00:00All right, so we got into this discussion earlier,
00:03and we were talking about the Atlanta Falcons,
00:04which offensive players are under the most pressure this season.
00:07And you and I decided, okay, let's take Michael Penix out of the mix.
00:11I think that's a slam dunk.
00:12I feel like in a lot of ways he will be surrounded
00:16with every opportunity possible to make it work.
00:18I think the organization wants it to work.
00:21I think you're going to bring in, like we talked about,
00:24there's a reason you sign these wide receivers to two-year deals
00:26and everything else that goes along with it.
00:28I think it would be chalk for us to both get on here and say Kyle Pitts,
00:31but I think he's part of that conversation.
00:33It's like you just alluded to.
00:34And then I also brought up a Ryan Newsel.
00:37You countered with Juwan Taylor.
00:39Yeah, but I got another one.
00:40But you still have one more left on the list.
00:42Do you have any more?
00:43No, and I'm curious to hear where you go with this.
00:45You're not going to like me when I answer this one.
00:50Can I guess?
00:51Sure.
00:55Matthew Bergeron.
00:56Exactly.
00:57Yeah.
00:57Exactly, and here's why.
01:01Personally, I think he – I'm curious what you think,
01:05but personally from a size aspect, 6'5", 315,
01:08I think he fits along the lines of what they would like a guard to be.
01:12I know they drafted the kid out of Ohio State.
01:15Onionta or something like that.
01:16I don't know.
01:17Onionwa.
01:18Onionwa.
01:18Onionwa.
01:19I'll get it right eventually.
01:20Sorry, man.
01:21Who's 6'7", 330, I believe.
01:23Yeah, big dude.
01:24He's a little bit bigger than Bergeron, and they're going to move him inside to guard.
01:29But I think Bergeron is in a unique position.
01:32This is his fourth year, which means his contract's up.
01:38He's fit well the first three years.
01:40Some people don't think he had a great year last year.
01:42Some people think he had an okay year.
01:43I thought he was good, not great.
01:45Yeah, I thought he was fine.
01:47Which is what I really want a guard to be.
01:51In fact, if your entire offensive line is good, then you've got a great offensive line.
01:58I would say that's true.
01:59I would say that's definitely true.
02:00I think the thought process that you have out five pro bowlers or all pros or whatever terminology you use
02:06to say that they're great is not realistic unless –
02:10and when it has been, we've seen because of the money invested, you have deficiencies in other places.
02:15Anyways, but this is a big year.
02:17Does he fit the scheme?
02:20Is he able to do – is he athletic enough to do some of the pulling stuff and, you know,
02:24the gap scheme stuff they want to do?
02:26Is his size right?
02:28Can he play big enough?
02:29Like, there's a lot of little questions that scheme change brings up for a guy who is about to be
02:40without a contract.
02:41This is his free agent year, essentially.
02:43He's playing in this.
02:44Does he get an extension?
02:45So I believe that this is a big year for him.
02:48No, I agree with everything you're saying, but I think for some of the reasons you just pointed out, specifically
02:55about last year, I'm with you.
02:56I don't think Matthew Bergeron was great.
02:59I don't think Matthew Bergeron was bad.
03:02And I think if he can just simply be above average, it works out into his favor.
03:07Because I think that that allows them to give him not top five guard money, but enough to say, hey,
03:12you know what?
03:13You're pretty serviceable.
03:14We like the path you're on.
03:15We like how you fit in this offense.
03:17And we can go out there and try to make this happen with you for the future.
03:20I thought his rookie year, he was – I thought his first year and his third year were very similar.
03:26Yeah.
03:26I thought his second year was really good.
03:28I would say – I would go with the label good.
03:33I think his first two years were – years one and three were serviceable to the average.
03:38And an average offensive lineman in the NFL, they don't grow on trees.
03:42No doubt.
03:43I'm – there – the offensive line play in the NFL is a lot like quarterback play to me.
03:50You've got – at each position, you've got about 10 to 12 guys that are separated.
03:56And then you've got one to three to four guys who, in that group, that have separated themselves from the
04:03rest of that group.
04:04And then there's everybody else who's serviceable or you have to hide.
04:10Let's dive in this conversation a little bit further because – and again, I know people think that I talk
04:14offensive line too much.
04:15Maybe I do.
04:16Matthew Bergeron, when I was going to guess who it was going to be, I was honestly on the fence
04:21and I was going to say one of the two guards.
04:23Because I think Chris Lindstrom, obviously all pro level guard and he's built his career around the wide zone.
04:30I think that's a conversation we're going to have to have too.
04:32That guy, I'm pretty sure, past this year, is approaching a $30 million cap hit.
04:39I think in 27, I think we're at like $28 million as far as how much he's going to cost.
04:45And I think that that's an okay number if he fits in offensively to what you want to do.
04:51Now, I don't know how that bears out in terms of this season.
04:54I don't know what the dead cap is or post-June 1 or if you'd even trade him.
04:57But we're talking about a lot of money for an offensive guard on a team that has struggled over the
05:06last few years in short yardage run situations.
05:08And that's a tough pill to swallow, I think, for a lot of people.
05:10So his cap hit this year is 26.2.
05:15That's a big number.
05:16Next year, it's 28.
05:19The dead cap is 17.5 next year.
05:23And then it goes down 7.2 in 28.
05:30Okay.
05:31And I thought about this.
05:33It's a good point.
05:34I knew you were going to ask me.
05:36And I did not have all the numbers in front of me.
05:40But the one thing that immediately came to mind, if we're standing there on the street, we're sitting in a
05:44bar, and our cell phones don't have us, and you're like, why not Lindstrom?
05:47I said, well, he's under contract for a couple more years.
05:50It's easier to move on from Bergeron, get bigger over there, maybe find a guy that does more of your
05:56center stuff, and hide Lindstrom.
06:00Because you can hide players on the offensive line.
06:02Man, that's the thing.
06:03That's what I mean by if you have four good guys and one average to below average, you can normally
06:11hide him in the right spot.
06:12Let me counter, though, with saying, and again, maybe we're getting too deep in the weeds on this, but I
06:17love talking about guard play, and this is applicable in this conversation.
06:21Let me counter with you.
06:22If he's $28 million in 2027, don't you think that, if possible, and I know you can't do this.
06:30I'm just talking about in a world where you could.
06:32But if you could move, I don't know, $10 million towards Matthew Bergeron and save the $18 million, that you
06:37would probably do that, specifically citing the fact that, like you just said, Matthew Bergeron weighs 15 or 16 pounds
06:43more, probably, than Chris Lindstrom does.
06:46Well, you're not.
06:49You can't save it.
06:51I'm not saying that.
06:51I know it doesn't fit.
06:52You're saving 10 and a half, but then you've got to replace Lindstrom.
06:57I understand.
06:58And now, if you think Anyawara, or however you pronounce his name, and I apologize, when I finally, when someone,
07:05if Falcons PR's like they want to hit me up with how to pronounce his name, I'm all ears.
07:11Anyawara.
07:11But, like, if he could step in and be average, then sure.
07:18But I think if you could sign Bergeron the first year, it's going to be a little bit cheaper because
07:23of the way you can structure the deal anyways.
07:25Get to another year of Lindstrom, maybe cross-train Onwa a little bit more.
07:31Then you could get to 28, and you reboot there.
07:35We'll see what happens, man.
07:36It's going to be fascinating.
07:37It's all about the kind of offense they want to put together.
07:40This is what you can have.
07:42You know you can have conversations about the Falcons.
07:43It doesn't sit around the quarterbacks.
07:46Don't get me started.
07:47Don't tempt me with a good time.
07:49I'll go down this road all day.
07:51All right, we've got to go to break.
07:52When we come back, we're going to do a little bit of halftime.
07:54Which one?
07:55Wednesday.
07:56I'll leave you this one.
07:57And I want you to think really deeply about it before you just dump your conclusion.
08:00Who will end up with more home runs by the end of the season?
08:03Matt Olsen or the combination of Austin Riley and Ronald Acuna?
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