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Ian Cunningham has had a difficult task since taking over the reigns as GM in Atlanta in trying to fill many holes on the depth chart with minimal resources to do so. But with the roster seemingly less talented now after high-paid stars walked in NFL Free Agency, are the Falcons heading in the right direction? Can the current set of players outproduce last year's group with better execution?
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00:00All right, man, Falcons, we were talking yesterday, Carl and I,
00:02and we had a really cool conversation with Aziz Ojolari,
00:05and you're going to hear some of that coming up later.
00:07When are we going to replay that, Dede?
00:08When do we decide on that?
00:09I believe we're going to play that actually in the – we'll get to that around 4.
00:14Ote?
00:14Yes.
00:15He joined us late in the program.
00:16Really good guy.
00:17Energy was great.
00:18And, you know, I asked him some questions about his injury
00:20because, unfortunately, he's just like everybody we've added to this team.
00:24High ceiling, low risk, one year.
00:27And Aziz Ojolari is a guy that, you know, coming out of Georgia,
00:30was considered one of the top 50 players, and he was drafted 50th by the Giants.
00:33He just can't stay healthy.
00:35And, unfortunately, you know, that's kind of been a lot of guys
00:38where we'll talk about some of the free agents.
00:40But I felt, and you and I are kind of on the same page,
00:43the organization is not going to basically telegraph this to the fan base
00:46that this is kind of a holding pattern year.
00:49Yeah, it definitely is.
00:50And you look at the additions they've made and the departures.
00:54I think that ties into it as well.
00:56It's not just about they're not spending big money to bring certain guys back.
01:00They've let pieces go that are going to be valuable commodities to other teams.
01:04And I think that's the other side of it.
01:07But I think we're all pretty aware right now that, quarterback aside,
01:15this is not a team who's built to win big this year.
01:19I don't want to say that.
01:20You don't want to hear it.
01:21But that's the reality of it.
01:23You have made moves that have not improved your team.
01:26The guys you brought in most likely are not better than the guys you let leave.
01:32Now, I do agree with you.
01:33A lot of guys that you brought in have had very good seasons past for one reason or the other,
01:41have been injured or not been given an opportunity, and you're hoping to find that again.
01:45And so there is a little bit of a low-risk, high-reward.
01:49And that's not just a Tua conversation.
01:51There's definitely that for Tua, but there's also that for, as you mentioned, Aziz and Christian Harris
01:57and a guy like Jahan Dotson.
01:59A lot of these guys, for one reason or another, haven't been featured offensively or defensively
02:04in a couple of seasons, and they're going to have that opportunity this year.
02:08And it's hard to say that the highest ceiling for all these signees, and 13 guys, by the
02:12way, were signed, all small deals, but it's interesting, I would say, and Carl would agree
02:16if he was here, Jahan Dotson has a chance, but the problem is it's the baseline of the
02:20quarterback play, because Tua has a noodle arm.
02:23Come on, it's not that bad.
02:25It's not that great.
02:26But, dude, two things.
02:28Carl brought this up on yesterday's show.
02:30You're not going to let him hold the ball too long because he's going to get hit, and
02:32you can't let him take the hit.
02:33So even if he can throw it, I saw enough Dolphins games last year where that ball flutters anything
02:37more than 25 yards, all bets are off.
02:39Look, I'm not saying it's Penix.
02:40It's not.
02:41Because he's got a cannon.
02:42The problem for him is he doesn't throw over the middle.
02:44Everything's outside the hash marks, which is going to be interesting to see how Tua,
02:48first, both guys have to be integrated into under the center in a Stefanski offense with
02:51play action, because Tua didn't do that in South Florida.
02:55Can you believe, and I know the game is different from when I grew up, when you grew up.
02:59Can you believe that's a real conversation we have to have where we're talking about a guy
03:03that's like, well, this guy hadn't taken a snap from under center in his life?
03:07Not high school.
03:09No, I mean, it's not a college coach's job to get you ready for the NFL.
03:13I mean, your job is to try to win games.
03:15Now, and certainly at the NFL level, and all the different offensive coordinators that
03:20Nick Saban had rolled through Alabama, there were some guys who would prefer more under
03:24center, but if the shotgun is the way you see the field, boom.
03:27Again, I remember I used the analogy, what was it day-to-day, the Rams, hard knocks.
03:32It's so long ago, Jeff Fisher was the head coach.
03:35And that's when, who was it, Jared Goff was a rookie out of Cal.
03:39And if you remember, I'm going way back to when he was a rookie.
03:41But in a nutshell, he didn't even know how to call a huddle.
03:45In other words, huddle up, guys.
03:46Like, here's the play call of the cadence and break.
03:49Like, I mean, because everything there was like a play card of a picture of Beyonce,
03:54a Nike logo, and Roadrunner.
03:56And that was the play that everybody got on.
03:58So even stuff like that, to your point.
04:01So, yeah, Tua doesn't do it.
04:02They should have done it.
04:03We've already covered that.
04:04They should have done it with Panics Jr.
04:06Should have had it from day one.
04:08But Zach Robbins was just literally trying to keep his own head above water, let alone
04:11try to work with a rookie quarterback.
04:12Yeah, it was a bad setback.
04:14Right.
04:15And look, he's gone now.
04:16Now, I was a big fan of his on the way in, not a big fan of his on the
04:21way out.
04:21And there's just no other way to say it.
04:23Zach Robinson and how they decided to run the offense, separate of the Kirk Cousins situation,
04:29how they decided to run the offense was a big setback for Michael Panics.
04:33And he essentially, again, physically aside, has to start all over, learn a new offense,
04:38learn a new way to run the offense, under center, and all that stuff.
04:42It's essentially restarting a career.
04:43So the fans, you know, as we've said, sometimes you don't read between the lines.
04:47You just take everything that the organization says and face value, or you read Falcons.com,
04:51and that's where it's at.
04:52And that's fine.
04:53But no team is going to come out there and tell you, hey, man, I know you haven't made
04:57the playoffs in eight years.
04:58Well, guess what?
04:58Hold my beer.
04:59It's going to be nine.
05:00Because we just are evaluating what we've got.
05:02We've got to figure out what the quarterback situation is.
05:04I heard all the national guys in the last, like, 72 hours, everybody, every website is
05:08pronouncing two of the starter.
05:10Well, no blank Sherlock.
05:11That's why you guys turned to us to hear about it at the Atlanta Falcons.
05:14We all knew that he was going to start.
05:16Because Penix is, in all likelihood, not going to be ready, based on the timeline of the recovery
05:19from the knee injury.
05:20Well, a couple of things here.
05:21I want to go back to the organization's not going to tell you.
05:25You know what's pathetic?
05:26Is that they may not have to.
05:28Our division's so bad, you can actually play for next season and somehow maybe still be competing
05:34if you ultimately end up getting an okay level of quarterback play.
05:37Yes.
05:38Because no one's scared.
05:39This division wasn't about the Carolina.
05:40I think Carolina did probably the most impressive work as far as the free agent class so far.
05:45Sure, sure.
05:45And again, we're going to see what they do with the draft.
05:46They have figured out Bryce Young.
05:48Remember, Bryce Young started, wasn't ready.
05:50The owner put his nose, his beak in there.
05:52Then they get Bryce Young out.
05:54He came back in.
05:54And now he's thriving.
05:56And every time he plays us, we make him look like Dan Marino.
05:58So it's just...
05:59But I would say we're looking up at Carolina and Tampa.
06:01Because look, now the big question for me is, it's funny because I was talking with our
06:05buddy JP, who does radio in Tampa, you know, about everything that happened with Zach.
06:09Now maybe he'll be fine with a veteran quarterback like he was, you know, he sponged up what
06:13not to do here in Atlanta and he won't do that in Tampa.
06:15Or he'll continue to struggle in game management with Baker Mayfield.
06:19I think Baker will be a better tool for Zach in terms of...
06:23And this was one of my concerns with Penix.
06:25Maybe not as much with Kirk Cousins.
06:27I think Baker will tell Zach Romm and say, hey, I don't want to be doing that.
06:30We're not going to be doing that.
06:32Right.
06:32I don't think Penix probably felt he was in a position to do that here as he was just
06:37getting going in his career.
06:38So I do wonder that.
06:40But I mean, I guess what I meant was like in another division, there would be no thoughts
06:44of the playoffs.
06:45We're still in such a bad division, even though Carolina won the division and got better.
06:50Seemingly, you're still in such a bad division that there's this outside idea, well, if Tua
06:54or Penix play okay and you still got some good pieces on offense, maybe you can score
06:59enough to win...
07:00Well, I mean, again, you should be excited about Pitts and a new offense, but you just
07:03said it.
07:04It all goes back to the delivery system.
07:05How's Pitts going to...
07:06How do you evaluate Pitts on a franchise tag if you can't count on the quarterback to
07:12get him the rock?
07:13It almost feels like you wait...
07:15If you get poor enough quarterback play, because the whole idea behind giving him the
07:20franchise tag, at least based on what GME and Cunningham says, was evaluating him,
07:24give him more time to evaluate what Pitts can be.
07:27And it almost feels like you waste the franchise tag if you don't get good enough quarterback
07:31play to actually evaluate what Kyle Pitts is, because he can't get the delivery.
07:37And that's the big concern.
07:38The worst thing in the world would be that they're okay.
07:41I'd rather either Tua and Penix both be terrible, or one of them, or both of them be great.
07:47Just being okay puts you in the worst spot.
07:49There's a lot of our fan base, it's about 49% based on the poll that we ran a few
07:53weeks
07:53ago, that still believe in Michael Penix Jr. And if he does that, and he sets up, then
07:57you're in a good spot.
07:58Because then if he can establish himself, you've got another year.
08:00Folks will always, just like Tua with a concussion, are always going to be worried about a shot
08:04to a knee, because he's got two knee surgeries on one and one on the other.
08:07But that's the bed we're going to have to lie in here.
08:11But I would say this, if he comes out this year, really struggles, then we're going all
08:15in for a quarterback next year, and you move heaven and earth.
08:17Now, I just said, do we have a sense of urgency?
08:20You and I kind of shrugged, Ian Cunningham says, oh, yes, we do.
08:24Yeah, I just, I personally still feel a little bit uncomfortable, right?
08:28And again, I've got to continue to tell myself the same thing, it's only March, right?
08:34And we've got different ways to acquire players.
08:37We're not playing a game tomorrow, but I told our crew, you know, we're not playing a game
08:41tomorrow, but we have to have the urgency like we have a game tomorrow, right?
08:45So it's just constantly trying to make sure that we have, we're bringing in players that
08:51fit what the coaches are looking for and fit what we're about in terms of the culture.
08:56You got it.
08:57Now, he's not going to say it, but he did say it if you know what to listen for in
09:01terms
09:02of the urgency.
09:03And we got to bring in players that fit what we're looking for.
09:07They're looking for more draft picks next year, and they're looking for a lot of money.
09:12That's the type of player they brought in.
09:15Once, and we talked about it, Mike, once they're going to get off the books and yes, they're
09:20not going to say it's, first off, it's not a tank because they're going to be too good
09:23to tank.
09:24There's too much talent on offense, but it's kind of close to a tank.
09:29It's a reset by definition.
09:32It's a year of evaluation to an extent.
09:36Um, what, what Cunningham is interested in is getting draft picks and clearing cap space.
09:44That's separate of wins and losses on the field.
09:47That's what this year is actually about.
09:49It's not fun.
09:50They're not going to tell you that.
09:52I think we all understand though.
09:54And it started to come to terms as a fan base.
09:57That's what this year is about.
09:58All right, man.
09:59We found out Georgia's pro day, of course, is happening today.
10:01Guess what?
10:03Falcons took a bust there.
10:04Rusty Manziel reporting 30 exact, dude, that's like the entire, so the entire scouting
10:09staff, I mean, there's a few office personnel get to go tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow.
10:13I'm sorry.
10:14Cento pool, everybody, everybody in the bus, we're all going to Athens, which is great
10:18because the perception has been for years that you just have, for whatever reason, going
10:23all the way back, mostly Thomas Dimitrov later, they got a handle on it, but probably
10:27too little too late with Jalen Walker, that this organization forgot that the greatest
10:31collection of NFL talent that is pro ready is 40 miles up the road.
10:36They just never figured that out.
10:37But they're not going to let that happen moving forward, and that's great.
10:40And Matt Ryan, like, they're acutely aware of the perception of how they've screwed this
10:44up.
10:44Again, this is what they've inherited.
10:46But that's not going to happen with Matt Ryan and Ian Cunningham on their watch.
10:49So, yes, is it overkill to bring 30 people tomorrow to watch Georgia's pro day?
10:53Perhaps.
10:54But the fan base will take that and go, yeah, thank you.
10:57About time.
10:58Who's throwing at their pro day?
11:01Obviously, Gunnar Stockton is not in the draft, but I do wonder if he's throwing.
11:08And I also wonder if they're trying to get some, you know, a year early look at what's going
11:14on there.
11:14Right.
11:15Because I look at the Georgia roster of players, too many of those guys are not going to be
11:22available for the Falcons.
11:24Like, is Zachariah Branch going to be there at 48?
11:27Yeah, he may.
11:28Is Christian Miller going to be there?
11:29In the mock drafts I've done, Christian Miller is available.
11:33But again, it goes back to the baseline of what you're using, what your site is, and how
11:37they evaluate.
11:38You know, the PFF is way different than some of the other different ways to do it.
11:42But Daniel Jeremiah has Christian Miller outside of his top 50, for what it's worth.
11:46And I saw some draft where he was going back into the first round the other day.
11:50Right.
11:50So, I mean, who knows?
11:51Well, is it Lee Hunter is the guy I really want from Texas Tech?
11:54But he's also probably likely gone.
11:56That's the guy that was literally the Kool-Aid man in that orange bowl against Oregon, just
11:59blowing everything up.
12:00I want Bailey from Texas Tech, but he's definitely gone.
12:02He's definitely not going to be there.
12:03I think, Carl, and we've talked about this before, we want everybody who plays defense on
12:07Texas Tech, including Rodriguez.
12:09Give me him, too.
12:10Linebackers, too.
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