00:00Dave Archer joins us. The NFL Draft is this week, obviously.
00:04Thursday is the first round. The Falcons don't have a pick, but we will be covering the first round,
00:08and then second and third on Friday night as well. Archer, how are you?
00:11What up, Dave?
00:12I'm good. I'm good. That's why Randy and I sprinkle in a beer or two so we don't sleep on
00:16our shoulder wrong.
00:17I'm telling you.
00:17So we're relaxed. We don't jack our shoulder up.
00:20Hey, I've never, ever woke up and missed a game or missed sports time.
00:26But Dave, I always remember this time. We were playing, I was playing, I returned to St. Louis when I
00:32was with the Chargers.
00:33And I remember Gates was out that week, and then our other tight end, like he was going to start
00:37the game,
00:37and he woke up and had back spasms from the mattress in the hotel in San Diego for the Ritz
00:43-Carlton.
00:43And so I was like, well, I mean, I've started a number of games.
00:47They go, you've got to start. You know how Norv gets.
00:50I got this.
00:52We've started. We'll be all right.
00:53I got this. We've started over 100 games. I got this.
00:56Well, yeah, so it happens. I've seen guys miss games because they slept wrong.
01:00Not 15 of them.
01:02I know. Two weeks?
01:04No, no. You're cut from a different cloth, though.
01:08Most people, they don't know what's up.
01:10There's always a lot of weird baseball.
01:12When I covered the Mariners back in the day, their first baseman missed two months
01:15because he cut his toe trying to close the blinds in the middle of the night.
01:19Now, I don't buy it.
01:20I think some sort of weird sex injury, but anyway.
01:24There was some trick stuff going on next time.
01:26Exactly.
01:27Some weird was going on in that hotel room.
01:30Arch, we haven't spoken since the offseason began.
01:34Obviously, a lot of stuff has happened from front office and coaching staff
01:39and a turnover standpoint.
01:40Just kind of, if you can, I know it's a lot to cover,
01:43but just some general thoughts from you on everything that's gone down
01:47over the offseason leading into the draft.
01:50Yeah, as much upheaval as we saw, Andy,
01:53I think that it's been fun to watch the things kind of stabilize.
01:57I think Matt Ryan has been a big part of that, obviously.
02:01Mr. Blank with a tremendous amount of trust in him, and rightly so,
02:06for what he's seen and done and been through in his career to where maybe come back
02:11and grab the wheel a little bit and get this car back on the road.
02:16You're not out on the side of the road or that kind of stuff,
02:19kind of weaving back and forth in lanes or something like that,
02:21kind of center the lane up a little bit.
02:24And then I think that the hiring of Kevin Stefanski was well thought out.
02:29I think that they went through their process there,
02:32and I've been very impressed with Kevin
02:34and the number of times I've gotten a chance to talk with him.
02:36And then you add Ian Cunningham to it.
02:38I think they've got a hierarchy from a football standpoint.
02:41I'm not talking about the other stuff.
02:43I think they've done a really good job with their business process
02:45and all the things that go along with this organization from that standpoint.
02:49But the football piece of it was, let's face it, a little wobbly.
02:53A lot wobbly.
02:55And so they needed some stability, almost like you went in,
02:58you got the car realigned, one of those kind of deals.
03:03But it still means you've got to drive the car, right?
03:05And you've still got to keep it on the road even though it's not wobbling on you.
03:09And I think they've got some guys that are going to do that.
03:12Now, that's all rhetoric.
03:13That's all talk.
03:15That's all on paper and stuff like that.
03:17But we get a chance to see some stuff from a free agency standpoint.
03:21I love some of the things they've done for the agency to kind of stabilize some of the rooms,
03:25the different position rooms.
03:27And then you're going to get a little bit more of that as we dive into the draft here.
03:31What young guys can you bring in to help add?
03:34And as Ian Cunningham said, raise the floor.
03:36And I thought that was a pretty good way of saying it.
03:38But when you get guys go down, and Randy will tell you, I mean, we've been on teams,
03:43he and I, are going to lose prominent players.
03:47What do you plug in when they go down?
03:49And I think Atlanta has tried to do one of those raising of the floor.
03:54So when you do plug somebody new in, you're not going to get that major drop off.
03:59There's a couple places you're a little concerned about.
04:01Obviously, right tackle is one of those places you're a little concerned about with what's going on there.
04:05And I'm sure they are as well.
04:07So we'll see how they attack that.
04:09Dave, I want to piggyback on what Andy was saying.
04:11Because like I said, we saw you win the general manager and the head coach.
04:15She had your good suit on, your Sunday's best on and everything.
04:18When you look at where this direction is, and what sense did you get?
04:24Obviously, from the press conference to where they are right now.
04:26It's a sense of where they want to go.
04:27Because like you said before, there's so many new prominent things.
04:30The quarterback thing, you lose Tyler Algiers, you trade this route.
04:34I mean, Dane's pure situation.
04:36Do you view it from a standpoint, Dave, where like this season is like, I don't want to say rebuild,
04:42but somewhere where we just don't know what's going to happen as they go forward?
04:46Yeah, I think that's fair, Randy.
04:48I think they would be remiss if they didn't kind of somewhat admit that.
04:53I mean, whenever you're kind of wobbling around, it would indicate that there's a lack of direction,
05:00the lack of what you want to be for, you know, and you hear the word identity thrown out a
05:05lot.
05:05I think there's been something very descriptive and very definitive that I've had a chance to witness Kevin Stefanski talk
05:13to his team about,
05:14the guys that are on this roster right now.
05:16And in their off-season program that they're doing weightlifting and running and getting themselves in shape to get ready
05:22to start doing some on-the-field stuff.
05:25He's been really definitive as to what they want to be and what they want to do.
05:29And I think that that was – I think that's something that we all kind of witnessed here, certainly in
05:33the last couple years,
05:35is we kind of, you know, you're changing coordinators on the defensive side.
05:39You have a young coordinator on the offensive side.
05:41And are we a running team?
05:43Are we going to throw it?
05:44We bring Penix and you're going to throw it.
05:46You're going to – you're the cousins here.
05:47There was a lot of kind of wobbling around like I'm talking about with the vehicle.
05:53And I just think that they've really tried to hone in on what they want to be and what they
05:57want to do
05:58and then try to tailor what they're doing from a weightlifting, strength conditioning, all that kind of stuff,
06:04as it transitions to the field as to how that identity continues to perpetuate itself
06:10and manifest itself into what they want to do.
06:13So I think that that's the thing that I've noticed the most about is they've been very systematic about it,
06:20too.
06:20Obviously, they're looking at players and stuff like that.
06:22But I think that they've attacked this first piece of it to try to establish what they want to be
06:27as they get to training camp.
06:28Dave Archer joining us here on the Midday Show with Andy and Randy on the Sweet James Accident Attorney Hotline.
06:35Maybe they trade one way or another and get into the first round on Thursday night.
06:39But barring that, what do you hope to see them do on Friday with their second-round pick and their
06:46third-round pick?
06:47Yeah, I think that it's a draft.
06:50And, you know, you guys have looked at it a ton.
06:52So, you know, I don't know that I need to retrace those steps.
06:57I know you guys have been diving into that pretty heavily.
06:58I think it's a draft, unless you're drafting the top 10, top 15, which is usually every year,
07:05you're probably not finding that guy that might come in and completely redefine who you are.
07:10But John Robinson is an eighth overall pick.
07:12He's not sitting at 48, you know.
07:15So what are you going to get from, say, 48 back?
07:19I think that the draft is pretty good in finding guys that are rotational guys along the defensive line,
07:25maybe even offensive linemen that can come in and maybe fight and potentially put himself on the field.
07:31Wide receiver, corners, guys that can come in, a linebacker that can come in, contribute on special teams,
07:37as well as, again, Ian Cunningham talked about raise our floor as to what it looks like if somebody isn't
07:44able to play.
07:45I mean, think about when Divine Diablo went down last year.
07:48I mean, we had like five guys trying to play that position, right?
07:52You've got a couple of DBs.
07:53There's a guy that's a little bit of an undersized linebacker trying to play.
07:57When Divine came back, things changed back to what they were.
08:00And so can you find guys that are a little bit more definitive?
08:03And Olbrick, I talked to Jeff Olbrick a little bit about, he said, you know,
08:07there's so many times guys or teams are trying to find jacks of all trade that can be versatile.
08:13Well, that's great that you're versatile, but it also means you're not really overly good at any one thing.
08:19You know, and I think that they're going to pinpoint guys a little bit more to find guys,
08:25you know what, let's not look so much at what a guy can't do.
08:28What does this guy do well?
08:30And when this guy, then let's put him in that spot and let him do that.
08:34Let's not expect him to drop off.
08:37If he's a pass rusher, let him rush the passer.
08:39Let's forget about him dropping off in coverage and being able to, you know, do those kind of things.
08:44I think you're going to see a little bit more of that from a definitive standpoint as to what guys
08:48are asked to do.
08:50Dave, real quick, because, you know, your relationship with the players is a lot different from other people in this
08:55business
08:55because you play the position you know these guys.
08:57When you saw Caleb McGarry was retiring, what was your thought process?
09:02Well, a little surprised that we didn't hear about it earlier.
09:06I will tell you, Randy, that the team did not get caught with its pants down or didn't know what
09:11was happening.
09:12I think there was some contemplation in his camp, the McGarry camp, as to, I'm thinking about maybe hanging it
09:18up.
09:19And I think they knew about that.
09:21So there was some idea.
09:22I think that the timing on it went too long.
09:26I think they would have liked to have known.
09:27You know, Ryan's out there, and he's a player, and he understands he wants to give the player a time.
09:32You know, that's a tough decision to make, Randy.
09:34You and I both had to make the decision to step away from the game.
09:37You know, you're waffling back and forth.
09:40Ultimately, you would have liked to have had that decision earlier, so the pool of players to potentially address that
09:45hole or that spot,
09:47you could have done a little bit with that.
09:50So I was surprised.
09:51I expected the big Viking to come back and start mashing people again.
09:55And obviously, he didn't feel like he was ready.
09:57He could do it.
09:58Arch, we appreciate it.
09:59As always, we'll be tuned in on Thursday night.
10:02Appreciate you, Dave.
10:03Christmas time.
10:04Christmas time coming, guys.
10:05We'll see if we can get a couple of guys.
10:06What do you say?
10:06Yeah, man.
10:07As Andy was saying, round one of the NFL drafts this Thursday, and we will be covering all the excitement
10:12pick-by-pick.
10:13They will be at Twin Peaks in Kennesaw.
10:15That's Wes.
10:15That's Dave.
10:16And that's Mike Conte broadcasting live, 8 o'clock.
10:19And then we will go on News Talk 1380, WALK.
10:23We tried to say the phrase yesterday.
10:25Arch is so good that he helped us out a day later.
10:27Jack of all trades, master of none.
10:29Yes.
10:30We couldn't get it yesterday.
10:31Master of none or jack of nothing or something like that.
10:33Master Jack, I don't know what it is.
10:35But anyway, Arch knew it.
10:36We got there.
10:37That's good.
10:37We appreciate that.
10:38I showed you my draft notes.
10:40Got everything broken down from second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth round.
10:43That's pretty good.
10:43Can I borrow that for Friday?
10:45Yes.
10:45Great.
10:46Awesome.
10:48We'll come back and get to the AMA.
10:51Any question, any topic, the phone lines are open at 404-726-0929.
10:56Load them up.
10:56Ask us anything.
10:57Sports Radio, 92.9 The Game.
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