- 9 hours ago
The Atlanta Falcons are sitting at 48 with several needs. Dukes & Bell discussed where the team could go with that selection, making their pitch for a wide receiver.
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00:00to have interviews with potential prospects they may draft in this upcoming draft about nine days
00:05away. And we've been talking a lot about the wide receiver position. One of the guys they're
00:09meeting with is Missouri wide receiver Kevin Coleman. He's a 4'4 guy, speedster. Size matters
00:15to me, but he's not as big as I would like. But he is a guy that would be there,
00:19I think,
00:20if you wanted to take him later in this draft. I'm not talking about pick 48 because you've
00:24brought up a lot of names of wide receivers that may be there in front of him, whether it's Brazil
00:28from Tennessee or the kid Casey Concepcion. Some people say that kid may be a late first
00:34round pick. This is a guy that, Mike, if you wanted to go wide receiver with the following
00:39pick, would probably be there. But I like his game. At Missouri, he showed out, and the Falcons
00:44are talking to him today. I mock again. So again, we're using ESPN because that's the general
00:50one I could build a consensus with with most of our audience, despite everyone's got their
00:54own favorites. Okay, real quick. On this one, again, guys, it's random. They use different
00:58algorithms, so they're kind of going to predict what teams are going to do, and this is based
01:01on, I presume, a lot of the ESPN talking heads. Chris Johnson, cornerback from San Diego State,
01:06ranked 39th by ESPN. Okay. You want that? We need it. We need a corner, right? Brazil,
01:12you just mentioned from Tennessee. Jeremy Bernard is there. Jacob Rodriguez is there. And, oh,
01:17I just found our guy. Christian Miller is there in this draft. So just give you some variety.
01:21Again, there's no wrong answers, but I would probably have to pull the trigger on Christian
01:25Miller. He's a tremendous, we need run-stopping help, but you think he'll get better and become
01:29an elite or an average pass rush guy up the middle? Well, remember, those guys, man, a lot
01:35of times they're being double-teamed, Mike. You just need space takers. Right. I love his
01:40game, man. And I do, too. And this is my theory. Again, not to say that this is what the
01:44Falcons
01:44are going to do, but if you're telling me Christian Miller is ranked third on your big board as the
01:48third best defensive tackle versus taking the eighth, ninth, or tenth best wide receiver,
01:53that's a no-brainer, right? And again, how we grade these guys may not be the same way that
01:58the Falcons look at some of these players, but technically that's how I'm looking at this.
02:01Like, to me, Miller grades higher than taking the tenth best wide receiver on the board,
02:06and he's going to affect your team more. Right. Now, we need a corner. We need a DT. Now,
02:10I think, you know, it's a lot of the recent websites that are putting this stuff out there
02:14for these mock drafts. They don't add offensive tackle. We need an offensive tackle.
02:18Jawan, unless you, I mean, unless you feel Jawan Taylor's going to get back. He's still a relatively young
02:22guy. The good news, bad news, if Jawan Taylor gets into, like, Pro Bowl form, then that's a lot of
02:27money next year. Yeah. Right? Well, it is. No. And tagging isn't an option, because those guys make
02:31a fortune. Look, him along with Tua, this is an audition, all right? The guys that are here,
02:36and many of these guys are one-year deals, but when you're talking about key positions, quarterback,
02:40left tackle, or right tackle in this case, those are auditions, Mike, that if they ball out and play
02:45well, then that's a good decision that the Falcons are going to have to make. If you're telling me
02:50we're talking about this next year and saying, hey, do we pay this guy or that guy, then that
02:53means they did the job. So I'd love to be in that position, but you're right. I mean,
02:58to say that he's going to play for as much as he is right now, that's not happening next year
03:03if
03:03this guy is back to Pro Bowl form. Right. So you look at the offensive tackle, that's a list.
03:07Now, again, it's don't kill the messenger, because no sooner do I put this stuff out there, Carl.
03:13He'd never be there. Okay. Because there's some mocks where Christian Miller goes, like,
03:17right at the end of the first round. I'm just telling you, this is how the computer kicked
03:21it out for us right here on ESPN's Analytics. Nerds. Nerds. Nerds. So what do you want?
03:27Chris Johnson, Chris Brazell, Jeremy Bernard, Jacob Rodriguez, Christian Miller. I mean, we
03:32could use a linebacker, because again, unless Christian Harris, same thing. He's on a one-year
03:36audition. If this guy can become the dude that he was coming out of Alabama, then we'd have
03:40a guy up next to Divine Diablo. Here's what's interesting. Jordan Schultz put this out.
03:47Saying there are several teams in the top 10 who are interested in trading down, right?
03:51Basically want to acquire more picks. The issue they're running into, and this is funny to
03:55me, because this is what you're planning for the future, but you're living for now. Right.
04:00And the issue that they're running into is there's a lack of interest from teams in moving
04:03high 2027 draft picks. So, yeah, I hear you want to trade down, but wait a minute. I'm not
04:10willing to give up what may be a very intriguing draft next year, especially, Mike, if we're in
04:15the quarterback business. We've talked about it. It's going to be an interesting quarterback
04:17class, but I think how this draft is projected, and this is just overall. We won't know guys
04:23until three or four years from now, and these guys are in the league, and some of them will
04:27have played well, and we go, man, that 26 draft was really good. But the 27 draft with
04:31all the names that are coming out, guys that went back to school, it's just projected to
04:35be a bigger and more impactful draft. So teams are holding on to their picks. They don't want
04:40to make deals this year because I don't want to have to deal with that next year. And
04:44remember, based on what we know right now, the Falcons are going to have at least 10 picks,
04:48guys. At least. That's not to say that he won't add more.
04:52Compensatory to your point when guys move on and sign elsewhere. So, yeah, I just, I like
04:56the fact we could trade down. It's tough. There's risk-reward. You trade down, there's a couple
05:01of other dudes I like at defensive tackle. Lower tier, that big guy Orange from Iowa State.
05:07Dominique Orange? Yeah, the Georgia State wide receiver, by the way. And I'll just real
05:12quick, so get the names right. But yeah, we looked at some of the wide receivers. Some
05:16guys say he wouldn't be there, but some folks feel like Ted Hurst, if you like his size,
05:19just a tick off the 4-3 time, but super athletic. You could maybe get him in the third round.
05:24But I love, like, I love the idea of dropping down and getting a few more. And if you could
05:28fleece
05:29the second, third rounder, because as you heard the man himself say it, Ian Cunningham, we'll
05:32never be in this position again to have this few picks. Just five.
05:35Yeah. What do you guys think, man? Hit us up, social media. He's on Mike, follow Mike,
05:39should I say it, MikeBellATL. I mean, I put him up, see Dukes on the radio shows. Dukes
05:43and Bell 929, follow the radio station at 929 The Game. Meanwhile, we were talking about
05:47Walt Weiss. A couple of things for the Braves. He confirmed Sean Murphy is going to play four
05:53innings with Rome today, so he's making his way back. He's expected to play five innings
05:58Thursday, as well as catching on Saturday and then DH-ing on Sunday. So the good news is,
06:03as we said, reinforcements are coming. Strider's working his way back. Sean Murphy's working
06:06his way back. The team's doing really well. But what about last night as the Braves lose
06:1010-4? And I just want you to hear, as Walt Weiss, our manager, explained pulling Grant
06:14Holmes early.
06:15Pulling Grant in the fifth didn't go the way I planned. I knew I was going to have a shorter
06:19lease with him tonight. Not necessarily that short, but because of the last outing, that
06:25had as much to do with it as anything. He emptied the tank for us in Anaheim. He was going
06:29on regular rest, so I knew coming into the start, the lease was going to be shorter just to protect
06:35him more than anything else. And then when he had to grind through the fourth, and it was set up
06:43for bummer, and we tied the game, my thought was I'm going to go for it right here, try to
06:47get a
06:47shutdown inning with the favorable matchup, and it didn't work out.
06:51Yeah, I mean, Mike, the more that I hear Walt, and yes, I'm just like everybody else, I got a
06:57little
06:58bit more respect for him for putting his head down and going out there and, you know, taking care of
07:01business with Jorge Soler, simply to diffuse the situation. He wasn't trying to, you know, punch Jorge
07:05in the face. But that went a long way. You just heard Tony Gwynn say it. But the more I
07:08hear Walt
07:09Weiss, the more I'm digging it. The more I'm liking this approach. And what I mean is, he's not
07:15hiding anything. He's not not saying the things that we're wondering about or thinking about.
07:19He's telling you flat out, listen, this was the plan with Grant. Didn't work out. All right.
07:23This is what we were trying to do. And then he explained it to Grant Holmes. That is what
07:26we want to hear as our manager. We want to know what's going on.
07:28Right. And as we said, remember, he could have had the partial tear in his URL, in the
07:33ulceral collateral ligament thingy, in the elbow. No surgery.
07:36No surgery. So they were going to always keep an eye on him. That's why, again, hopefully
07:41it works out, but why I was arguing for more starting pitching. Because you're going to
07:45have to, he's going to be handled like a Fabergé egg, okay?
07:48He's 30, right? 31, Grant Holmes. Then you're going to have Hurston Walter
07:52eventually coming back. Schwellenbach eventually coming back. But again, you have
07:54no timetable. They can't definitively say, oh, he'll be back by the All-Star break.
07:58Right? Then you've got the other guys, you know, Ronaldo Lopez, not good, has been
08:01really good. Strider is starting his rehab, so Strider will be back soon, too. But
08:05who knows? You can't even look me in the eye and say, you know, for a fact, what
08:09Strider's going to be this season.
08:10I have no idea. And look, everybody wants to know about the velo and all that.
08:13Problem is that Bummer came and was terrible last night. It was brutal. I mean, the bullpen last
08:17night, not good. They came in and, you know, they're able to tack on, you know, three or
08:21four more runs. It didn't look good, especially when the score was tied. But nevertheless,
08:25Braves get another shot at it tonight. Here's what Grant Holmes, by the way, had to say when
08:30he was asked about Walt Weiss pulling him.
08:33I came in here thinking, you know, the exact opposite. You know, I feel like, you know,
08:38I let the bullpen down today. And, you know, I covered four innings. And I had to cover five.
08:46And, you know, it sucks. But, you know, it's baseball. And, you know, he had a plan put together.
08:54You know, and, you know, he went with it.
09:23Don't do that. Look, Solaire just, there was some weird stuff going on. Solaire just, I
09:28mean, the big home run, you know, first and then just in his head. And Solaire's a big
09:32dude. Still mad that Haim didn't tackle him trying to get to the mound. But they said that
09:35he was, everyone was busy watching what happened there in the play at second.
09:38Well, by the way, can I, I need to mention this. If you go back and watch the replay, I
09:41think he was just, it caught him completely off guard.
09:44Right. And that's fine. You know, I mean, you know, he was like, Bob Booth wouldn't let that
09:47happen. Biff Pokorobo would be there.
09:50But he was literally like, oh, he's going to run out here? Like in it, you know, when
09:54you think Ed Ott would sit there and John Candelaria take a beating? No, no, he would
09:57not. By the way, congratulations to Matt Olsen. How many old catches you want me to
10:01roll with here? Dude, we could go down the list. You think John Stearns would sit there
10:05if Nino Espinosa had somebody running at the mound? Let me say this. Those guys, all
10:08are tough dudes. All those guys were tough dudes. But Matt Olsen has played in 799
10:15consecutive games, guys. It's the 11th longest streak of consecutive games played in
10:19major league history. Here's the thing. If I'm him, I don't want an off day. I got
10:26this thing going now, Mike. How far can it go? Now, hopefully, you know, again, he's
10:31hitting and things, you know, it's not one of those deals where you have to sit him
10:35down. Well, this is pretty impressive, guys, to say 799 and now you've got the
10:4011th longest streak in major league baseball history. Right. I don't know what the plan
10:44is for Matt Olsen, but I'm just saying, like, if you asked him, I guarantee you, he's
10:48like, I'm playing all 162. I don't want to come out. I don't want to be out of the
10:51lineup if I don't have to be. Of course, that is not including Knockwood, something
10:55crazy happening with an injury. But once you get these streaks going like this, it's
11:00a pretty big deal. You know, for years, you know, immediately following Freddie going
11:04to L.A., I was in my feels about, you know, a leadership thing. And Matt, like, Matt's a
11:07low-key guy. And, you know, we're looking for some personality and a little bit of juice
11:11sometimes when things aren't going our way. But he's, look, he fits statistically. You
11:15can't argue with the results. He's a better fielder than Freddie and the Ironman thing.
11:20So, again, I may have been, some Braves fans always feel compelled to say, stop picking
11:25up Freddie to everybody, even if it's just his name comes up anywhere. Yeah, there was
11:28a period there where a lot of us had to deal with the post-Freddie life, you know, life
11:32without Freddie. But, you know, Matt Olsen's, it's a tough spot to be in because Freddie was
11:36so popular. But Matt, by any, you know, statistical metric, looks like he has been a great
11:40fit for this team. I agree. Now, his style is his style. He's never going to be like
11:45a guy who's going to be playing with his face on fire, but he gets the job done. No, I
11:48agree
11:48with you, Mike. Look, and here's the other part. Do I think Freddie, overall, is a better
11:53player? Yeah, I do. But it doesn't mean that Matt Olsen's not doing the job that they need
11:57him to do. And I think that's the dispute. It's like, oh, well, you gave up this great
12:00player. Yes, but the numbers still are consistent enough where Matt Olsen's not hurting the
12:05team, Mike. He's doing the job. So, congratulations to Matt. And I hope this streak continues
12:10because it'll be something that we'll be watching throughout the course of the season.
12:12It's Dukes and Bell. Dede, I want to bring you in real quick about the WNBA draft last
12:16night because I know you talk a lot about what's been going on. Let's talk about the
12:19dream because did they get a player? Do you feel like it's going to be able to help them?
12:23Yeah, young and she's a walking double-double in Medina Ocote out of South Carolina.
12:29Okay. Obviously, they reached the...
12:31She's really tall. Yeah, tall. I think they have her a 6'6".
12:34Okay. Yeah, but average like 10 points a game, 12 rebounds a game. So, again, young,
12:38walking double-double. Ironically, the story with her was she actually wanted to return
12:43to South Carolina, but because she played, I guess, professionally in her hometown, in
12:47her home country, I should say, when her visa to, you know, how they have to apply for the
12:53visa, they didn't approve it. So, she had to go ahead and enter the draft. But her initial
13:01plans were to go back to South Carolina.
13:03Okay. Well, congratulations. And look, we said it. The dream are going to be a show. I think
13:07people are going to be more interested in what happens with them. Their season starts,
13:10I think, in about three weeks or so. Yeah.
13:11So, it's going to be interesting to see how she fits in with what they already have and
13:15then the excitement with Angel Reese. But the WNBA draft was last night and wanted to put
13:19that out there. Last but not least, guys, as we said, Hawks, we will talk to CJ McCollum
13:24coming up a little bit later on in the show as they continue to prepare. Tonight, the plan
13:28starts. By Friday, Mike, the plan will be over. And we will know what teams have advanced.
13:34But this is where we've been the last few years. And, you know, it'll be kind of cool
13:38to sit back tonight and watch what plays out. But I'll say this. I like Charlotte, man.
13:42I do. I think Charlotte's going to make a little noise. But these matchups are going to be
13:46interesting. But the play-in starts tonight. And then, for us, Game 1 is going to be Saturday
13:50in New York City.
13:51Yeah, man. And now, the good news is, like I said, we're so used to this. Okay, what happens
13:56again? If we play the 8th? And if we win or lose, we've got to play again? How does this...
14:00So, look, we're not in the play-in. We never thought... I mean, I've got to be honest.
14:05You and I said maybe the fifth seed win. We thought it was Trey with Porzingis.
14:08So, again, hats off to Quinn Snyder. They've exceeded expectations. Ansi Saleh made the bold
14:13move to move on for Trey. Now, I want to win two games in this series. Okay, I know you
14:18still think we can win the whole thing.
14:19I do.
14:20I say win two games in this series, and then we get even bigger and better in free agency
14:24in the draft.
14:24Okay. And, Mike, it may play...
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