00:00And we've been breaking down the wish list for the Falcons as the draft is looming.
00:05We covered linebacker earlier, offensive and defensive tackles.
00:08Now we've got wide receivers.
00:10Which direction did you go when it comes to a wide receiver, Mike?
00:14All right, stick with me here because I've tried to do this the correct way
00:20and I've tried to not be overzealous about,
00:25oh, well, you know, I'll just take this guy is a first-round draft pick.
00:30You know what I mean?
00:31Like we have to understand where we're at.
00:33I have to stay in our lane.
00:35And I went down pretty deep into this.
00:37And it really is me kind of covering my bases
00:41because I made the statement yesterday or the day before
00:43that if we're going to get past the second or third round,
00:45I don't know if I see us taking a wide receiver.
00:48Right.
00:48Do you remember that?
00:49Yes.
00:49Okay, so I had to like, I had to bring it home.
00:52You had to make sure.
00:52I had to make sure that I wasn't crossing back over myself a little bit.
00:56I went down and there's a reason that I took a wide receiver
01:01past the second and third round.
01:03All right, I'm just going to throw that out there.
01:04I looked at Malik Benson, who's from Oregon.
01:07Malik Benson's been around.
01:09He did play at Bama a few years ago, played at Florida State,
01:11and is now at Oregon.
01:13All right.
01:13He is a 4-3-8-40, 4-3-7-40.
01:17Now, in and of itself, I would be against saying,
01:20okay, let's draft this guy in the fourth round, the fifth round,
01:24whatever it may be, and turn him into a wide receiver.
01:28I don't think he's good enough to be a number two,
01:29and that was my entire point of the day.
01:31If we're going to draft a number two, you better get him in the second round
01:34or you're not getting a number two.
01:36And at that point, I don't need another Devin Tompkins
01:38or some of these other players, you know.
01:42But then I started thinking about Malik Benson,
01:44and one of the things I do know about Malik Benson is he can return.
01:47He is a special teamer.
01:49Yeah.
01:50And Bo's laughing because I guarantee you he went on the same angle.
01:53He is a special teams guy and can return the football.
01:56And while he's not going to be your number two,
01:58he could definitely be a solid slot at a 4-3-7-40
02:02and be a guy that can return the football as well,
02:05much in the like a really athletic like Eric Weems.
02:10And so I just β I was like, you know what, I don't believe in β
02:14I've already gone second, third, fourth.
02:15We've talked about prospects at the top, but I went down and I was like,
02:18if you get a guy in the fifth, you better be a returner.
02:20Malik Benson kind of fits that bill.
02:25Yeah.
02:25I don't know what to say.
02:29I went with a guy that you can get in the fifth, sixth,
02:32maybe even seventh round as well.
02:34All right.
02:36He runs a 4-4-9-ish, 4-4-8, something like that.
02:40Okay.
02:40His name is Kevin Coleman.
02:42Yeah.
02:42Junior.
02:43He's 5'10", about 180, 185 from Missouri.
02:46Played for Missouri last year.
02:49He's β here's what I wrote down.
02:51Here's what I wrote about him like two weeks ago.
02:53Remember we talked about him like a week or two ago?
02:55Yeah, I do.
02:57He was β because they did a top 30 visit with him or something.
03:01Four score β four score.
03:03I sound like Abraham Lincoln.
03:05Four score, seven years ago.
03:06Four schools in four years can return.
03:10It's a good utility play.
03:11Like maybe like end-arounds, jet sweeps, right?
03:15Something like that.
03:15Sure.
03:16He's an average route runner with good yak.
03:19A lot of people see he's a slot-only type player,
03:21but he tracks the ball well downfield.
03:24His knock is he doesn't come back to the ball.
03:26He's not great when someone comes up and plays press covers.
03:31So you get him to get hands-on and try to disrupt your route,
03:34disrupt your timing, that kind of stuff.
03:36That's something he needs to work with.
03:37But to what Mike is saying, the fact that he fills two voids, right?
03:44He's a guy that can come in.
03:46You can get him late, slowly work him in, put him out there in returns,
03:51at least on kickoffs to begin with, and maybe get to trust him on punts.
03:55But he's a guy that does more than one thing.
03:58And when you get drafted late, I've always felt like you need to show that you β
04:03when you're a mid- to late-round draft pick, you have to play special teams.
04:08I mean, right?
04:09Sure.
04:10I mean, there's no doubt.
04:11And this guy can come in and be a β
04:14kind of go to the top of the class, right,
04:16as far as returners and that kind of stuff.
04:19I like him.
04:20I think he's really good with his yak running.
04:22You know, he's a guy that can get the ball in space and make people miss
04:27and end up putting β you know, turning a five-yard little short route
04:33into maybe 15.
04:34That's, you know, moving the chains.
04:35So, to me, if you do what they say you do,
04:40which is build trenches with the early picks β
04:42and I believe β I've gotten to the point where I believe inside linebackers
04:48are really an extension of the trenches because of how they help in the run game
04:54and what their job is there.
04:56But I think he makes you better.
04:57And I think that's the right way to use picking a wide receiver.
05:00Well, I know you guys put these wish lists together,
05:02but we've got to figure out the order of operations on them.
05:05So, 48.
05:07Yeah.
05:08Who would you go with?
05:09Okay, so here's what I did.
05:11I did Lee Hunter at 48.
05:12Okay.
05:13And I think we're all on the same page.
05:15I don't know that we'll stay at 48.
05:16But I did Lee Hunter as my second rounder.
05:19And then β because I picked Kyle Lewis as a linebacker earlier in the show.
05:23He's my third rounder.
05:25He's the linebacker out of Pitt.
05:27Kind of a slot-style linebacker, will linebacker in a four-down thing.
05:30He runs a 4-5-3-40.
05:31I went Demetrius Crownover, the right tackle from Texas A&M,
05:34as my fourth rounder.
05:36Six-foot-seven, 319 pounds.
05:38And then I put Malik Benson in there after that as my β
05:42what would it be, sixth, I guess.
05:43Yeah, my problem is I got a couple of second rounders there.
05:47But if I was going to limit it to one position, I'm going defensive tackle
05:52with the first pick, with the second round pick, with the first pick you have.
05:56I agree.
05:59I go back to what Ulbricht said.
06:01I go back to some of the weaknesses last year with the run defense
06:04and the interior.
06:05I absolutely think that you need that.
06:08And I would probably go with a linebacker there with the third-round pick,
06:11and then you could get Austin Barber and Kevin Coleman in later rounds.
06:16I think they both might be there.
06:17Austin Barber's a wild carcass.
06:19He's either going to go mid-third round with someone who thinks that they like
06:26what they see, or he's going to fall just because of some of the question marks
06:32about speed off the edge.
06:33And I think it also depends on if teams see him as a guy that can flip sides.
06:40I'll be interested to see what they do with guys like that because I do think
06:44that there is this β I think if Terry was still here, you'd be having the
06:48conversation with yourself about an Austin Barber or a Kevin Coleman,
06:51do we have that guy in the building already?
06:54Because I think β look, Jack Nelson is not great.
06:57That's kind of where your next option is.
06:59But he has a lot of the same profile that you're talking about for Austin Barber
07:03and Demetrius Crownover as well.
07:05I want to throw one more wrench into this entire scenario because as I started β
07:09as I continued to work through this, there's one name that kept popping up
07:13that doesn't play any of these positions, and you've talked about him
07:15and I've talked about him.
07:16Once you get past the second-round defensive tackle,
07:21I'm taking a really hard look at Oscar Delp.
07:24Taking a really hard look at Oscar Delp, third, fourth, fifth,
07:27wherever you think you can get him, Austin Hooper's on a one-year deal,
07:31Kyle Pitts is in a contract year.
07:34And you keep hearing β you keep hearing stuff out there about
07:39that they're willing to move with Pitts,
07:42and you keep hearing the GM's comments get recirculated about β
07:48and I'm almost tired of hearing about how he doesn't like β
07:50he's not happy with the five draft picks.
07:52I get it, but I'm almost tired of like, okay,
07:54can we circulate another talking point that we've already heard?
07:58And I don't think he β I don't β that's not me like saying something nasty
08:05or not being nasty about Ian Cunningham.
08:06I know where he's coming from.
08:07I know what his point is.
08:10I sometimes wonder if the wide receiver talk is on a smokescreen
08:14for an Oscar Delp type player because whether Kyle Pitts is here
08:21for another week or another seven years,
08:28you have to get another tight end that can do both.
08:31You have to.
08:32Not only do you need that, but you need it because you're β
08:36if he's here another seven years, it means he's going to be doing
08:38a lot of things other than just being tight end.
08:40Correct me if I'm wrong because I just said this.
08:42Kyle Pitts is on a tag, right?
08:45Don't know.
08:46Austin Hooper, one-year deal.
08:47Charlie Warner's in a contract year, if I'm not mistaken.
08:49Your wide receiver room pass this year β I mean, I'm sorry,
08:52your tight end room pass this year is empty.
08:54You're going to have to do something to address it at some point.
08:57I'm just telling you, once I get past that second rounder or 48,
09:00whatever I come up next, I'm taking a really hard look at some of those guys
09:04in that tight end.
09:05That's great.
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