00:00Ian Cunningham has completed his first draft class as GM of the Falcons.
00:06We are taking grades on Ian Cunningham's performance over the weekend on Twitter at 929MorningShift if you want to weigh
00:12in on that.
00:13In round two though, Ian did bring in Avion Terrell, AJ's brother, and Avion talked about how he and AJ
00:19push each other.
00:20Yeah, for sure. For sure. And me and him are going to be going at it too. For sure.
00:26But I'm going to be telling him, lock in. He's going to be telling me to lock in.
00:29So all he's going to do is make us better. Make us better. Two brothers on the field competing with
00:33each other.
00:34It's going to make us better.
00:38I mean, yeah, two brothers competing like that, going after each other.
00:42I just hope that it's one of those deals where they clearly have a great relationship.
00:47I go back to when we talked to him at training camp and you asked him, AJ that is,
00:52and you asked AJ about his relationship with Avion.
00:56And I mean, you can speak on it more than me, but he just oozed about him.
01:01And if they have that great relationship, that clearly means that Avion listens to AJ and probably vice versa.
01:09But this is one where Avion listening to AJ really is going to help him.
01:14Yeah, you can see the emotion on AJ's face.
01:16I'm pretty sure he took a beat before he even answered.
01:19It was like, hang on. I got to tell you guys, I'm so proud of him.
01:22And it was just right there.
01:25So it's exciting to see or to think about what this could mean for the Falcons.
01:30Yeah. And, you know, once you have the realization also that they've never played on the same team,
01:36that's also crazy.
01:37Like you're like, y'all might have played the same position, gone to the same schools,
01:41done all the same stuff, but y'all never played together until you get to the NFL because of the
01:45age difference.
01:46So I think it's special.
01:48And one of the points that, you know, I brought up over the last couple of days is that the
01:53transition from college,
01:54the NFL, moving to a new city, finding new resources, having new teammates, new training room, new strength staff,
02:00all that stuff is a massive part of whether or not these guys are going to be successful.
02:06Development is huge, but it comes along with understanding how to make that happen.
02:11Right. It's not just, Oh, I'm going to put in the work. Yeah, dude, you can put in all the
02:14work you want,
02:15but if you're not sleeping, right, eating, right, taking care of your body, talking to the right people,
02:20knowing when to go watch film, having all these relationships in place.
02:23And it's, it's 10 times tougher. And he is, he is not going to have to deal with that.
02:28He's going to walk into a situation where he is very familiar with the process,
02:33very familiar with the meeting rooms and with the coaches and with the teammates and everything else
02:37that comes along with it. So he is already, to me, three steps ahead of where anybody else would have
02:43been,
02:44had they been drafted in that spot.
02:45However, at the same time though, there is a Terrell reputation. So he's got to live up to everything.
02:51A.J.'s already accomplished. It's like when your older brother or sister is in high school before you
02:55and you're like, Oh, I got to be as good as them. All the teachers know about me already.
02:59Well, the problem is it's not just on the field. It's off the field too.
03:02But that reputation you talk about, like A.J. is, was the Falcons Walter Payton man of the year last
03:07year.
03:08So he, like he, it's not like you're walking in and you're like, well, look, as long as I'm not
03:13a jerk,
03:14I'm going to like, like, you know, I might not be the better player, but if, as long as I'm
03:19not a jerk,
03:19everybody's going to, I'm going to be like, like just as much, but no, you got to like,
03:24you got to be good on the field and off the field and Avion.
03:27So the, you know, Mike's on my, he's, he's set up better.
03:30And I wholeheartedly agree with that, but he's also got tough, tough shoes to fill.
03:36And he's not really filling them. He's just trying to put on a pair of shoes next to him.
03:40Like, but he's got that shadow is a pretty good, pretty good one.
03:44And so, you know, but like, this is a guy that you can, I don't know,
03:49maybe they'll live next door to each other. I don't know.
03:51Personally, I don't like living near family. I like to be as far, you know,
03:54I like to keep like at least a 30 minute barrier between me living where family is.
03:59Just, you need my, I need, I need my space, but they're tight.
04:04So maybe, maybe they got, maybe they, they get houses next to each other.
04:07And they're going to Terrell brothers show up at the carpool. I don't know.
04:11Man, I'll say I lived in the same apartment complex as my sister, different apartment,
04:14same complex though, for a couple of years. It was the best experience.
04:17So I don't know what this distance you're talking about, Bo is.
04:20Yeah. I look, I don't, I like my, I don't, I don't like family being able to show up and
04:25be like,
04:26well, I'm just going to, just going to crash here. I'm like, no, we're good.
04:29Yeah. Yeah. Bo doesn't like surprise pops in from the fam.
04:33He, they need to be scheduled.
04:35Different families, different stages of life.
04:37That's all I can say to that.
04:39No, but again, you know, having AJ in that building, being able to, to kind of shadow him
04:45and genuinely, I feel this way.
04:49The only difference to me and their draft profiles was that AJ is two inches taller,
04:54a little bit rangier than Avion.
04:56I think they're very much the same player, the way they compete.
04:58I think they actually play corner very similarly, can get handsy a little bit at times,
05:03but decent recovery speed.
05:05And, and really is going, they're going to make receivers battle for the ball every time
05:08the ball's up in the air.
05:09Yeah.
05:09They're also guys that are not afraid to, if they see a screen, they'll just, they'll,
05:13they'll, they'll go in there and try to break it up.
05:15They also, you know, a term to ID, they'll stick their nose in there and they'll really bust
05:19up a run play and they're not afraid.
05:20That's why Avion, um, was, has been able to play inside and out.
05:25And he's, you know, obviously we talked about it earlier that that could be the spot for
05:30him starting a season is that nickel position.
05:32Billy Bowman is going to be out.
05:34Uh, I expect for a few, a few games, even if he's not, you don't know how he's going
05:39to come back.
05:40He might, he could lose that job.
05:42Uh, maybe Mike Hughes slides inside and you use Avion on the outside, but it looks like
05:48the future is that Terrell brothers in some way, shape or form, uh, fill in two of the
05:55three corner spots, uh, normally, uh, of what you're in because you're in a nickel type
06:00package about 70% of the time, maybe even more these days, maybe, maybe 75% more.
06:05That's why the run support part of it is pretty, is, is, is so key that these, these DBs now
06:10coming in and being able to play against the run.
06:12That's why the Kendall Daniels situation is really weird because I think he can do that,
06:17but he's so good in the passing game as a former safety.
06:20I do want to move down to one of our round six drafts.
06:23Um, Harold Perkins jr.
06:25Out of LSU, he's having to give up his fandom of the saints.
06:29He says he's not a safe fan.
06:31How difficult is that to completely give that up and switch gears like that?
06:35No doubt.
06:36Um, well, it just depends on how long he's here and how long he's able to make it last
06:41in Atlanta and where, and if, you know, if, and when he goes somewhere else after he leaves
06:45land, I hope he doesn't hope it's a 10, 12 year career here.
06:47And he's, he's unbelievable, but the odds are that, you know, you will probably play for
06:52somebody else in your career at some point and we'll see how long he, he remained here.
06:55But I saw our buddy friend of the show, Tom McClure, uh, Falcons ring of honor inductee.
07:00He was celebrating and he's also an LSU guy and lives in Louisiana and thought it was awesome.
07:04He's like, welcome, get on board, man.
07:06Uh, love to see it.
07:08But I just think with him, there's, there's just so much upside in terms of the speed.
07:12Um, you know, we've, we've had a number of, of conversations over the last couple of days.
07:16And I know that I've seen tweets and Oboe has too, where it's, Hey, what, you know, what
07:20are we missing with Harold Perkins?
07:22What's, what's the deal?
07:23Why is he a six round draft pick?
07:25I just think that he's a guy that has a very refined skillset and a very high upside of
07:31athleticism that when you turn the tape on, it doesn't always say well-rounded three down
07:36player.
07:37Um, and so we'll see if they can turn that into something special, but this is the reason
07:42I've stood on the table since December.
07:44If there's anybody I feel like can do that, it's going to be Jeff Ulbrich and the kind
07:48of scheme that he runs and allowing that athleticism and really show up on any given, any given
07:51down.
07:52Well, it's clearly because he had the smallest hands at the combine.
07:54That's why he fell to the six round.
07:56No, I think injury derailed him.
07:58And I think, uh, um, to me, the, the biggest issue he had was he wasn't a lot.
08:05He didn't play at one spot really is his, his, his whole career.
08:09Um, so his freshman year, he was more of an edge player at LSU and he was really good
08:16there.
08:16If he's drafted after his freshman year, he's a top 10 pick and with his speed and some
08:22of the, some of the, the moves he showed to, to, to create havoc on the edge.
08:27Um, and he did some instinctual stuff too.
08:31And then he has an injury in the sophomore campaign and he comes back last year.
08:37Now, you know, he's, he's essentially just a middle linebacker the way they used him.
08:42And look, I thought he did some good things there.
08:44If you look at his size, he's divine Diablo, uh, divine Diablo, six to two 23 to 25.
08:53Harold Perkins jr is, um, you know, maybe, uh, a fresh haircut under six one and 225 pounds.
09:03He's a four, four guy.
09:05So I think it, I, I, I, you know, the word tweener is used, but guys like this, and it's
09:11not really necessarily the physical traits with him as much as the usage of it.
09:16And it just depends on how, where Jeff Olbert thinks he can use Harold Perkins jr.
09:22The most to me, kind of built like a Dion Jones, um, you know, probably a little bit lighter
09:28than Dion, I think, but he's built like that.
09:31So how do they want to use them and what's their plan?
09:34But the one thing I know he'll do right off the bat is play special teams and be very good
09:38at it.
09:39So I threw it out on social yesterday.
09:41I was asking everyone to grade how Ian Cunningham did with his first draft.
09:45And it seems to be kind of an average of like a B plus a lot of A's, a lot
09:48of B's one C minus.
09:50I'm not sure exactly what the reasoning was on that one, but overall A's and B's, where
09:56would you guys grade him?
09:57I think I'm, I'm in the B range.
10:00Um, you know, and again, you, you kind of, you know, let off a lot of the conversation
10:04day with this.
10:05And I think it's been interesting for me to look at.
10:07It's like, what was the goal?
10:08You know, what was the goal going in?
10:10And I think that if you look at most of the pundits, the Kuypers of the world and whoever
10:14else is out there, it's very much a, well, they only had six picks.
10:17They didn't have a first rounder.
10:18And it's almost like they're detracting you for two different drafts, right?
10:22It's like, well, you should have detracted last year.
10:24If you didn't like the James Pierce pick, you know, you can't track.
10:27Now you're going to detract this year of the same thing, but the pick ended up being a
10:30good one on the field.
10:31There's no doubt about that.
10:33There's no two ways to say that.
10:34So I don't know.
10:36I'm in, I'm in the B range.
10:37I thought that, again, I'm curious to see what they have to say about Kendall Daniels.
10:42I'm very interested.
10:43I also thought that maybe before, you know, round seven, you'd have seen a move on an
10:47offensive lineman with some of the depth we have there.
10:49But overall, I think you really took some high upside swings and swung for the fence,
10:54which is what I'm about in those later rounds.
10:55Find somebody with some elite traits and try to go get them.
10:59I want to get back to that real quick.
11:00You talked about the draft analyst.
11:04Analyst?
11:04Because, like, so the problem for me is the Mel Kuypers of the world didn't like the
11:09James Pierce trade, so they knocked you last year.
11:12And then, even after, he had really, like, rookie of the year, defensive rookie of the
11:20year caliber year, they still didn't like it.
11:23Right?
11:23And so now they're knocking you this year, too, which is, to me, unfair, because it looks
11:29like all of the legal stuff is, other than a suspension, could be way behind him.
11:37So I don't like that.
11:38But, like, I thought they got two guys that can start right away.
11:42Or contribute, like, starters in Avion Trail and Zachariah Branch.
11:47And then with the other four picks, they got guys that could, like, Ontario Thompson could
11:53come in here and be a rotational guy today.
11:56Like, right?
11:57Like, next year, he could be a very, very well rotational guy that rotates in and out and
12:02plays, and that's fine.
12:05Daniels and Perkins and, um, what is it, Onanawa, or however you pronounce it, the left tackle
12:12or right tackle out of Ohio State, or who also played at Rice.
12:17I mean, look, those are project-type players.
12:21But, to me, the Perkins pick elevates it because I just think it's such a high-value pick in
12:28the sixth round.
12:29We're going to have to talk about it later.
12:30I'm not sure that Onanawa's not a guard.
12:32I've been watching his tape a lot today.
12:34We'll get into that later.
12:35He'll be a big guard at 6'7", 330.
12:39That's a big boy.
12:40We are talking draft all morning, so we'll get back into that at 8 o'clock.
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