- 2 days ago
If Michael Penix Jr. isn't going to be healthy for awhile, can there really be a true quarterback competition? Mike Bell and Abe Gordon discuss the notion that Tua Tagovailoa is here to compete for a starting role, but when can true evaluation begin?
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00:00We're talking a lot about the Falcons today.
00:01Let's get off the duds and out of the product on the field.
00:04We've got interesting questions about the draft and how we should be approaching that.
00:07First thing first, I asked Abe this earlier, and for guys and ladies in their car, I'd
00:11throw it at you again.
00:12How is this a quarterback competition when Michael Panix Jr. might not be able to do
00:18the stuff which you could really say, okay, apples to apples, here's both of them under
00:23center, getting reps, real time in practice, shoulder pads, helmet on, the whole shebang.
00:27He might not be able to do that to the third week in August just for argument's sake.
00:30And the only way to answer that is based on whatever your perception of his readiness.
00:34And I know mine personally is that he's not going to be ready to go throughout training
00:38camp at full go with no limitations like Tua should be.
00:43And so I believe the competition begins with Tua starting the season with the competition
00:52for that begins, quarterback competition, when Tua has his first bad game.
00:57Right.
00:58Exactly.
00:59Because I just don't know how you have a competition.
01:01Now, again, this is my assumption with Panix not ready to go.
01:06If he's ready to go, and he might be, he might be, then you're having it.
01:10And this is where we get to that conversation, Mike.
01:13I don't know if you and Carl have had it yet.
01:15But Kevin Stefanski's thoughts on playing guys in the preseason, because this is not
01:19a competition, in my opinion, that happens at Flowery Branch.
01:23It's a competition that needs to happen in three preseason games.
01:27And it's something where, again, we can do the postmortem if you want to.
01:30I can make it brief.
01:32Again, you'd think when a coach gets a second chance, as we talked about with Coach Raheem
01:36Morris, that he would certainly have the stuff dialed in this time around.
01:40And Zach Robinson was in over his head, and they never had the consensus.
01:44Certainly, now we find out there was infighting.
01:47Dee Ledman, it was his last days, and he was on the beat with the AJC, basically told us
01:50there was tremendous dysfunction.
01:52You know, and that's why you had your Ike Hilliard got fired.
01:54Apparently, Ike Hilliard and Zach were ready to go toe-to-toe, and there was a lot of confusion
01:58about the offense and the direction.
01:59You needed Michael Penix Jr. under center for every single one of those preseason games.
02:03And again, if you want to take it all the way back, you just draft Michael Penix Jr.
02:06You don't sign Cousins, one or the other.
02:07It doesn't matter.
02:08But now, here we are, going into year three, and I still have no idea what Michael Penix
02:11Jr. is.
02:12Some of you guys think you know.
02:13How?
02:14As Carl, how, Sway?
02:16How?
02:16How?
02:17What is Michael?
02:18This is the argument, which I say to guys, like, I'm not saying I don't believe in him,
02:22I just don't know what he is.
02:24How, Sway?
02:25Because he played in shotgun, he looked like you could time him with a sundial in play action.
02:30He wouldn't take what the defense would give him if there was like some five or six yards
02:33to work with his feet.
02:35So what is he?
02:36We've seen enough to believe that he could be the guy.
02:39We've also...
02:40You've seen enough?
02:41Hear me out.
02:42We've also seen enough to have incredible hesitation making that statement.
02:46I think we've seen a little bit of both, which leaves you open to exactly what you're suggesting.
02:50I don't know how anyone can say definitively yes, but I also don't know how anyone can say
02:54definitively no.
02:55I would also say the same thing about Tua, though.
02:58Right?
02:59It has not been good the past two years.
03:01I openly admit that.
03:02But it has been good at times.
03:05And so I don't know if you can just write Tua off, but I also can't say that he's the
03:10future guy.
03:11Neither one, to me, is definitely yes or definitely no.
03:15That's why we're stuck in the position, waiting to see what Penix's knee has for us, and go
03:20from there.
03:20Right.
03:21Now, the thing with Tua, Tua did his Zoom meeting where he was kind of throwing some
03:23shade with the Dolphins.
03:24I was joking with Carl because I had the, you know, the PTQBSD, the post-quarterback
03:30stress disorder over Cousins.
03:32I kind of fell in love with Kirk Cousins because he was very forthcoming.
03:35He's an open guy.
03:35We'll talk about Cousins' new job in just a second.
03:39Carl's going through this with Tua right now.
03:40Like, it's a love affair because Tua's saying all the things you want to hear.
03:44Remember, Tua's throwing his teammates under the bus, told the media there was a player's
03:47only meeting that the players didn't show up for or were late, then walked it back,
03:51apologized to his teammates, then he was kind of throwing shade at the organization.
03:54So, let's just chill out until we see how this works here because he's got to learn
03:58how to be under center himself for a guy that the offense was tailored to his strengths
04:01and that was running as much shotgun or pistol as the Rams did last year.
04:05Again, from where I stand, and this is not a penics-can't-be-the-guy conversation, this
04:10is, I do believe that Tua could be the guy.
04:13I don't know that.
04:14I don't know either.
04:15I'm not saying these are absolute penics.
04:17It can't happen or it won't happen.
04:19All I'm saying is the odds are against him.
04:22Sure.
04:23Yeah.
04:24I would say so, but we've seen...
04:27Well, you give odds of Michael Pennix Jr.
04:29to establish himself as the starting quarterback, and then in two years we pick up the option
04:33and he gets a big-time contract.
04:3510-1?
04:3715-1?
04:38No.
04:39No, I don't think it's that.
04:40The problem is the knee thing.
04:42There you go.
04:43See, you're making my argument for me.
04:44Here's what I would say.
04:45I don't know if people are going to like this comment, Mike.
04:49I think it's more likely Tua shows you that he can be a franchise quarterback this year
04:53than Pennix does.
04:54And then Pennix, he's really screwed because then he's not getting back on the field.
04:57And I understand Tua's had two rough years.
05:01This is the Kevin Stefanski conversation in quarterback form, isn't it?
05:05Right.
05:05With Tua?
05:06But then you get into that...
05:07Concussion stuff aside.
05:08Orange just said my ear.
05:09Then the same argument against the contract that the Dolphins game.
05:12What kind of...
05:12Does a Tua contract look like a Sam Darnold contract?
05:15He's going to make $15 million less than he was making with the Dolphins here after showing
05:19he can still play quarterback?
05:20After being...
05:21Then you're going to throw your...
05:22Then you're in the same conundrum as the Dolphins and then maybe he slips me backslides
05:25into some of the things that happened down there.
05:26Or maybe he doesn't.
05:28And I think you have to see a lot to devote your franchise future to Tua.
05:32I think he needs to show you, hey, I can be one of the top 12 or 15 quarterbacks like
05:37we saw him be previously.
05:39But when I look at Kevin Stefanski, we're sitting here and saying the past two years were the
05:43anomaly, right?
05:44And this is a two-time coach of the year and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
05:48When I look at Tua, and I know there's a concussion discussion to be had there and a health in
05:52general.
05:53But when I look at Tua, aren't we having that same conversation?
05:56The people who believe in Tua or believe that that guy's possibly still there are saying
06:00three years ago, four years ago, this is a guy that the Dolphins thought was the future
06:04of their franchise.
06:05He was unquestionably one of the top eight quarterbacks in the NFL at that time.
06:10Past two years, aberration, anomaly, total blank show.
06:14Over there in Miami, and you're blaming Miami for that the same way we blame Cleveland for
06:19Stefanski, right?
06:19It's kind of the same conversation.
06:22I'm hoping both of those conversations are correct, because if they're not, then you
06:25swung and missed on a head coach, and you swung and missed on a quarterback.
06:28Right.
06:29Other stuff going down with the Falcons is the draft strategy.
06:31A good article from Josh Kendall from The Athletic, talking about, you know, are you going to
06:36go for best?
06:37Are you truly going to go for the best athlete?
06:39I mean, because Carl's made the argument you could go for linebacker, you know, because
06:42you know, we have a sort of a short term.
06:44All these guys we brought in are on one year contracts.
06:46So, you know, I mean, there is in my mind a bit of a wait and see sort of a
06:50hold.
06:51I said holding patterns of Falcon fans don't want to hear that.
06:53You know, we just covered the whole quarterback situation.
06:55But as far as the best athlete, to me, priority would be defensive tackle, corner, right?
07:01That's my number two.
07:02And then if you take a flyer on a wide receiver, because Jahan Dotson is a roll of the dice,
07:06you probably still have to go find a wide receiver.
07:09And hopefully your scouting report's done their due diligence, and we catch one in the
07:12later round.
07:12How about that?
07:13Yeah, I'm just trying to think through that defensive tackle corner.
07:17I think I'm comfortable with that.
07:20I'll never complain if you add more edge rushing, right?
07:23I think that's just, right, I believe you on the inside would be better, but I'll never
07:28complain there.
07:31And receiver.
07:32I just, the receiver question is one that's really interesting to me, Mike, because I feel
07:38like it's a pretty deep receiver class.
07:40And I kind of, and I know the Jahan Dotson signing and all that, Olamide Zaccheaus as well.
07:49We heard Ian Cunningham say they're going to take the best player.
07:51And I understand need versus, I get all that.
07:56I think there's enough value at receiver that that could potentially be a guy they can't
08:02pass up at 48.
08:03Right.
08:04I'm with you as far as, you know, Ian Cunningham, because he's never been in this chair before
08:08where he gets to pick the groceries.
08:10He's, you know, some of this is just, you know, the nonsense every time pre-draft guy
08:13says, look, I'll take the best athlete.
08:15Where you try to convey to the other teams out there that maybe, yes, we will take the best
08:19athlete.
08:19So if nothing else, if somebody sees a guy, which all of a sudden, hey, there's no reason
08:23to, oh, they may take that.
08:24And then all of a sudden you can trade up.
08:26We get a little something for it, you know, maybe something later in the fourth or fifth
08:29round.
08:30Who knows?
08:30So I got no problem with, you know, not showing your poker face, just kind of making some
08:34vague declarations.
08:36Like I'll, I may, I may just take the best because he said specifically in Indianapolis,
08:40and he said it twice, if you're going and drafting specifically for need, you wind up chasing
08:43your tail.
08:44Well, when you look at corner, let's just go worst case scenario right now, based on
08:48what's on the roster.
08:49You could start the season with what's on the roster at corner.
08:52Yeah.
08:52And look, we've been trying to write off Mike Hughes for years and he's been serviceable.
08:55Can you say the same there about D tackle?
09:00Based on what you have currently on the roster, worst case scenario, could you start the season
09:05there or are you so desperate to add something else?
09:09Again, you're not adding a first round DT.
09:11If Ruka Rororo would play like the 35th best player he was drafted to be, problem solved.
09:15Yeah.
09:16But he hasn't, you know, and that's, that's my beef.
09:18And again, we've talked about where you're drafted and it's not his fault he was selected
09:22there.
09:22The impression pre-draft was he was a bit of a project.
09:25Some teams liked him or loved him and Fontenot moved up to get him.
09:28And unfortunately for my money, he hasn't had the impact.
09:31Right now, Brandon Dorliss is that edge sort of high, but he can also kick inside.
09:36Deshaun Hand, Zach Harrison, who's gotten bigger in the dumper.
09:39Yeah, still waiting to see, yeah.
09:40Right.
09:40And then you get into, you know, LaCale London, Chris Williams.
09:44So it's, you're getting, yes, defensive tackle is a need.
09:47Period.
09:47It's a need.
09:48It's a need.
09:49But there's, but it's also a deep, just getting back to best athlete available, it's also a
09:53very deep draft for defensive tackles.
09:55There is a clear round one, round two selection, but perhaps Christian Miller or Hunter for Texas
10:01somehow the stars aligned from Texas Tech.
10:03But that'd be for me to get a monstrous, you know, three techniques, space grabber, the
10:07kind of guy that unfortunately we have to deal with so often in this division, but be on our
10:11side.
10:12And then, then Rook can develop as how he develops.
10:14I guess going to my worst case scenario argument here, when I look back to last year, you could
10:21not enter the season with what you had at pass rush, right?
10:24And you doubled up in the first round, but even if you had only gotten one, you got one.
10:29Right.
10:29I don't know if I feel the same here about DT at 48.
10:34I don't feel like you're so obvious glaring, has to be DT.
10:39The way I did about, the way, by the way, the way many of us did about pass rush, that
10:43to me leaves it open.
10:45That to me, I could see them going offensive tackle at 48.
10:49I could see them going receiver at 48.
10:51And then I agree with you, D tackle quarterback as well.
10:54Kevin Stefanski to take a backseat to Cunningham from Josh Kendall, but quote, we'll break some
10:57ties for him.
10:58He'll have a clump of guys and I'll say, give me your order on them.
11:02Stefanski's premium positions, tackle and corner, according to Josh Kendall, which is
11:05really good information right there.
11:07And today we found out that he wanted to be a starter.
11:10So he'll be a starter maybe for the season, depends on how quickly the Raiders want to
11:14bring in Mendoza.
11:15But he is going to be going to the Raiders.
11:17It's a big money contract.
11:18It really comes down to one.
11:19It's a one-year deal.
11:20It's not even close to the money.
11:21I don't understand.
11:22I don't understand the money on this deal.
11:24I don't know how it works.
11:24No, it's a one-year deal.
11:25One in 20.
11:26They've got an option for the second.
11:27But look, if Kirk Cousins, you know, I do think in the right environment, if the Raiders
11:30can improve some of the skill positions, obviously Brock Bowers is a stud.
11:33They've got a decent run game.
11:34He could potentially have success there.
11:36Kirk Cousins, wish him well.
11:37He goes to Vegas.
11:38And then, you know, Fernando Mendoza, if Kirk, you know, he didn't want to deal with the situation
11:43or he came here under the impression they weren't going to draft a quarterback, and they did.
11:46That's why he was pissed off.
11:47It's definitely still a lock, even after Kirk Cousins, that Mendoza has won to the Raiders,
11:53right?
11:53Like, this doesn't change anything in your mind.
11:55I think Ty Simpson goes in the first round.
11:56Can you imagine?
11:57Well, I didn't mean Ty Simpson.
11:58I meant like, hey, we're out here and we're just going to draft a right tackle instead.
12:03Right.
12:03He's going to be number one.
12:04Coming up.
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