00:00Mike, let's talk about 10 days away from the NFL draft.
00:03Ian Cunningham, our general manager, is saying that the Falcons are sticking with their current stock of five picks next
00:10week.
00:10We don't alter the plan.
00:13Worst case scenario, as he stated.
00:16And what he means is, you know, again, he's already stated we won't be in this position again.
00:20We're going to have multiple picks as the years continue, and hopefully he's in charge here.
00:24But he's saying we're staying where we're at and we're not going to do anything.
00:28You just told me there are still varying reports out there about what we could do.
00:32It all involves a trade and acquiring more picks.
00:35We're not going to get nothing for nothing.
00:37Right.
00:37And again, this is just one.
00:39And the Falcons wire, and they follow us.
00:40We appreciate the love guys on Twitter.
00:42But there was a story that was written saying, hey, how about we get a bunch of picks of the
00:46Chiefs?
00:47Hey, hey, hey, you know, for Kyle Pitts.
00:49And I said to Carl, I go, you know, what would the going rate for Kyle Pitts be if you
00:53wanted to?
00:54You know, even if you were inclined to do so.
00:56You know, I mean, I'm intrigued as a Falcon fan to see how he would, you know, play in a
01:01Kevin Stefanski offense.
01:02But gets his back to that old quarterback situation.
01:05Who's delivering the football?
01:07T-U-A.
01:09I mean, so could you get, I mean, again, this is from the Falcons wire, which is a spinoff of
01:14USA Today.
01:15What could you get from the Chiefs?
01:17I don't know.
01:18I mean, could you get a second round pick?
01:21You know, a single day two pick, would they consider it?
01:25I don't know.
01:26I mean, a second and a, I mean, could you try to get a second and a fourth?
01:28I'd love, we want picks, but I still want to see what Pitts would do in a Stefanski offense.
01:33So I'd say thanks, but no thanks.
01:35I agree.
01:36Because for where I'm at right now, look, Pitts is, as much as I still think there's untapped potential, he's
01:42proven.
01:43You're going to get a second or third round pick, and then you're going to draft a guy who you
01:47hope can play.
01:48I at least know Kyle Pitts can play.
01:50Has he played up to the level in which we want him to?
01:52No.
01:53But he's had really good seasons here, and to do what the Falcons did to franchise tag him, it tells
01:59us the new regime believes that he can be utilized even bigger.
02:02So I'm with you.
02:03I just don't want to get picks to pick for picks, guys.
02:06It's got to make sense.
02:08And it also, Mike, can't hurt your team.
02:10I mean, right now, we keep talking about the wide receiver position, and you're going to trade Kyle Pitts, and
02:16then what you're going to do?
02:16You're going to go draft a tight end and a wide receiver?
02:19Right.
02:19And hope that Austin Hooper can get back some of his form.
02:22He's been a solid career in the NFL.
02:25The scenario, this is from Falcons.
02:27Well, again, there's many articles similar to this, but I chose this one.
02:30Fantasy Sports on SI.
02:32Thomas Corelli has us sending Pitts.
02:34Again, just all fantasy and making things up.
02:36But his valuation has the Kansas City Chiefs giving us a second rounder, their second rounder.
02:40This year.
02:41Okay.
02:41And a 2027 fourth rounder.
02:44Okay, so a second and a fourth for next year.
02:46I mean, I don't hate it, but I still would love to see what Pitts could do with this team.
02:50Yeah.
02:50With this coaching staff.
02:51And the Hooper thing, here's the deal.
02:53If you believed in Austin Hooper wholeheartedly, and you had this in mind, you would have given him more than
02:59one year.
02:59You would have said, here's a multi-year deal.
03:02We still believe that you can do a lot of good things.
03:03They didn't do that.
03:04But it's also a new regime.
03:05They're auditioning him, too.
03:07Is Matt auditioning a guy he threw the ball, too?
03:10And then I went away, and I came back.
03:12And so did Pitts' game.
03:14He went away, and he came back.
03:15I think if anybody's vouching for Hooper, though, it's probably Matt Ryan.
03:18Right.
03:18You know what I mean?
03:19I mean, I just don't know how they look.
03:22I mean, I would like to think that they're going to try.
03:24Good situation, okay?
03:25We ball out.
03:26Pitts gets traction.
03:28He becomes like the de facto third receiver or whatever he's going to be.
03:31The hybrid we thought he was always going to be, right?
03:34And then, you know, we were able to do some things, and maybe we even win this division.
03:37And, you know, there's half the audience right now wants us to go get a quarterback next year in the
03:42draft.
03:42The other half still wants to see this ridiculous eight-year drought end, right?
03:46And let's get back to the playoffs no matter how we get there.
03:48And then, as you said last week, maybe we'll have to have a conversation about what a new tour contract
03:52would look like if he balled out.
03:54Yeah.
03:55Look, can we have both?
03:56Can we have a successful season, go to the playoffs, break our drought, feel good about our team?
04:01You mean like the Hawks?
04:01And then realize, you know what, this is still not going to get us where we need to be.
04:06And still go get maybe a quarterback.
04:08Can we have both worlds?
04:10The best-case scenario is, and this is unlikely, possible but unlikely, Mike, that both quarterbacks play well,
04:17that then you have a real decision to make, okay?
04:20And we are not in the quarterback business come 2027, that Tua's done enough where you believe in him,
04:24and if he wants to stay and you want to pay him the money, or Michael Penix is here and
04:28he's played enough
04:28and it's done enough where you go, you know what, we are going to move forward, Michael Penix,
04:33as the former regime did, and you have a real hard decision to make.
04:37That's a great place to be in.
04:39But the thing that would suck is, if Tua's not good, and Penix isn't ready, and then he gets out
04:43there and wets to bed,
04:44and then by the end of the season we're still not in the playoffs, and now all of a sudden
04:47you're going,
04:48well, what are we doing at quarterback for 2027?
04:49Right. So, I mean, first things first. I want Pitts. I'm intrigued by getting as many picks as I can.
04:56I love to find a way. We talk about Jesse Bates, and again, a lot of the stuff, the chatter,
05:01comes from other teams' websites. So the Eagles, they traded their backup safety to us.
05:05They go, ah, well, we all got Jesse Bates. I don't want to part with Jesse Bates either.
05:09I think there's certain guys that are, and it's not like he's 36, it's not like giving Jesse Tuggle
05:13that huge contract at the end of his career, which didn't make a lot of sense at the time.
05:15This is Jesse Bates in his prime, declaring he wants to be here beyond next year.
05:21I agree with that. 4047-260929. It's that time of year where you start talking about setting a team up
05:29for success
05:30and how they go about their business with the draft. If we just have five picks, that's all we've got.
05:34I just don't want to start trading guys that are established, guys that have made plays,
05:39guys that have really good potential to be even better just because you want draft picks.
05:44By the way, you know what draft picks are, right? Potential. It means they haven't done anything.
05:49I would rather take a proven guy right now, Mike, over any of these draft picks because they come to
05:55the league
05:55and you say it, 50-50. Half these guys hit, the other don't.
06:00And then you're right back in the same scenario. So having picks is great, but I'm not going to hurt
06:05my team
06:06in that process. The only way I'm trading a guy, the two guys you're talking about,
06:09is if I know, Mike, something's wrong or I feel like they can't play anymore.
06:13And do you feel that way about Jesse Bates?
06:14No, I don't. I love Jesse Bates' game.
06:17And I still think, you know, Pitts, we joke around all the time.
06:20We spend more time about this guy, untapped potential.
06:23And what has it been? Some years you could say really not his fault.
06:26Absolute terrible quarterback play.
06:27Then the injury, which took almost a full second season out.
06:30And then he finally, then last year, you know, he gets it in gear.
06:33And also he shows you those moments like against Tampa Bay the last two seasons
06:37where that's what he's supposed to be.
06:39So I'll roll the dice one more time with Pitts.
06:42And then we, as a guy just hit up on the text line,
06:44then you're going to have to give Pitts another contract.
06:46You can franchise him one more time.
06:47You don't have to.
06:48You can even let him go if you want.
06:49But I'm saying you could tag him one more time.
06:52It goes up. It's a top five plus a percentage raise.
06:54But it's still not the worst case scenario.
06:57All right, man. Interesting stuff.
06:59We got a lot to get to between now and the draft.
07:01And by the way, we are your home for the NFL draft and all things Atlanta Falcons.
07:06Mike and I are going to do an extra two hours,
07:08actually an extra hour of show that night leading into our draft coverage
07:12with Mike Conte, Wes Durham, and of course Dave Archer,
07:15who called the games for the Falcons.
07:16We always have you covered.
07:17First round for us, the only intrigue is going to be us following guys
07:22that we thought may end up certain places.
07:24But we don't have that first round pick to get excited about this year.
07:28We'll get that back hopefully next year.
07:29And then obviously, Mike, you know, the second day is when we'll be Friday.
07:33We'll be like amped up to see where this thing can go.
07:35I mean, it's tough because you're so juiced to have the buzz.
07:38You know, it's a buzz kill because you would never have complained
07:41about your first round pick if your first round pick's career wasn't in limbo.
07:44Talking about James Pierce Jr.
07:45And April 21st apparently is now the clock is ticking because what is today?
07:49We get the 13th.
07:50So we got just over a week for these guys to show what they've got to the prosecutors
07:54and maybe try to pull some kind of plea bargain deal off.
07:57And only time will tell where that goes.
07:59There was an article and Josh Kittle had this on Friday
08:02and you and I were talking about it this morning
08:03about maybe we go wide receiver with the 48th pick.
08:07And they talked to a bunch of experts and draft analysts
08:10and the guy they went with was Jamie Bernard.
08:13And Jeremy Bernard, I should say, from Alabama, who was really good.
08:17They said, you know, not exactly great at this.
08:19He kind of does everything well
08:20and would certainly fit into what we're going to try to do.
08:23But I think it was really good at that.
08:23I'll be tous y ****.
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