00:00Falcons defensive position rankings. Now we did offense last week and we had planned on kind of getting into this
00:06Friday. We didn't have a chance to because of what happened down in State Farm Arena Thursday night. And here
00:11we are on Monday and it is the meathead edition. I feel like this is a great time for you
00:15and I to kind of get into the depths of these rankings. So we split it into five positions and
00:20we got safety. We got corner. We got edge. We got inside linebacker off ball linebacker and we got defensive
00:29linebacker.
00:30Interior defensive line defensive tackle. I'm going to start. And I feel like one of the things that was very
00:38difficult about this list was that at least four of these in my book I could have made the argument
00:42jumped up to number one. At least four of these things I could have made the argument they jumped up
00:47to number one for the positions group. Which leads me five. And five to me was a pretty easy selection.
00:54I went with interior defensive line defensive tackle. We already disagree.
00:58I looked at, I thought that this would be the first move they made in the draft. I thought that
01:05they had to take a player high up here or at least a more impactful guy throughout free agency. And
01:12when you look at defensive tackle and you look down the list, I love Brandon Dorlis, man. Don't get me
01:16wrong. Don't get me wrong. I think he's, he was awesome. He really showed the ability to show out.
01:21But that's not all interior defensive line gets to do is rush the passer. So add him next to Deshaun
01:27Hand, which I think has a very specific, you know, specific set of circumstances that he plays with Zach Harrison,
01:32which as you know, I'm a massive fan of.
01:35And you back that up with Mason, Mason Smith, who you just traded for and interior Thompson. Now, are there
01:40a couple other guys in there? Elijah Garcia, kill London, Chris Williams. Absolutely. But for me, for my money's worth
01:47looking at this, I don't feel very good about this group as it stands going into the season.
01:54Yeah, I disagree on where they're ranked. I'm not saying that you're far off. I disagree a little bit. I
02:02do believe that they have a, the rotation feels thinner to me than it does, than it has in the
02:08past. However, I think within Ontario Thompson and Mason Smith, you have a select idea for them.
02:18And I believe Lakell London very much in those two's line. I like Harrison and Dorliss kind of playing what
02:25would be the, the out, you know, what would, I would say what the five technique or, you know, in,
02:30in, in certain situations for them, you know, in three and others, it just, I like Deshaun Hand's addition. I
02:38went, I wonder where you're at on this because for five for me was interior linebackers, inside linebackers.
02:46Um, I'm, I, I, I was a lot higher on this group until I wrote all their names down on
02:51paper. Yeah. And that's how I feel about it. It's tackle. It's divine Diablo. Well, I'm not far off of
02:57you on defensive tackle. Right. Yeah. But it's divine Diablo.
03:00Pew. And then it is, it's honestly, it's divine Diablo. And then you take two steps and you go Christian
03:09Harris. Yeah. Because he has started. I think he still can. I don't, I don't, I do not believe that
03:15he's not a,
03:17starting middle linebacker somewhere in the league, but on a very good defense, he couldn't see the field after, after
03:25an injury. And, and that, and to a guy who just got an extension, by the way. Yeah. Um, ding.
03:32And so, but then it's Troy Anderson, question mark. No idea.
03:37Yeah. Kendon Daniels, question mark. No idea. Harold Perkins. I don't even know if he'll be an inside linebacker.
03:43We're just flipping it. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not the position group. He's actually, yeah. Um, Shannon Tindall. No
03:50question. I mean, I, I know a little bit, but I know that I don't, I know enough about him
03:55to know.
03:55I don't trust what he could be, but if they have a specific role, which Ulbricht has a knack for
04:01doing. And a lot of guys do, Hey, I find, see a guy in a different system, make it fit
04:06theirs.
04:07And then you got Malik burden, uh, who was, you know, kind of has some injury stuff last year. And
04:13then JD Bertrand, who I don't even know if he'll be on the roster.
04:15No, I don't either. And I curious to get your take on this when it comes to these linebackers, do
04:20you find yourself?
04:21And this is what I continuously have to talk myself out of when it comes to the Falcons or maybe,
04:25maybe really any other sport at this point, um, specifically the Braves like rotation, but you have found, he found
04:31the divine Diablo.
04:32And I think the divine Diablo story is a lot like the Christian Harris where has started games, maybe hit
04:41a little bit of a peak or a lull.
04:43And there's question marks about what his standing is with his old team. So we sign him and we know
04:47there's elite next level athleticism and we say, Oh,
04:51I, we signed Christian Harris and I think every single person goes, Oh, look, we can, we can turn him
04:57into a great player.
04:59Just like we did divine Diablo. And I feel like that when I, I've happened to talk myself out of
05:03that right now with Jeff Holbrook's players, because I look at Ontario Thompson.
05:07Oh man, you know what? I see what he's able to do. Uh, you know, I see what he's able
05:12to do with Brandon Dorliss.
05:13I think he can do that again. And there's always kind of this bright side when you look at some
05:18of these players until you realize, like you said,
05:20you write the names down and you start looking at it and you start ranking and you go, I really
05:23don't know.
05:24We really don't know. And that's what these rankings are all about.
05:27You have to be careful with that thought process though, because not everybody is, and I'm going to knock, I'm
05:32going to knock,
05:32it's going to be like a criticism on players a little bit, but not every player is capable of that.
05:37I agree. You have to not only have the understanding of how you're trying to be used.
05:43You have to understand, you have to somewhat, sometimes relearn the way to play, uh, a position
05:51because sometimes it's not completely different. I think you would agree.
05:54Like it's not completely different, but you're learning, you're being asked to do different things.
05:59And sometimes that takes an understanding of what you're, you know, pre-snap reads, uh, instincts, right?
06:05Yeah. Some of that stuff. I tend to believe that about Christian Harris, but I also don't know if
06:11Troy Anderson can't finally step in and with this type of system, be the guy we've always thought
06:17he's going to, he could be. Problem is, is it's kind of like we talk about in the first segment,
06:21Ronald Cooney jr. Yeah. I know he's going to get hot, but is he going to stay healthy long enough
06:27to get hot or do we have to go through him being out and then rehabilitating and then get hot?
06:32No, I agree. And it's, it's, it goes back to the conversation we've had around the Braves rotation
06:36or the lack of trades, whatever in the off season. It's like, how many times can you go back to
06:40the
06:40well and find Ronald Lopez? Yeah. And I, and Mike, we can't even, we don't know. We don't even know
06:46if like, are those guys, Troy Anderson or Christian Harris, are they the starters at a camp or to one
06:52of these young guys? We don't know. We don't even know if King Daniels is going to be an inside
06:56linebacker. Don't know. So that's just where we put them. Yeah. Uh, I can't wait to continue this
07:01conversation. We'll do that at seven o'clock because I got to hold your feet to the fire
07:05on the rankings. Um, obviously defense tackle, you got, uh, off ball inside linebackers. We'll
07:11continue that conversation. Like I said, coming up here in about 30 minutes. When we come back,
07:15we are going to touch a little bit on that Derby. I don't know about y'all, but when I
07:18watch it,
07:19I'm, I'm whipping that thing. I'm, I'm behind that. I got the, I got all kinds of stuff going on.
07:24I'm in the moment. I got stories. Maybe applause. We can stick with that. Yeah. It's a meathead
07:30edition of the morning shift. We'll be right back here in just a few minutes. Stick with us. Sports
07:34radio, 9 to 9 to 9 to 8. Now, your game traffic powered by Ken Nugent, Georgia's law firm. One
07:43call. That's all. Go to call Ken.com. That's all. Ken.com. Red alert continues leaving
07:50Ackworth heading towards Emerson. This accident's been there about an hour and 20 minutes. North
07:55on I-75 and old Alatoona road, exit 283, completely closed off. So silly.
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