Atlanta Falcons NFL Draft Reaction, Grades | Falcons Podcast

The Atlanta Falcons added eight players in the NFL Draft and caused quite a few heads to turn when they selected Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 overall pick. Nick and Scott address the offseason strategy, the impacts from the draft picks, and more on the Falcons Podcast.

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good morning we are Live on YouTube on the Falcons podcast we want to bring in our Facebook groups as well so we’re going to bring them in real quick and then we’ll get started it is Monday after a long weekend of NFL draft gorgeous weekend here in the Southeast I hope everybody had a great time welcome in everybody this is the post NFL draft edition of the Falcons podcast it is Monday morning the sun is shining it’s going to be a gorgeous day in the Southeast in the Atlanta Falcons for better for worst turn lot of heads around the NFL around Atlanta etc etc there’s been some rationalizing and stuff that goes on that happens when there’s a shock to your system and there’s again I I’ve had an instant reaction we had a Friday reaction and then we had days two and three to really think about this with seven more picks after the first round and kind of get an idea of the Falcon strategy we’re gonna get into all of that over the course of the next 50 minutes or so first I want to say hello to my co-host I’m Scott Kenny this is Nick Kendall over here Nick how are you doing my friend I am doing pretty well it was a interesting weekend to say the least and now as the dust settles we’re trying to figure out what happens now uh where do we go from here and uh how soon do we start the 2025 mock draft simulators um so no yeah it’s a it was a good weekend overall and obviously things are going to be interesting uh for both our teams taking probably the two biggest consensus reaches uh on Thursday and in the draft in general but uh hey we’ll see because if you hit on quarterback Nothing Else Matters yeah that’s uh we’ll get into all that and uh you know there’s some people in here the the Michael you know entertainment luxury he wants to come in you know with the LOL the penx junior pick at eight is starting to make a little more sense to you now Scott huh yeah maybe but that’s not necessarily a good thing and we’ll get into that and I explained that pretty well on Friday again it wasn’t about the Michael pinnick pick itself was the overall quarterback strategy that makes zero sense and we’ll still get into that one as well and again the way the rest of the draft panned out has started making more sense quarterback and that’s not necessarily a good thing depends on your point of view we’ll get into all of that first off we go live on Monday Wednesdays and Fridays so we like having the conversation with y’all I want to say hello to some folks who were in here before we even got started like coach coming in with a super chat breaking the ice he says morning fam hope youall got to enjoy some of the weekend gorgeous day of baseball uh travel baseball this weekend unfortunately my son ended up being sick on Sunday while his team played really really well without him so he needs to get healthy and get back to work out there so he was home I went over and watched over at East cob baseball and watched about four hours five hours of baseball and had a good day yesterday while we were you know ch turning out content so great weekend hope you had a good weekend too coach uh want to say hello to Atlanta Connor ATL Connor I really don’t see this team getting more than seven wins again okay three straight seven win Seasons we said for the most part last year with the schedule they had and this is one of the reasons that Arthur Smith got fired if you’ve got Kirk Cousins and we said this before Kirk Cousins was really even a twinkle in Arthur in Arthur blank’s eye Kirk Cousins is playing for this team it’s playoff team they probably win 11 11 games or so they’re probably still a first round out because they’ve got way too many holes or pass rush isn’t good enough etc etc uh that they’re just not a contender so to speak but they’re a contender with that schedule in in NFC South so I still think they’re considerably better than a seven wins team but the problem is is that the schedule’s never going to be easier than it was last year Nick yeah I mean you have to hope that you upgraded and competency in last season I mean just we talked about it going from what would you say Ritter and heiki last year a D minus room to probably a b room at worst this season on the surface should upgrade you three four wins just alone uh the quarterback has an exponential impact on the rest of the roster uh like I I would argue going from a a c player at Edge to an a player at Edge is not as valuable as going from a c player at quarterback to a b player at quarterback just because of just how important that they are in the rest of the roster and your ability to compete so um I see them hanging around I would put there over under at 10 and a half I think I don’t know what Vegas has him at right now maybe I think that’s right I think I think that’s right 10 and a half wins I think 10 and a half seven wins again and their heads Are Gonna Roll probably won’t be Rim Morris no but it might be Terry fun with they win seven games this year it might not be it won’t be Raheem but it might be it might be Terry font though um got a couple more supers coming in I’ll I want to hit on uh on Curtis case here in a little bit I kind of want to use use yours as a transition to talking about this after we say some of our hellos this morning because Victor says good morning Scott Nick and Falcons Nation that’s all y’all I’m okay with the penck pick I see both sides but I think a lot of people are blowing it out of proportion I think we’ll we’ll be okay and still did well I don’t really care what Mel Mel Kyper draft grade of us was these guys get stuff wrong the time so it wasn’t just Mel Kyper Mel Kyper is just probably the biggest and and most famous name but I I looked at the three main sources I look at when I look at analysis I’ll look at NFL I’ll look at ESPN and I’ll look at uh PFF and it was unanimous the Falcons had the worst draft uh the second they tied with the Cleveland Browns I think on nfl.com U and that was it otherwise it was 32 of 32 now Nick what does that necess necessarily mean for this Atlanta Falcons draft class honestly I think the grades are a little bit more performative and content based uh than they are actuality uh these teams have their own grades I’m I mean the example will always be Patrick Mahomes pick getting lamb basted Al they just made the playoffs Alex Smith looked great and you traded up for a air raid quarterback from the Big 12 who’s never won a playoff game in the history of the division so I think it probably does at least have some impact on the overall upside of the class perhaps but it’s not like the consensus big board or anything like that where we know there is some predictive power I’ve yet to see something where like the consensus grades or grades in general are very predictive on the outcome of players so it kind of hurts to have the image right but until the games are played I I’ve I really just view it as fluff and I mean I appreciate them because we’re in the content machine God bless them because we have stuff to talk about and pick aart but I don’t have put much weight on it other than uh entertainment and Curtis case comes in this is the transition spot I wanted to use he says good morning Scott Nick I concluded that I’ll just have to have faith and trust the process and withhold judgment until after the season season I added the S Seasons play out Curtis as a longtime Atlanta sports fan I do not have faith I do not trust the process I am willing to have patience on this but good Lord man especially if you grow up when I did in the 80s with 12 lost seasons and 100 lost seasons for the Atlanta Braves the the last thing you want to hear is trust the coaches trust the process this is a team that’s lost six straight had six straight losing Seasons hadn’t made the playoffs in a while seven straights seven and 10 seasons I don’t trust the process I’m willing to be patient before withholding before completely judging the draft class now the process I passed judgment on that last week y’all were here y’all saw it but as far as the draft G Gres themselves go draft grades are about instant gratification okay how can this help us right now or do I find my you know I need a quarterback I got a quarterback you know how basically how are you filling needs right now if I’m looking at this Atlanta Falcons draft class on filling an instant needs and how many contributors you’re going to get for the 2024 Seasons when you just spend $100 million on a quarterback 36 years old in two years win now this class is an F it’s an absolute FN f is what it is and the reason why there just aren’t any instant impact players on here on paper again you withhold judgment on this but when you go into this draft class Nick you’re looking at what do we say the Falcons biggest needs were Edge Corner safety wide receiver two there’s four and then I can also throw in maybe an offensive tackle with you know 32-year-old Jake Matthews and Caleb McGary being a Turn Style you didn’t address pass rush until the third round Nick how many successful how how successful are you getting edge rushers in the third round historically compared to you know up top it depends on what you mean by success uh you know if you can have a rotational player that’s you can find those day two uh but as far as a true impact Pro Bowl type I mean I went back I think God I wish I had the data in front of me um but but I went back and looked at the PFF top 10 grades every every player at Edge for the last five years and I think it was something crazy like 80% of the guys were former first round picks really it was like first round picks and Max Crosby uh other than that um if you really want a Difference Maker at the edge rushing position offensive tackle and Edge pretty much it’s round one or bust cornerback two didn’t get one at all okay safety didn’t do that that at all talked about the third round where you can typically get those type of guys and you traded away a third round pick for a defensive tackle who in my opinion defensive tackle is arguably the deepest position you’ve got Grady Jarrett David anamat and taquan Graham Zack Harrison other defensive lineman those four defensive linemen were good especially the interior guys the the true interior guys in David animad and grd Jared so if if you’re looking at draft grades and you’re looking for instant gratification gratification this ain’t it dude th this isn’t the class that okay now let’s flip the switch what is a draft class for is it for the now is it for the future it’s about the future obviously the further you get from the first pick the more about the future it is uh but it’s about Lane foundational pieces especially if you’re talking trenches it’s nice to have Day One impact but you’re talking trenches day two really it’s like year three year four of their contracts where it’s like okay now we need contribution consistent contribution from you so for your ruk aoro pick uh very good athlete still really young crazy tools I mean just not just the athleticism but the size and the length by 2026 you’re hoping that he’s a real Difference Maker at defensive tackle and rotational year one I think I don’t know if I trade up for that considering there’s the defensive tackles available that’s a different conversation but that makes sense brillan tce I don’t think he’s an overall there’s a reason he fell to the third despite the production uh but he can be a high floor player and then um the other Brandon Doras inside outside kind of guy so I mean I I understand what they’re doing here Scott you didn’t walk away with the true impact pass rusher uh at the top but you did lay a pretty good foundation as far as the the depth the rotation the overall health of the defensive front I mean you you rais the floor of that room by a lot in my opinion in this draft process and hopefully gives you a chance to build off of that and grow off of that the next couple Seasons yeah so if I’m if I’m building a team one second bring in my Facebook groups here um if I’m building a team you know let’s say let’s just wipe the Slate clean and say I’m building a team from scratch and I say okay I got my my quarterback and I got the trenches three defensive linemen okay I get that um does that fit the needs of what this team needed to compete in 2024 and 2025 no that’s where the draft grades come in you went and got your quarterback in free agency so when it comes to how do you grade the draft it’s impossible to accurately grade a draft after the draft you know you need at least two three seasons down the line before you can look back and say okay hit hit hit miss miss miss and that’s the discussion about Michael pennick okay how can you if if Michael penx turns out to be worthy of a top 10 pick then it was a great pick you’re set a quarterback for the next 10 years the problem I have is it absolutely goes against why why are you spending money on Kurt Cousins yeah it totally I call it but I wrote it I put it in writing it they drafted as if this was buyer’s remorse right off the gate they’ve made a lame duck of Kirt cousins before he even takes a snap so you take Michael Pennock you draft trenches those are all draft picks for the future you did not help yourself one bit for 2024 which is okay you’ve got a brand new coach he’s got some Runway okay where’s the the three-year plan remember where this team was supposed to be in year three well in three years if Rahe Morris isn’t winning and winning big he’s going to be gone so you’re setting it up for three years I’m not going to be judged on based on how I do this year but every single move the Falcons have made since March makes the idea of signing Kirk Cousins to $90 million guaranteed more on it every move they’ve made has made signing Kurt Cousins look worse and that’s the initial reaction that’s the gut reaction I had last week you can’t take that back you can’t that’s already been done so you’ve got a chance to try and build on what you thought was the right move in March when you signed Kurt Cousins and you didn’t you didn’t at all with this draft and that’s where the bad grades are coming in how this draft ends up playing out will be how this draft is graded down the line how this draft is graded right now is based on the potential instant impact contributors you got in this draft and on paper you got none none that’s my reaction to this draft it’s for the future I’ll hold off judgment on that for 2024 none I would argue that rukoro um with his athleticism and profile he is going to be a contributor this season I know that you know interior defensive line wasn’t a gaping hole but I could see him hold on okay okay I’m coming out of my 2024 draft give me your uh your Now give me your Rook aroh hero thoughts he is a still extreme ly young player did not start playing uh football until his junior year of high school and he is an athletic specimen um just under 300 lbs with 34 inch arm length uh tested extremely well looked great at the combine 48940 for that size uh just doesn’t he’s like one of those defensive tackles that doesn’t look like a defensive tackle because he carries it so well um just a really good uh body type for that kind of thing um played mostly three technique at Clemson but really they utilized him all over the line I mean you saw Zero technique all the way to nine technique and he’s still working on his technique but a lot of times he could win on athleticism burst power alone uh which I think gives me I think that’s promising honestly um compared to uh some guys you know just more purely technique you know there’s a lot of potential there to still improve the things that can be improved uh so again not always the most productive there at Clemson uh but I mean had did have five sacks this last season eight tackles for loss not bad uh for a interior defensive lineman and also was considered the the leader of the defensive line so um he’s he’s I think he can one Gap I think he can two Gap as well he’s going to make his way on the field and have some uh have some flashes without a doubt just needs to continue to work on pass rush moves leverage sometimes things that you say a lot of times about more raw athletic guys but I would be pretty excited about Ro Roo uh he is um speed to power I mean just he can get after it there’s a reason why pretty consistently I was mocking him to the Broncos 76 when he was there I’m like this is a good value I expected him to go about 50 honestly because he was still pretty raw uh but I he’s probably my maybe my favorite pick of your class even though it looks like a reach I like him yeah and Edward Brown I’m not gonna call him a reach again 300 pound guy with tools like that they don’t grow on trees so I’m not going to call him a reach I will say you had bigger needs to fill and like you said Cooper deine was right there and so was uh Kool-Aid mckinstry that if you wanted to go Corner this draft is going to be a whole lot of wh ifs wait a minute you didn’t you didn’t take this guy this guy this guy more so than usual more so than usual because you didn’t go after needs you did things that didn’t necessarily make sense in the now with your Corners with your wide receivers you traded away that third round pick you know who’s available when the Falcons were supposed to picking in the third Roman Wilson you don’t think I’m going to be watching Roman Wilson to see how he does based on man that that wide receiver too out of Michigan Roman Wilson but coming back to what you said Nick you know push back a little bit on a aoro again I like the pick he’s a developmental guy he’s for down the he wasn’t all that productive despite the tools does that sound like a guy you can count on to be an instant impact in 2024 are you coming out of this telling me that your your most impactful player is a backup defensive lineman for 2024 then you just made my point for me you didn’t get anybody that is going to be an impact player for you in this draft in 2024 I’ll still push that against that a little bit uh we’ve talked about it on here a lot the there’s no position that rotates more than the defensive line so even though let’s say he’s only getting 40% of the snaps 50% of the snaps that’s a that’s a lot for an interior defensive lineman you need your two deep to be good there for that unit and he’s versatile he’s going to find a role again he can play Four I he can play three he can play one uh and I think on he might not be a true impact guy as a pass rusher out of the gate that’s the area where he needs to work but as a run Defender he’s pretty impressive um and that’s something that I think is going to play day one with the athleticism and the length uh especially if you’re one gapping he is disruptive that way finishing and the overall like clean wins with his hands those need work I agree but you still can be impactful now is that a reach for 35 maybe but you’re again you’re talking trenches a lot of times that’s more developmental so I I get what you’re saying especially with the the picks that you had uh walking away with that like if if Denver walked away with that round three and took a you know backup quarterback round one I’d be like man you’d hope for a little bit more on paper immediate impact from a draft class and as you said it’s uh more about the long-term health of the roster uh but again I just wanted to come on and talk about uh aoro because I do think he is a he’s kind of a guy that I I would bet on um if I have a type and he’s definitely my type it goes back to last week we weren’t knocking the player when the last time we were on we weren’t knocking Michael Pennock we’re knocking the fit okay I’m not knocking oroho I like oroho and I’m not going to say and first off we’re gonna say hello to Michael Rano coming in with a big Super Chat thank you sir I’m not knocking a Ruru I’m not saying there you know I I I preferred um JJ McCarthy but I’m not up on a up on that that’s not the hill I’m dying on and saying why this doesn’t make any sense based on the free agent signing of Kirk Cousins I’m not saying well if you wanted a quarterback you should have taken JJ McCarthy no I’m not gonna die on that Hill I’m not gonna die on the Braden Fisk Hill I I probably I just know that I’ve SE him more I’m probably would have gone with Braden Fisk at that spot I’m not going to die on that Hill argument I want to make is you’re pretty damn good on the defensive line right now okay so again you’re drafting for the future okay that’s great but miss me with this win now stuff when you don’t believe it yourself you’re like okay we’ve raised the floor we should be better but we don’t think we’re good enough to really compete so we’re trying to set ourselves up for the future okay well that’s not the message you want to send to this Atlanta Falcons fan base right now you want to have a little more urgency and not preach Patience by God Atlanta Falcons fans you’ve been patient and you go out and sign Kurt Cousins to $90 million guaranteed you threw patience out the door you know there’s just so much more you could have you could have gotten an impact Edge a number one safety to pair with Jesse Bates and a number two corner and really done something with that defense and then if you draft Michael pennick the offense is still better than it was last year now you’re excited right now you’re like okay well we should be better but you know I can’t wait till Kurt Cousins is gone so we can see our quarterback it’s just it’s it’s convoluted it just it’s illogical and that’s that’s the problem I have with it yeah but you know it’s logical for me every morning cup of lion coffee God bless you Patrick uh more war in every poor I got my vanilla macademia in here uh he just sent me a bunch of a new box of uh ground stuff because I tend to have an issue where I forget to grind the whole beans uh so that can be an issue especially with a sleeping baby in the morning I’m like oh I got to do it it’s for the show Natalie I have to have the coffee it’s not just because it’s my go- Go Juice uh so shout out to Lion coffee.com uh I would not be here without them and that’s that’s I I owe my life to them lion coffee God bless you thank you so much though they’re a great partner of the podcast lion coffee.com and um it’s delicious it’s Hawaii based uh one of my favorites is one of their standards is their Cafe Honolulu which is the the medium dark roast and as a partner of the podcast up through next month through May 31st you can get 20% off any order except 100% cona or cases but everything else with our code g Falcons 20 it’s in the description of every podcast check them out I promise you will not regret it Nick I mean I don’t I love it so good so coming back to it see some comments from the chat uh let see like Tony Lambert saying didn’t matter what defensive player that you could have taken at eight that guy wasn’t going to come in and transform the defense Falcons have terrible luck drafting Edge players I think that’s a little bit of a u a gamblers fallacy on that one because every single time you take somebody it resets I don’t think the the past history there doesn’t impact the future selection it’s like yatsi right or rolling dice you know just because you rolled a two last times doesn’t mean you roll a two again uh so I don’t know did you see Chris Ballard in the War Room when he got the the pass rusher what he got what he got lay out to L to he left we just got the best effing rusher in the draft at 15 and again you know Tony talking about it didn’t matter what defensive player would have picked at eight that guy wasn’t going to transform this defense either would it have helped more than than Michael pennix will this year yeah I I don’t I don’t think you can argue that and if I’m going to invest $90 million into a 36- year old quarterback I I want to back him that signals I have a window I think I’m in a window if you wanted to build for the future man make a higher play for Russell Wilson for nothing and invest in young free agents or save the money to invest in free agents later when you think you’re closer to your window get a bridge that cost $1 million instead of 90 it just it doesn’t make any sense Kirk Cousins makes zero sense for every move that they have made since Kirk Cousins that’s that’s the problem on this one and Archangel he comes and he says pennx is way better than McCarthy McCarthy will suck sorry Scott that’s okay we’ll see I uh again I’m not arguing McCarthy over oh you should have taken McCarthy I’m not arguing that I’m not arguing FIS I’ll tell you what I would have done and don’t see how it plays out I’m not gonna say that you’re wrong I’m right no I always say let me be wrong before you tell me I’m wrong see Scott McCarthy sucked yeah you’re right but not yet this is what I would have done I’m not grading with hindsight so I like McCarthy a little bit better just more mainly because of the Medicals I like the athleticism and his ability to throw on the run I think he’s going into a a good situation up in Minnesota and ironically if it weren’t for Kirk Cousins Nick if we’re talking about and I had this I saw the the guys I think it was Jordan Reed and Matt Miller on ESPN discussed which quarterback is entering the best situation if it weren’t for Kirk Cousins I might say Michael penck yeah I mean the vik do have a really good offensive infrastructure as well uh they they used the they used the argument that he needed to go somewhere that he wasn’t ready to play they use the argument I’ll say JJ McCarthy because he he isn’t he needed he needed a little time to sit okay I I don’t always agree with that um you know maybe he does maybe he doesn’t I’m not making that discussion before he even shows up in Camp but Michael penck you got weap on the offense offens is set minus a quarterback 24y old drop in mature instead no you’re not you’re not playing goodness again this team is better than it was last year with Michael penx at the helm you didn’t K cousins you shouldn’t you shouldn’t have signed I call it buyers remorse straight off buyers remorse and it just it it put a taint on the the the Falcons off season the way this was handled yeah and it’s pretty wild we’ve never seen this level of investment back toback like I see Terry Clark said casy showed the entire league well Kansas City had Alex Smith for a number of years and he was dwindling and then they go up and get the quarterback who is Young and gets to sit a year and still developing with raw tools uh you have Jordan love and Aaron Rogers Well Rogers was entering the close to the end of his contract and also you spent what was it the 26th overall pick on Jordan love who was is Jordan Jordan love might be younger than Michael penx right now if not if not they’re the same age I don’t think he is but he’s uh again there’s the the the the idea that you can go with uh I can we can rip the the Green Bay Packers model to shreds too as far as why this makes sense for the Atlanta Falcons that could be another show Jordan love is still very very young and yeah he’s 25 he’ll turn 26 in uh in November so he’s a year and a half older okay so the drafted three four years still young yeah uh so again I think it’s I’m fine with both of them individually kind of like have you talked about Scott but it just doesn’t make sense from a coherent plan um for the season I feel like once you make that Kirk Cousins investment you and putting that much money in Furlow as you know Arthur Blank did you’re in the now I understand going long term and he’s coming off the Achilles but if you have questions about the Achilles you probably shouldn’t have signed him to that contract to begin with so you shouldn’t be in this situation so I mean I it looks like to me and this is just trying to make sense of it that they went in without like the big picture plan this offseason and okay we have a chance to really upgrade Kurt Cousins ownership wants after what we’ve seen the last couple Seasons wants solidness at the quarterback Kurt Cousins is going to be solid and then you go into the draft process you know open-minded which is good and Michael P blows your coach and some other folks away and you end up taking him as well but and A fitting the puzzle pieces together that doesn’t really make sense linearly but that’s the only way I come across with this with any sort of okay I guess it could happen that way we’ll see if it works out and again I see comments like what if Kurt Cousins get hurt gets hurt I always think of um Tom Moore they’re all arguments against signing KK cousins all of them y there every single every single argument for the reason to draft Michael Pennock is an argument against Kur cousins which I’m fine with but let’s be honest about that and and go ahead I got I got a point I want to make real quick with with sfc and uh and how it would have made sense what they did but things changed yeah again it just it doesn’t seem like a coherent uh plan because you sign cousins for the now and penx I guess obviously it’s for the future but but was it fno or Morris talking in the the combin press or the draft pressor saying like ideally penck won’t start until the end of his contract so he’s really what he said and we we’ve played it up on that and I get it he’s like listen if he doesn’t end up playing it means we’re good at the position and and I I understand that I’ve said that before it’s like well like in recruiting if I sign 25 stars but a two star walk-on comes in and takes the position because he was better your team’s probably pretty good it just happened that this guy outplayed if you’re recruiting at a five-star level and a two star takes a job okay well he’s probably playing at a much better than a two Star level what font no said was if he does doesn’t play it’s because we’re we’re really good at the quarterback position okay well that’s not wrong yeah that’s that’s what he said he didn’t say ideally he doesn’t play that would be okay it’ be silly it’s like listen if he doesn’t play then it’s because Kurt Cousins was awesome okay then again the opportunity costs and ssj Williams says you’re talking bad about the Falcons like R Kelly and P Diddy I’ll have to take your word for it on that one Jay um but I tell people all the time you might not like what I have to say but I’m going to give you a quick response and I’m going to be honest and frankly Falcons fans you know the Atlanta Falcons have historically given us more reasons to talk negatively about them than positively we’re not talking about a crown jewel franchise of the NFL so again going back to trust the process no I don’t I don’t trust the process and I’ve got a lot of reason to back that up y’all so do you if you are a Falcons fan patience yeah optimism okay but I’m not just blindly gonna say this was the right thing to do now coming back in here Curtis because you’re we’re on the same wavelength here and I’m I’m I saw this just soon as it kind of hit my brain the way last year played out this draft was done out of fear not just the entire off season and yes I grew up a fan during that time too Scott just trying to be optimistic 80s were rough man the one way this makes perfect sense is if Arthur Smith was still the head coach but who’s afraid what do you have to be afraid of you’ve got Runway now to rebuild and show optimism for we got our quarterback man we got our quarterback of the future we’re on the right path there’s light at the end of the tunnel you didn’t have to save your job Arthur Smith if he was back had to save his job if he didn’t win year four he was done Gales gone he’s the one that would have had to have been afraid Rahe Morris isn’t afraid for his job Terry fono shouldn’t be afraid for his job well he shouldn’t have been afraid for his job once once you kept Terry and got rid of Arthur then the clock starts over you’re going to get a new coach you’re going to get a new draft cycle nobody in that room other than the standard okay if you fall flat on your face the NFL you’re going to be fired other than no more so than any other first year coach in the in in in GM you didn’t have to work out of fear you didn’t have to okay if we don’t win 10 wins we’re out of here we better win 10 wins let’s go get a better quarterback so we win 10 to save ourselves some some time to give ourselves some more Runway to actually build this team up you didn’t need to do that you could have you Michael pennx makes this better no doubt in my mind you didn’t need Kirk Cousins that’s the problem I have now if you want to rebuild and build for the future do it and go all in don’t waste $90 million of precious salary cap capital on a 36y old quarterback don’t do it they’re half in and half out that’s the problem I have and I’m going to put on the uh Devil’s Advocate hat here um just because how can this work out and in hindsight make sense because on the surface I’m with you Scott I mean we’ve talked about it but I think it’s better if we kind of you know step back okay well how does this make sense they must have gone into this process and been absolutely Blown Away by Michael penx to have done this because there’s no way they don’t they didn’t consider like well we just spent all this money on Kirk Cousins uh we did the Medicals we were comfortable with them at the time and then we came into the process and wow Michael penck from the Senior Bowl we met with him we saw him throw it that arm is special on the surface from the velocity standpoint he can hit any throw on the field uh we see him at the combine has the best throwing uh session of anybody at the combine an awesome pro day we keep meeting with him he has gone through so much adversity um he won at Indiana of all places took a Washington team that was I mean Chris Peterson and Lake you’re a defensive back coach uh or you’re defensive coordinator now um had that team horrible um his last season before getting fired and uh panx comes in and is fantastic uh throws around the yard run her up on the Heisman just an absolutely incredible story and again the raw arm talent that I look I look for quarterbacks with superhero traits the arm Talent of penx is is up there he can he can throw it with anybody in the league uh so you have all that and again the adversity has overcome he’s been asked to do a lot of different like option routes and stuff you do have questions about the ability to throw it when he’s off platform you do have questions about the ability to throw it over the middle of the field consistently but he can spin it for sure so you go through that process you VI view him as a special Elite quarterback when you go through the evaluation you’re sitting there at eight you’re not going to have a chance like this at a guy that you evaluate that way very often in theory I also think that might even be more so now I know we just had a trade last year for number one overall in Bryce young but everybody was trying to trade up this year and everybody was like ah you know know what kick rocks we’re going to take the guy at the top so a chance to get up at to want to get one of those Elite quarterbacks in any given draft unless you earn that pick is going to be hard to do uh I think even harder now with what we were seeing um the past couple seasons and now you take that guy that you evaluate that way so again I don’t think it’s a coherent plan Scott but how does it make sense I think when I’ve thought about it that pathway is the one at least where it’s like okay we view him as special Elite we’re not going to have chance at special Elite again if it’s not now it’s we’re going to either have to pay three first round picks multiple players to go up and get that guy or we just see here at eight now and also the other thing is the eight overall pick is huge and there’s an opportunity cost for that but it’s not three first round picks multiple players second round picks so even if he doesn’t work out which is crazy to say about the eighth overall pick but it shouldn’t be mortgaging your franchise to the extent that if you did trade up for a guy that you loved similarly and missed on him if that makes sense that that’s that’s when it can really I don’t understand how the 49ers are doing what they did after the Tre Lance trade doesn’t make any be nice to just piss away three first round draft picks and make a Super Bowl what’s that like that’s how that’s how the other half lives unbelievable that’s where I come that’s where I come off Scott is again the cost to get up there the opportunity cost it is just one pick why sign Kirk Cousins if you’re in that position you just must have thought pen know one of the reasons they’re able to do that is because they’ve hit on the edge rushers that defensive line helps them win a lot of games and they got a good offensive coach uh is is one of the reasons T Terry he’s calling a shot he says Trice is the next coming of Cam Jordan very they’re different types of players but for my guy on who’s who has the best chance to be an impact player out of this draft class opportunity has to meet Talent the opportunity is at Edge from this draft class the that’s that’s the opportunity so it has to be bril and Trice you don’t want they don’t want Kurt Cousins they’re back in Kurt Cousins is a starter if cousins stays healthy then it ain’t going to be Michael pennx if Ana Ma and Grady Jarrett stay healthy you can’t go in just say you know predicting a rooting for injuries and um you know I’ll go back to what I said Friday if you thought there was any chance that you wanted and I’m gonna I’m gonna highlight a couple of comments because I’m just going to repeat myself on this every argument for Michael pennx is an argument against K cousins if you thought Michael pennx was your guy at eight you know and if thought there was a chance then you you you needed shame on you for not knowing that before you signed Kirk Cousins to 90 million guaranteed um you know and Dre says if Kirk gets hurts people will praise this move you can say that about any quarterback any room any time and if it wasn’t if it wasn’t Kirk Cousins if it was like okay this is a guy you’ve had and he’s coming to the end of his career and we can’t get out of his contract we need to get a successor that’s different drafting of course quarterback at the tail end of Matt Ryan’s career makes sense signing a free agent bridge for $90 million is too expensive that that doesn’t make any sense and Ryan says you know we can’t sit here and say the Falcons knew pennx would be there at eight it was pretty likely though and if they needed to move up from eight to six or somewhere along those lines there was a pretty good chance um let me see here this is the way it works if cousins brings a Super Bowl in the next years then pennick picks right up they’ll look like Geniuses I’m not going to bet on that one but yes how does this work how does this work out Kurt Cousins wins a Super Bowl that’s how it works out Super Bowl cues all that’s how it works out but the moves that the Falcons just made over the weekend show that they either believe their locks to win it or they don’t have a chance to win it which do you think is more likely you’re muted Nick sorry about that I uh I don’t know um but yeah I we’ll see what happens uh with the uh the Panic stuff I would like to get into a little bit more of the draft as well uh just because obviously more picks and we gotta keep it rolling here but it’s the Panic stuff and the cousin stuff just seems not aligned uh we got Eddie coming in says perhaps cousins will not be ready your recovery is not uh where he needs to be hence they draft penics another argument for not signing Kurt Cousins and losing draft picks to do it again I could keep showing these mhm there are every one of these is an argument for that saying you shouldn’t have signed Kurt Cousins yeah so that’s fine I agree with you you shouldn’t have signed KK cousins that was this one of the one of the picks was stupid which one was it signing your free agent to your quarterback or drafting a quarterback at number eight I’m of the opinion based on what they’ve done since then that they’ve got buyer remorse on Kurt Cousins yeah I think that has to be at least somewhat the case and I I think probably Kurt Cousins has more buyers remorse with signing with the Falcons uh than that way we won’t even talk chemistry on this and what you know how this walks in you walk into the your locker room with your new teammates as a lame duck well that’s interesting yeah I mean we’re going to have plenty of offseason talk about it but like do you have I know they Kurt Cousins coming in as a starter but like you probably should have a competition to some extent right with the capital that you spent there and cousins coming off the injury and penck already 24 years old I mean Tick Tock uh we got Devon beard devron coming in says Scott you talked about Morris being too cocky in the past do you think this draft shows that he is again ignoring immediate needs and thinking too far in the future I can’t actually this is a great question I’m glad you brought it up because I wouldn’t have thought of remembered this earlier so we talk about hubris a lot we talk about the the arrogance of coaches we talked about it with Shan Payton thinking that he can take the quarterback six and turn him into an all pro at number 12 overall we’ll get into that here a little bit you’ve got Terry Fontano who was a defensive back you’ve got Raheem Morris defensive backs coach you got Jimmy Lake defensive coordinator defense backs coach you got Jerry gray a great defensive backs coach you’ve got four big decision makers in the room with defensive backs coach that either tells you one of two things either they really didn’t see anybody they liked or they think they can make do with what they already have because of their experience my experience tells me when you’ve got coaches making the decision makers on personel it’s the ladder and I think by bypassing cornerback and safety I think it was a mistake I do I think it was a mistake however it’s not over you can go get safety now there are veteran safeties still out there I’m more concerned about the safety position than I was cornerback to I feel like you can hide a cornerback too a little bit you know I can roll coverages I can do that typee of things but if I got a big gaping hole in the middle of the field that’s a problem on multiple levels now it’s time who can be the biggest impact player he’s not on the roster yet it’s going to be a safety that they’re going to sign they have to go get another safety they have to debron great question yeah I don’t think this has to do with anything of uh Morris being too cocky or anything in the end I think you just fell in love with a quarterback in the process and they looked at each other and being like we don’t want to live in a world where we don’t take this guy we’re going to kick kick ourselves if we do uh so they end up taking penex and we’ll see how it plays out again Scott I know you always say that um you can say that about any position that if it works out it was a good pick but that doesn’t capture the the process of the evaluation where you’re at it’s you know you’re not just taking the quarterback to take the quarterback you’re taking one that you evaluated that you believe is special and as a chance to be a Difference Maker uh and there’s a lot of risk involved in that of course given where you’re already at the opportunity cost of the uh the position but again they must have absolutely adored penic doesn’t make sense concurrently with the the cousins signing but those things happened I guess in silos in isolation you know two different time periods where I guess maybe in hindsight we’ll applaud them for not you know ruling out uh penck because they just took cousins because panex ends up being a superstar quarterback uh but you know now I’m kind of writing fanfiction of what happens in the future we just don’t know but again just trying to I just trying to make sense of it two things real quick Dave says if Kurt Cousins was even remotely concerned about the Falcons drafting a potential franchise QB than I don’t want cousins when I’m choosing my spot at 36 years old I want to go to the best CH either they’re gonna have to pay me way over what anybody else would and I don’t think the Falcons did I think the contract’s actually decent we’ve gone into that in the past I think the contract was actually okay you but you come here thinking okay this this is I’m ring chasing to a certain extent I want to win okay I’m coming here we got a high pick I can get another weapon we can add to the defense do all these things and how are we gonna how are we gonna take the new shiny hundred million doll quarterback and then take the next step forward you didn’t and that’s concerning to Kurt Cousins who frankly Atlanta Falcons fans like I said you’ve made a lame duck out of Kurt Cousins before he even takes a snap we don’t care about Kurt Cousins anymore we don’t he’s gone he’s a bridge he’s just a really expensive Bridge he probably would have gone someplace else where he thought he was had a better chance to win so on that note Brad comes in I love this analogy why do we all pay insurance in case of an accident basically we’ve been driving with no insurance we have a young QB of the future and a veteran right now we all expected cousins for only two years no one actually thought cousins would laugh all four years save money three years uh it’s more possible now with a 5-year deal Brad when I had a cheap POS car I got liability insurance I didn’t go full coverage I didn’t go with all the add-ons I got the cheapest possible damn insurance I could buy you didn’t you didn’t need the goldplated Kirk Cousins if you were GNA go get Michael penck it’s about cost it’s about opportunity cost you don’t over over spend on Kirk Cousins if you’re just looking for a bridge to raise the floor of the QB room you didn’t need $90 million guaranteed yeah H yep so we’ll uh we’ll see how it plays out here I will say we got uh Brown you know if two picks top 35 neither’s a day one starter is a good draft drafts I also think that you shouldn’t grade a draft class after year one you probably need to wait until three or four years afterwards like just now we’re starting to get to the point with the Broncos where it’s like okay let’s look at the 2022 class uhoh yikes not very good uh but uh that’s you know two years down the road three years down the road so if neither of them was a day one starter you can say it’s like you had your first test and you got an F but you still have three more tests to go that can salvage the grade uh and those tests way more the further you get down the line so I would say it’s TBD not a good path if neither are day one starters but it’s it’s too early yeah and Edward I’m going to just kind of recap what we talked about at the top of the show about what draft grades are because looking at ESPN looking at nfl.com looking at PFF the Falcons finish last on their draft grades draft grades are about instant gratification how did you fill your immediate needs right now and the Falcons didn’t they they didn’t fill immediate needs they’ve got a quarterback for two years uh that they were trying to win with they didn’t get help at Edge really I mean they they address it in the third they traded up to get a defensive lineman in arguably the deepest position position on their team as defensive line they used a fifth rounder on a linebacker when they’ve already got three pretty good linebackers and some some uh you know they put some put pretty good money in Kaden Ellis and they used to high pick on Troy Anderson they still have a big gaping hole at cornerback to and a big gaping hole at safety and didn’t address those at all okay but if I’m going to look at the draft class nobody’s going to care about 20124 in 2027 they’re going to look at 2027 and say Michael Pennock is a top 10 star in this league uh Brandon dorles outplayed what he was drafted at as a quality starter uh ruko is a star bertran took over for Kaden Ellis who who was not resigned after his contract all those things that’s how you’re going to Dade judge the draft class the immediate grades are based on the now and the now the Falcons didn’t do much to help themselves in 2024 that’s why their grades are bad that does not mean anything for the future of this team and why you actually have draft classes yeah we’ll see how it plays out I did want to touch on one player Scott my favorite uh day three pick of the uh the Falcons was JT Bertrand um small linebacker at just over six foot 235 pounds but has been a tackling machine and by all accounts a a very very high character player um Eagle Scout did a lot of volunteer work three-time captain at Notre Dame LED Notre Dame in tackles three seasons in a row uh not an incredible athlete by any means uh but has been productive and again I think somebody that you are going to be very happy to have in your room um again not big not a crazy athlete but always in the right spot and somebody who is going to demand excellence and set a tone uh for everybody else so again just the consistency and tackling uh production communication leadership on that team I don’t think he has a very high ceiling uh but he is somebody who I think is you’re going to be very happy to have him in the room almost like I mean again cliche but like another coach on the field like it’s that kind of person um for you he’s also an Atlanta native so kind of cool to get him uh back home so I just wanted to give a shout out to uh Bertrand um for that pick there in the I want to say was the fifth round for the Falcons um I I like that pick a lot and I like the bre Tri pick I do I I just wish it had been addressed a little sooner than that again this is a draft that’s going to be judged a lot on who else was there I’m gonna be keeping an eye on Roman Wilson Ryan Adonis says I Scott I like how you act like every draft pick for every team works out anyone remember Trey Lance yeah we mentioned him just a minute about 10 minutes ago saying wouldn’t it be nice to be able to piss three first round draft picks down the drain and still go to a Super Bowl Ryan this is ridiculous come on I’m actually giving the team the benefit of the doubt saying yes you did get your quarter back of the future no you didn’t you have a draft pick you’ve got a potential number eight if that number eight busts then the grade on this is going to stay 32 of 32 that’s where it is now you cannot judge a draft class in your one we’ talked about all of that we will look back and see how it goes the reason why I like more picks the reason why we talk about trading back and getting more picks is because most draft picks don’t work out and you want to take as many shots as you can so giving up a third round pick to go up and get a backup defensive lineman is risky as hell you just put more on Ruku rojuro being good not to mention the fact that you ignored needs at the cornerback position when Four Corners go off the board five picks later this is ridiculous Ryan I love you but this is unfair and you know it and I will say you know already looking to we got to move uh forward at some point here obviously with the team and everything but 2025 draft class uh is going to be this year we talking about is this going to be a common Trend now with all these offensive players I think next year we’re going to see a big bounce bounceback for the defensive players I mean just looking ahead uh I absolutely love Michael Pierce out of Tennessee Edge rusher um there are three defensive tackles that I think would have gone before Byron Murphy this season I mean Scott H long have I’ve been talking about Dion Walker I adore Dion Walker they also got two defensive t tackles at Michigan Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant going to be probably top 15 top 20 picks number one corner in this class would have been from Michigan this year and U will Johnson he was unbelievable this year he’s going to be a really early pick and then uh Georgia has a pass rusher too that looks pretty darn special um whose name is escaping me right now but he’s not super he’s one of those guys Scott I mean this is kind of how just Georgia does it but he one is like the stats haven’t been there hasn’t had like incredible snap count but then you put him on it’s like holy bleep this guy moves different U Michael Michael Williams 65 265 uh so pass rushers defense is gonna bounce back next season I don’t think you’re going to see there some good offensive tackles next year too uh and then also yeah Harold Perkins at LSU he’s so small Zack and I don’t really know what they’re going to do with him he had an unbelievable freshman year and this year they decided you know what let’s try him at off off ball linebacker and it wasn’t to the same results but he deserves a shout as well so uh next year’s defense is going to be a lot of fun on paper obviously we still have to let the year play out but going into it you know everybody’s talking crap about the quarterbacks um probably not going to have the same level of offensive line but the defense next year should be great uh should be a lot of fun lots of uh again the the talk of here the back end of the draft on here going with some players from Georgia that was the third player that Terry font was drafted from ug I don’t think they drafted three players from ug in the last 30 years uh Perkins I haven’t gotten into the class of 2025 nearly as much um Lauren says this is more coffee for Scott we trust them out this morning I think they want you to eat uh Crow I I don’t I don’t think so um there’s we’re doing prognostications Lawrence and I appreciate the support when we’re predicting the future there is no right or wrong there’s Just Thoughts we’ll come back and we’ll discuss hey was this right or is this wrong it’s going to be hard pressed for me to ever justify signing Kirk Cousins to a $90 million contract now he’s the Falcons are gonna have to make an NC championship game otherwise you should have and then you’re gonna say man one of those Defenders sure would have looked good if you don’t make it I it’s just the process for me was flawed the you know you you didn’t have the fear going back to um I think it was Curtis says uh with this super you didn’t have you had patience if you were willing to go with a quarterback at eight and not trying to just save your jobs you have patience the fan base correct me if I’m wrong y’all but if you had gone and used that money on Kurt Cousins for defensive players and then drafted Michael penx at 8 there wouldn’t be any discussion about Michael penx at 8 being the a strange pick you’d be excited for it instead it’s divisive already because it doesn’t make any sense it doesn’t make any sense to spend all that money on Kurt Cousins and then and then draft a quarterback so the process has been flawed whether it works out or not we’ll see that’s why they play the game so on that note we’re gonna get out of here we will be want to add one more Point Scott um backup quarterback this is just an interesting tidbit and I think I should not change the level of investment you made in it but I do think it’s still interesting to talk about last year we saw the most quarterbacks take snaps uh a quality number snaps that we’ve ever seen in football now some of that has to do with like the kind of the change of the Old Guard retiring a lot of new guys kind of shuffling in and out uh but we had a lot of quarterback injuries last year we saw with all those quarterbacks uh taking Snaps an uptick in the valuation and the payment of the backup quarterback position as well so it’s not like a superflex fantasy league where you’re starting two quarterbacks but I do think that there is more value in that backup quarterback now again not to the extent where you pay 90 million guaranteed and use a top eight overall pick but I think that’s at least an interesting tidbit on the what the market is doing right now for the Fran or for the uh the quarterbacks so I think based on that there is a chance with Kirt cousins age the injuries coming off of that he you might see penx get some snaps this season and then maybe that starts the new era uh for the Falcons here you know maybe the Kurt Cousins a is a really expensive mistake U if penx is a franchise quarterback it’s kind of going to be like kind of like with Tre Lance like oh oh well we got pie here let’s let’s keep going forward in my opinion um but again that’s a uh at least that’s a tidbit I think that’s interesting to discuss in the scope of the league on the whole it doesn’t justify the selection but I’m worth saying the positive takeaways here Nick are did the Falcons get better when they signed KK cousins yeah without doubt they did they’re a better team and they should still be a team that contends for the and still should still be the favorite for the NFC South going in did they get better yes do they now have to worry about well you know more so than the development of any rookie quarterback they’ve got a plan in place for the succession in three years okay I live with that that it’s just again could you have gotten better at the quarterback position without dropping $90 million it’s about the opportunity cost it’s not about is Kurt Cousins better yes he is is Kurt Cousins better than Michael penck and $90 million invested in your defense no no I don’t think so I don’t I don’t think so and that’s that’s where I am on this but I want to say thank you to our Super Chat superch chars that came in Lawrence came in twice thank you Edward Brown was here uh Dev Ron Curtis a couple times Jay Williams appreciate you that feels like the first time you’ve come in so thank you for for uh for that Edward Brown uh coach ATL Connor and the big one Michael Rano so again reminder get your lion coffee check the description we’ve got a link and a code to get yourself 20% off off through the end of May we’re going to get out of here we’ll be back on Wednesday to talk a little bit more and see if anything else has happen over the next few days again I expect the Atlanta Falcons to go after a defensive back that they can potentially put in as starter safety would be the easiest place we’ll see what happens on that note y’all enjoy a beautiful Monday in the Southeast or wherever you might be we’ll see you later peace