. We don't know where Troy stands, but
stands the reason you could get him back at some point.
(22:23):
And then j D. Bertrand you know, is there too.
And I like what Josh Woods. He's an experienced Everyone's
Special Teams chot, so like there are options here for
this team at inside linebacker. And even though Danchelong alone
is an interesting and good young player who've made some
splash plays late last year, yeah, it kind of becomes
it's a good thing, I think ultimately, right because we
(22:43):
were talking about d Angelo alone like last year and
previously about like all right, he's he's going to potentially
be like an important piece and yeah, and now it's
all right, is he gonna make the roster? So let's
circle back to offensive line because I do think that
that is going into Friday's game like the number one
thing that at least I'm gonna be kind of like
looking for position group wise, how many do you think
(23:05):
Tori are actually gonna end up making that initial fifty
three man roster at this point.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
I do think eight or nine I think is a
fair number.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
I use a falthy number.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
I do think it's a healthy number because I do
think that Okay, yes, just because they make it an
initial fifty three man does not mean that they stay
on that initial fifty three or do not stay on
the fifty three man I tend to when I'm going
through roster construction. In my own mind, you have your
starting five offensive line, you have a backup center, you
have an backup interior, and you.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
Have a backup tackle. So that's eight.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
I do nine because I think, just the way this
roster is right now, you do have a draft pick
who you could potentially hold on to that number nine
spot in Jack Nelson. But even in saying that, again,
just because you have these guys on the fifty three
man roster come Tuesday's cuts does not mean that we
(23:54):
are not switching out three or four individuals on either
the practice squad or the fifty three man roster when
other individuals fall off of other rosters across the league.
So even though I'm saying, like a healthy eight or
nine that you're penciling in I think, honestly that number
is going It's not necessarily the number. To me, it's
who is the number? And how does that change is
(24:19):
kind of how I see it.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Who I agree that eight is like a healthy number.
But after the injury, some other media members and I
were discussing it and we're like, it wouldn't be that
big of a surprise to see six, or.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
That's what I mean. That's why I'm right. Is I'm
actually on the lower side. Is I kind of think
for for your reason, like if they're not maybe going
to be on the fifty three long term, then then
use those extra spots on a guy like D'angela Malone,
on David Sills, on players who I do think have
earned this spot on the roster. If don't just kind
of keep a guy just to save that spot, if
(24:54):
your intention is to kind of like swap him out
on Thursday, yeah, go ahead and keep that spot for
I think it's going to be a very heavy practice
squad of offensive linemen, and I think you'll evaluate them
for kind of that week and then you make a
call up or two maybe going into Week one, to
bolster your depth. But I don't know, I could see
this being a lighter group than usual.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
I think that's incredibly fair.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
And I actually think that y'all are convincing me, like
on the spot, you know, Like I think that that
is a very compelling argument, Like would you keep an
offensive lineman on the roster and forego a Clark Phillips
or Carlos Washington simply for the sake of having eight
offensive linemen that you potentially don't even really think is
(25:39):
going to have the opportunity to be up on game day?
Like it, it's a great thought provoking question.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Scholars have debated for years.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Have debated the fifty three you else, rely, I don't
have to make these decisions.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
It's challenging when you go through exercises like this, And
I encourage anybody at home go make a little mock
fifty three man roster prediction. Tory had hers come out.
It was excellent. I'm gonna have mine come out on Friday,
Terren Scottger's on Sunday, Monday, Sunday. I think, so it's
going to be it's gonna be like a high time
of fifty three minute roster predictions. We're all probably bound
to be wrong. Maybe one of us is right, maybe
(26:13):
all of us right, who knows, but do your own
I encourage it's fun exercise. So really quickly before we
wrap up today's show, as I mentioned, final preseason game
on Friday, eight pm Eastern Time against the Dallas Cowboys, Karen,
I want to know one player that you are interested
to watch on Friday night.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Just whoever plays at right tackle, whether that's Elijah Wilkinson
again or if they get some switcheroo in there. I
think all eyes have to be on that position given
Wednesday's injuries.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Yeah, I agree, because you know, between Jack Nelson and
Elijah Wilkinson, who they were both playing tackle. I think
Jack Nelson has been playing predominantly right tackle over the
course of the preseason, and Elijah Wilkinson went from left
guard that first Friday Night to then left tackle this
past Friday night.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
So I agree.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
For me, I'm really looking forward to watching CJ. Henderson play.
I this is somebody who I think I have you know,
followed along with his career. He was in that same
draft class as AJ Traill, Jeff Akuda, like you know, like.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
There were that's a great corner class.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
But here's the thing is, like only AJ Trareill has
truly established himself as the top dog of that group.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
So good on the Falcons, like the.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Draft, like that was a fun class coming out. I
guess yes, but yeah, you're right. Yeah didn't really pin up.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
So we didn't really get to see CJ.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Henderson at all last week because the Falcons didn't sign
him until really late in the week. And you're not
just gonna throw somebody out there like the day after
they get signed here when they haven't even been on
the grass. So RAHIEMWRS talks about like acclamation period and
that we will potentially see quite a bit of CJ.
Henderson on this Friday night in Dallas to kind of
just see what he has. And I don't know if
(27:52):
that's gonna change anything at all. It may be a
little too little, too late, but I'm looking forward to
seeing what he has. I think that's a very very
interesting signing at this point in time in the preseason.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
We actually talked to CJ. Henderson today too, and there
was an analogy used that I really liked that he's
implementing at the moment is he's kind of cramming for
a test essentially, because you're trying to learn the playbook
and with the game already this Friday, it's just kind
of cramming that information. And so if you're a good grammer,
I don't know if that's a now sure, but like
if you're good at cramming before tests, I kind of was,
(28:27):
then we could see a lot out of him Friday,
because even just Wednesday today in practice he had an
interception with the second team defense.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
And he's got nice size, you know, he'd have a
little size to the group obviously for me for something. Yeah,
there's something interesting there. Yeah, And if he plays well
on Friday, like I do, think he could add a
little bit of a unique element to this cutdown. Mine
is going to be a player in the trenches. Lakale London,
who is you know, somebody who I don't think a
lot of fans are super familiar with. He's been like
(28:55):
a preseason darling of mine. I think the last couple
of years.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
I've thoroughly enjoyed the London since the day that Grady
Jarrett went down with the season ending injury two years
ago and Kalen stepped up, and I thought he played
very well at the tail end of that season.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
He did I mean, he he was really good and
enjoying practices too, and some of the individual drills. I've
noticed him in both preseason games kind of making some plays.
So he's played well, but I just don't think a
lot of he's not getting a lot of hoopla and
we know the depth.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
Of SpongeBob references.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Yes, no, that's how I was like, should I make this?
Speaker 4 (29:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (29:29):
But it was great. You do a better job right now. Yeah.
So it's it's kind of like, can he do enough
to scratch that like back spot on the deep rotation
or not? Because I think he's worthy of it. But
you got a guy like Morgan Fox there, you got
some interior. Yeah, Like there's a lot of names. So
he's been great. Has he done enough? Who knows? But
(29:51):
I if it's the last time I get to watch
him this season, I'm gonna enjoy it. On Friday night,
I'll be sad.
Speaker 5 (29:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I know. That's the one thing to remember when it
comes to roster cuts. My annual disclaimer. These athletes are
people too, and this is their livelihood. It is not
a fun day in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
It is not a fun day. But this was a
somewhat fun pod some like, you know, some stuff that
we would rather not have had to talk about today,
obviously when it comes to big injuries. But that is
life in the NFL, and the regular season is right
around the corner, so they've got to figure out some
answers to some of the questions that just popped up.
(30:26):
One more preseason game to do that, Friday night, eight pm,
Dallas Cowboys. But we will be back after roster cutdowns
to kind of do a second part of this whole conversation,
see where we landed, see what we got right wrong,
and how everything shook out. So for Taren Tory, I'm
will and we will see you guys next time.
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