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  • 2 days ago
While there's no guarantee Caleb Banks or Christen Miller will be available when the Falcons make their first pick, The Morning Shift discusses the idea that Atlanta could be true to its best player available tendency and fill a position of need.
Transcript
00:00Well, we've got the draft happening later this month,
00:03and Mel Kuyper, Field Yates, and Jordan Reed and Matt Miller
00:05did a three-round mock draft.
00:07Here's what they've got lined up for the Falcons at 48.
00:10Field Yates chose Florida defensive tackle Caleb Banks.
00:13Let's say this does happen, and we hear the Falcons draft.
00:17Caleb Banks.
00:18What's the reaction going to be?
00:20I would be shocked that he's there.
00:23It would be a lot like Jalen Walker when he fell to 15.
00:29We sat on this show like two weeks in advance.
00:31Not even worth talking about Jalen Walker.
00:33I said that morning that I would strip down nude
00:35and run through the Bay City's Bend Stadium if he was there at 15.
00:39Dude, shout-out to Mike Conte for getting that put
00:41on the actual draft broadcast that night as I joined them.
00:45That was crazy.
00:47Still haven't seen a payoff.
00:48That's because they won't let me.
00:50They pretty much told me that I can't.
00:52I've asked.
00:52I actually asked.
00:54I said, look, what if I – and I think I said my underwear
00:56for the record, and I said, look, what if I just like –
01:01no shirts, no shoes, and like some short basketball shorts
01:05or something, and they're like, nope.
01:06I'm trying to quickly come up with a flag of a country
01:08who doesn't pay its debts because he's talking about
01:11a communist flag being on my house.
01:13This man over here doesn't pay his debts off.
01:15Unbelievable.
01:15I can think of a couple, but it probably would be out of touch to say.
01:18I did the same thing.
01:19I did the same thing.
01:21But I was like, I'm not going to go there.
01:22But in reality, honestly, Ali, I would be shocked.
01:25If Caleb Banks is there at 48, I'd be shocked.
01:27Just for what you're going to – for what he is as a physical specimen,
01:34there would have to be something that came out,
01:36or teams would be – they would shy away from him
01:40just because of the injury bug that hit him last year.
01:44It's happened at times.
01:47I do think that that's worth stopping and talking about for a second.
01:51If the first pick you have in this draft is another guy coming off of an injury,
01:55I do think there is going to be that 20% of this fan base that's like,
02:00of course we drafted a guy coming off an injury.
02:02Of course we drafted somebody who has had surgery in the offseason
02:07or whatever else it may be, and that's going to be unsettling for some.
02:11Well, do you want to hear what an AFC scout said about him with the regard to the injury?
02:17Sure.
02:18It was like – they said he had tremendous respect for him
02:21because he hurt his foot in camp and tried to play through it.
02:24Love it.
02:25He couldn't and then had to have surgery and said,
02:28look, a lot of guys in his position that are a top 50 prospect
02:32would have shut it down immediately.
02:33So I get – at today's college football.
02:36So give him a lot of respect for that.
02:39But the reality is, did he do more damage than good by trying to play through it?
02:45That's the question, and hopefully surgery repaired that.
02:47But, look, I'm telling you, Duke can ball.
02:49He's good at defeating double teams.
02:53He does lack a little bit of closing speed from a pass rusher,
02:58but he can play all over the line.
03:00I don't know if you watched any film on him,
03:02but they moved him all over at Florida.
03:05So he's a guy, I think – I mean, he is – to me, if you got him or Christian
03:09Miller,
03:10you didn't go wrong.
03:11The only thing you worry about is can they maintain their weight,
03:15which we talked about earlier.
03:16Well, how confident are you that we're actually going to stay at 48, though,
03:20or is Ian Cunningham going to make a few deals?
03:23That is a question that I wish I had some heads up on what the answer actually is.
03:29He's always – and, look, he said the same thing in regards to Kyle Pitts, did he not?
03:33He's like, my job is to answer the phone.
03:34All right?
03:35And I think that no matter what, it's very clear to me,
03:38and we've talked about this for a number of weeks now since free agency started,
03:41what their goal is.
03:42It is to completely, other than, you know, five, six, seven, eight players,
03:48wipe the slate clean going into 2027 and gather as much money for free agency
03:52and as many draft picks as possible in the draft.
03:55And, yeah, I think if he gets a call and, you know, somebody wants to move around
03:59and he has the opportunity to move back, that he would absolutely do that.
04:02I don't see him moving up, though.
04:05Like, I don't foresee that happening just because of what they've already kind of
04:09shown us about their off-season philosophy.
04:11The only way they would move up is if they – if it was a trade for a player
04:16on the roster where I'll give you – let's just use Kyle Pitts.
04:21I'll give you Kyle Pitts for the 35th overall pick and the 91st or something.
04:27And so they picked up two draft picks for the said player.
04:30That's the only way I think that they would trade up
04:34or be picking before 48, I guess I should say.
04:39Yeah, I'd agree with that.
04:41Well, as far as – I mean, right now, we just talked about Kayla Banks at 48
04:44in this mock draft.
04:45Jordan Reed at 79 had Ohio State cornerback Davison, a big – Newsom?
04:52I was really leaning on you to get that right.
04:54No, I –
04:54Igbenuson.
04:55Igbenuson.
04:56Igbenuson.
04:57Yeah, I watched some film of him and I got to hear his name a couple of times.
05:01He's – he's physical.
05:05He's – I think he's like 6'2", 190.
05:08He's a physical player.
05:10He started a lot of games in his college career, like 53.
05:14He's pretty good at the, you know, like – at the line, at rerouting guys and stuff.
05:20Problem is, is I'm not sure – I'm not sure he's a number two.
05:27I think he might be a nickel because he's good against the run.
05:31He likes playing against the run.
05:32He likes coming up and throwing his head in there.
05:34The only problem with his tackling is he doesn't wrap up,
05:36and he likes to throw his – he likes to just kind of shoulder throw guys,
05:41and that's not going to work against a lot of running backs in this league
05:44and a lot of – a lot of players – most players in this league,
05:48you've got to wrap up.
05:48Would you – would you agree with that?
05:50So, that – he's going to have to just add that to him.
05:54But I don't – I don't know.
05:55This is a weird one to me because I don't think he's a CB2.
05:58I think he's a – I think he kind of translates to a nickel in the league.
06:02Yeah, I don't – I don't know.
06:05You've watched more of them than I have, and I agree with your assessment
06:07that you're at 6'2", 195.
06:10You can always – you can always usually count on guys getting in the NFL,
06:13eating good, and gaining 7'8", at that spot.
06:16And, yeah, if he wants to be physical, I can see them using him
06:19towards the line of scrimmage.
06:20I think Mike Hughes is an underrated tackler, in my opinion,
06:23and that's one of the reasons he's been able to stick around as long as he has.
06:27I just – I don't know because I think that they're –
06:31you take guys with upside at that spot.
06:32It's the reason we're talking about Caleb Banks is that the output is not what it is
06:36because of the injury.
06:37And when you look at a frame of a guy 6'2", 195, yeah,
06:40like why not take a shot in the third round?
06:43I think the secondary is definitely one of those things they're going to be looking at
06:46because we talked about it before.
06:47Until they made that trade for Sidney Brown,
06:49we just had not talked a ton about the secondary through free agency.
06:53Yeah, he gets a lot of penalties.
06:54He's just – Igbonison, or however you want to – if that's how you pronounce it,
07:00because he's really grabby.
07:02But he has a knack – like, the one thing that he does is he just has a knack for
07:06the ball.
07:08Like, it seems to me if the ball's on the ground, whether he calls it or not,
07:11it finds a way in his hands.
07:13It's like the Honey Badger.
07:14Remember how the Honey Badger was like that?
07:16Honey Badger don't care.
07:17Dude, he was always around the freaking ball.
07:19Well, it helped, too, because he was a – and he's a turn guy, too.
07:22I remember he would do the thing where he would wait until the quarterback would throw it
07:25and he'd rip the ball out from behind, not even touch the quarterback.
07:28It just had a knack for creating those fumbles.
07:30It was awesome.
07:30I remember watching him in the SEC Championship game in person that year
07:34when they played Georgia, and he changed the game on those two –
07:38well, the one punt return, he absolutely changed the game.
07:40He was electric, dude.
07:42What was that, 2011?
07:44Yeah, that was 2011 because –
07:50Georgia played Bama in 2012.
07:52Because Auburn won it in 2010.
07:53Yep.
07:54And that was the year that – that was what changed –
07:58that's how we got a playoff, really.
08:01That 2011 season because nobody wanted to see them in Alabama.
08:05I don't understand why nobody wanted to see that rematch,
08:08but that was the National Championship game that Jordan Jefferson
08:13was the quarterback for LSU, and then Bobby Hebert just went at Les Miles
08:19in the press conference after the game about why they didn't change
08:22their offensive philosophy, why they didn't change quarterbacks.
08:25Because didn't Alabama beat them like 21-0 in that game?
08:27In the national title game?
08:29Yeah.
08:29Yeah, and you know Bobby's son got benched for that game.
08:32Yeah, T-Bob, I know.
08:33I mean, that's the whole story.
08:35It's like, why did my son get benched?
08:37Oh, I get a press pass?
08:38Yeah, I'm about to roast this guy.
08:40Bobby's hilarious.
08:41If you've ever met him or I've gotten to know him a little bit,
08:45he is – dude, he's insane.
08:47But he's true.
08:50But, yeah, I would – look, I don't know about 79.
08:56This guy, he runs a 4-5, so he can run.
09:00And it just – it's just a guy with that many penalties
09:04and having issues in the vertical routes down the field.
09:09I wonder how he translates.
09:10But he is physical.
09:12He's a good – and the guy's an Ironman as far as playing.
09:14Well, and at 48, you know, they're projecting that we would get the –
09:22Kayla Banks, of course, and then also 79 defensive –
09:25sorry, 48 defensive tackle, 79 cornerback.
09:28Where else would you want to add depth?
09:32I've started to have coming around to the thought process
09:35that they would take an offensive tackle here.
09:38I've started coming around to it.
09:39It points – like, to me, it points towards everything
09:43that they've already told us that they are building towards
09:45is to say, you know what, let's think out ahead here.
09:47Let's not go with need, which you need a defensive tackle
09:50that stops a run.
09:52Let's go ahead and start getting prepared for either life after Jake
09:55or life after Caleb and Gary.
09:56I just think if Christian Miller or Caleb Banks were there at 48,
09:59you're not being true to best player available if you don't take those guys.
10:03If they're not there, though, which I don't honestly think they will be,
10:07then you could see old Maxie from Arizona State, a guy like that,
10:12who could be available there, and that could be the best player available.
10:16And in a position of need at the same time.
10:18See, it's – sometimes they go hand in hand.
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