00:00Joe, after the draft is all settled now, we are waiting for the, quote, second wave of free agency to
00:07get underway.
00:08What would you say is the Falcons' most pressing need still remaining at this time?
00:14Well, I don't know if there's, like, a single need.
00:16I think what teams are always doing this time of year is trying to get depth, you know.
00:22I would say, you know, like, if there is something surprising, like a David Njoku, for example,
00:27I would say certainly that would mean something, but I don't necessarily foresee that.
00:32I mean, Chris, frankly, like, you know, I just don't like it.
00:36I mean, not that there's any, like, huge dollar names out there other than, you know, maybe Njoku.
00:40I haven't honestly looked at the list that much.
00:42But, I mean, I think the Falcons basically have most of their team.
00:46They'll be looking to fill out the practice squad and everything.
00:49But this offseason, in the first wave of free agency showed us,
00:53this is not a team that's looking to splash the cash necessarily this offseason.
00:59That will happen next offseason, I firmly believe.
01:01And I think that this offseason is kind of setting the groundwork for that.
01:06I think the biggest thing that's going to happen for the Falcons,
01:10as far as the roster is concerned, from here,
01:13is getting these long-term deals done that we've been talking about now for, gosh, months,
01:18I guess it's been, for both B. John Robinson and Drake London.
01:21And hopefully they can get both of them done.
01:23I know they're trying to get both of them done.
01:24We'll see.
01:25But I don't see, like, the free agents that are left as kind of being anything major
01:30for the Falcons, barring some sort of injury situation that might crop up.
01:34But even that won't happen, you know, until they probably get pads on
01:37or at least do something in OTAs.
01:40You think there's a possibility Bajon gets signed before Drake?
01:45Yeah, for sure.
01:46I mean, actually, I've kind of been of the mind that I actually think his deal
01:51is a lot easier to get done because I think that Bajon, the player,
01:56will be more invested in getting a deal done.
02:01And the reason why I don't think a deal is going to be so easy for Drake London
02:04is not from the Falcons' perspective necessarily.
02:07I think that it serves Drake London and his bank account
02:11to just basically keep stringing this thing out.
02:14As long as he's confident that he's going to stay healthy
02:16and he's going to be productive, for any receiver, any top receiver,
02:22you know, just building leverage, getting to the end of your contract,
02:27forcing the franchise tags, all those things just push the price up on you.
02:32And so I think that's a lot trickier when to get done.
02:34I think if you look at Bajon Robinson, you know,
02:37you look at the Saquon Barkley deal that the Eagles did with him
02:40and you see, you know, a lot of void years on the end of that
02:44that kind of, you know, make the deal feasible.
02:46And ultimately what that deal is, it's like a three-year deal, basically.
02:50And yes, it can go longer, but after about three seasons,
02:55I believe it was from the last time I looked at it,
02:57he's very cuttable, basically.
02:58And I think it's interesting that, you know, the Falcons hired,
03:02gosh, I'm forgetting his name.
03:03His last name is Johnston, but the contract guy,
03:05and he comes from the Eagles, so it'll be,
03:08I'm sure they'll be leveraging his experience in that negotiation
03:11to get something done with Bajon.
03:13I would certainly think whatever deal that they do get done with Bajon,
03:15which I think will happen this summer,
03:17will, you know, he'll be the top earning, running back in the NFL, no doubt.
03:22So when it comes to the pick of Kendall Daniels,
03:26I've seen online, Bryce Johnston, by the way, is the name of the Eagles.
03:30Bryce Johnston, thank you.
03:32So Kendall Daniels.
03:34Some are calling him my doppelganger.
03:36Is that right?
03:36I got to see.
03:37Mainly the bald head.
03:38Mainly the bald head.
03:39I'm getting ribbed by my friends for that.
03:42That's, Joe, we got to set these people.
03:44That's, you know what?
03:45I'm looking at a picture now.
03:46It's not the worst take I've ever heard.
03:48I mean, it's.
03:49Yeah, no, I'll take it.
03:51I'll take it.
03:52There's many words.
03:53It's not spitting image, but there's definitely,
03:55like if you guys told me you were like first cousins,
03:58I would be like, yeah, absolutely.
04:00Absolutely.
04:01All right.
04:02So I've seen a lot of online discourse about the pick of Kendall Daniels
04:06in the fourth round with honestly, Joe,
04:08not a lot of positivity being thrown there, thrown the way.
04:12I think CBS sports gave the grade a D plus for the selection.
04:15And I've seen that similarly elsewhere.
04:18Is that just because you think he's got a lot of raw upside or was there
04:23better value at the place where they picked?
04:26Why do you think that pick is getting panned?
04:29And I mean,
04:30I think it gets panned in the media because he was supposed to go a lot
04:34later, but I think that, you know,
04:37when you're at this point in the draft,
04:38you look for players that you think you can be successful with you being
04:43your organization, your coaches.
04:45And in the case of Kendall Daniels,
04:48I think you have a situation where he probably is a bad fit for a lot of
04:52teams, a lot of teams, but not, not a Jeff Ulbrich defense.
04:56Jeff Ulbrich wants players just like Kendall Daniels.
04:59And will he ultimately pan out and, and, and be a starter,
05:03be a good player, be a hit basically in this draft?
05:07Who knows?
05:07But I think that from the Falcons perspective,
05:09they were going for traits on this last day of the draft.
05:14And I think they have a pretty realistic mind about it,
05:16which just follows the analytics, which says that, you know,
05:19obviously you're more likely to hit on earlier picks.
05:21And the deeper you go into the draft, the less likely it is.
05:24And I think there's a threshold where once you kind of get past a certain
05:28point of likelihood of them kind of ultimately panning out,
05:31then you might as well go for some high upside shots.
05:35And I think that that's what the Falcons see in Kendall Daniels as being a guy
05:38who just has so many tools, but not a lot of experience, not, you know,
05:42maybe ready to play, you know, linebacker, uh, right now.
05:47Um, he, and he will still have a lot to learn both schematically and,
05:51you know, adjusting to the physicality and speed of the NFL.
05:54But I'm one that, uh, just, you know,
05:57in seeing what Jeff Holbrook did with divine Diablo last year alone.
06:01I mean,
06:01I think that that is one where you look back to the way that people were
06:04reacting to that signing.
06:05Everyone was saying that the Falcons overpaid for divine Diablo.
06:08I think if you looked at the film,
06:09there was some legitimate concerns about how well he was going to be able to do as
06:14an every down linebacker.
06:15And he did not, not only did he like kind of, you know,
06:18nullify those concerns.
06:19I mean, he was way better than anybody expected in pretty much every area.
06:23So not saying that that's going to happen with Kendall Daniels,
06:25but I think that that's why the Falcons felt like it made sense for them.
06:29And it made sense to pick him where they did instead of potentially waiting,
06:33him getting grabbed by somebody else.
06:34And then they're kind of, you know, onto a different plan.
06:37Are you surprised at all that it really seems like it's full steam ahead with
06:41Ryan Neusel?
06:44I kind of am.
06:46I think that this was, you know, like, you know, who knows,
06:49like maybe there is a world for us where they, they, they, they,
06:55they, they go with somebody else, maybe a center, I guess,
06:58instead of Kendall Daniels.
06:59And then they don't get Kendall Daniels, but they have a center.
07:01You know,
07:01I think the center was definitely a possibility for them in the draft.
07:05Um, but they did address that, uh, in, in, uh, UDFA with the guy,
07:10Brockermeyer, I forget his first name.
07:12Again, I'm really bad with first names here this evening.
07:14I've been staring at a computer screen too long today, but, uh, I know that,
07:17you know, Mike Johnson from the morning shift was, was very, um,
07:20intrigued by, by, by him, uh, as a guy who was formerly in Alabama,
07:25then went on and played for Miami this most recent season.
07:28And, um, and that's kind of where you can get some centers.
07:31I mean, center is an interesting position because it's very cerebral.
07:33You have to be smart.
07:34You have to be able to recognize things that defenses are doing, um,
07:38and recognizing like fronts to get yourself in the best protections and
07:41things like that.
07:42But you have a good amount of help.
07:45Typically you're typically not going against guys who, you know,
07:48are super skilled, like pass rushing.
07:50And so as long as you can physically hold up against some of these defensive
07:53tackles without giving too much ground, then you're doing your job.
07:56And so I think it's a worthwhile gambit for, for, for the, for the Falcons.
07:59I wouldn't have been against them drafting a guy either, but again,
08:02like if you're drafting a center in their situation, you're not going,
08:05you're not going to use your second or third round pick on that player.
08:08You're going to use a later round pick that has some upside.
08:10And I think that that's what they see in Brockermeyer, the UDFA anyway.
08:13So we're certainly potentially on the radar for them,
08:16but I think they're just going to let this thing, um, play out a little bit and,
08:20and they'll see where they go.
08:21Again, I think that this is to kind of go back to what we were talking about
08:23in three agency.
08:24It's kind of a, a building year that I believe that news will find a two year
08:28deal going into last year.
08:29So this might be the end of the last year of his deal as well.
08:32So, um,
08:33I think there's going to kind of play their cards with a cheap player at that
08:36position for now.
08:37When do you think we get the next update on Penix?
08:42So I think it'll probably be an OTAs and I mean,
08:46it sounds like, and you know,
08:49we're going to Instagram him dancing at the wedding and stuff.
08:51Like, I think he's going, just like seeing that,
08:54I think he's going to be out there at some point, um, during OTAs.
08:59I'm not saying he's going to be, you know, taking snaps.
09:02Maybe he will, but like, he'll, I think that he will be out there throwing.
09:07I think Kevin Stefanski will want him to at least kind of be hearing the plays
09:11coming through the helmet and just feeling like touching the grass,
09:14kind of feeling like he's out there part of it.
09:16And remember, like,
09:18I think that there's still an expectation from the Falcons that he's going to be
09:21part of a quarterback competition, uh, to, to,
09:24to win the starting job in week one.
09:26I know that we all kind of think that Tua has a huge leg up there,
09:29but it is a competition nonetheless.
09:31And so I think it benefits everybody for,
09:34for Penix to be on the field as much as possible,
09:37even if he's not able to do, you know,
09:39any kind of scrimmaging necessarily,
09:41even if he's just kind of throwing an individual drill,
09:43I think all of that would be good for him and it will, um,
09:46also give us a little bit of insight as to how he is progressing physically.
09:51And hopefully they can,
09:52he can use that time to get himself ready to be ready for, for OTA.
09:55It was kind of similar to, uh,
09:57Kirk Cousins when he was coming off that Achilles and he was out there for OTAs,
10:00not doing a whole lot,
10:01but still doing some throwing and stuff like that.
10:03And he was out there day one of, of, uh, training camp.
10:06So I would expect something similar to that.
10:08Joe, before I let you go,
10:09we pan them when they deserve to be panned three wins across all competition
10:14or is what you seeing from Atlanta United right now,
10:17something that could start to turn the tide or is this not that I know?
10:22I actually, so, you know, like you can take my word for it.
10:26Cause I have just crushed this team.
10:28When I've talked to you about them recently,
10:30I think they've actually found something.
10:31Now I don't think that there's like all of a sudden they're going to be some,
10:35you know, barn burning team or anything,
10:37but I think that they found something with Alexi Moranchuk,
10:41who is very important.
10:42You know, you got to get your, your best players playing.
10:44Well, they have found a way to do that.
10:47Despite the fact that Miguel Almaron is out.
10:48In fact,
10:49I think that with Miguel Almaron leaving forced Tata to experiment in some ways
10:54that has actually allowed the team to get better.
10:55And I think that when Miguel Almaron does return,
10:57there is the possibility that he can be kind of added to that.
11:00It's not that they're playing well because he's out,
11:03but they're playing well.
11:04Well, it is kind of,
11:05they're playing well because he's out,
11:06but I think that they can get even better when he does ultimately return.
11:09We'll see,
11:09but I think it's just in general,
11:11really good to see them and fun to watch them score some goals again,
11:15especially at Mercedes-Benz Stadium,
11:17which they did in their last win.
11:18So let's hope we see it again on Saturday.
11:20Joe,
11:20appreciate you as always.
11:21We'll check out Joe Patrick on football on the 92 on the game,
11:24YouTube channel,
11:25and wherever you get your podcasts and we'll chat next week.
Comments