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Will McFadden discusses the Atlanta Falcons' schedule outlook and the competitive shifts within the NFC South. The conversation explores the strategy for Bijan Robinson's touches and evaluates the team's newest additions following rookie minicamp.
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00:00to our buddy will mcfadden senior writer and editor for atlantafalcons.com will it is going
00:06to be a fun night tomorrow but there is one thing we can say before we know the 16 of
00:13the 17 games
00:14remaining because we found out they'll be in spain in week nine we'll get to that in a second
00:18it will not be easy sledding for our dirty birds my friend they have some tough opponents on that
00:24schedule yeah they absolutely do chris i mean anytime you you're playing kind of the nfc north
00:32the uh afc north those those are some really tough matchups and it feels like every single year
00:39you know when you immediately get the schedule and everybody thinks they know
00:43the versions of the team that they're going to get five six months from now i feel like it never
00:49ends up actually panning out that way and you get a team you know maybe last year like minnesota where
00:53you expect them to be juggernauts and they kind of slip back and then you look at a team like
00:57seattle and you think all right maybe they'll be middle of the pack or a good matchup and all of
01:03a sudden they're super bowl champs so yeah it looks tough and i i only expect it to probably get
01:09tougher
01:09once the games actually start happening and the other thing i think we need to discuss and i've had
01:14a couple of national uh guys on who cover the entire league who i don't think are as close to
01:19it
01:19who disagreed with me but will i think the division got a lot better this offseason
01:25i agree i mean i i think when you you can look at it in two different buckets right i
01:31think you can
01:31look at free agency and in that aspect kind of the biggest additions may have been in new orleans
01:39you know with uh the addition of trevor etn and and some of the guys that they added
01:45offensively down there obviously bringing caden ellis back we hate to see that but
01:49free agency i think the saints were aggressive and attacked a lot and then when you look at the draft
01:54i mean i tampa bay ended up with a lot of the guys that i really really liked going into
01:59it um
02:00ted hurst may be at the the top of that list um and carolina i thought they did some interesting
02:07things i i think the monroe freeling selection like i'm curious to see if he if he is a day
02:12one starter
02:13then that's a ton of value and i even if he is more of a pick for the future like
02:18i think that
02:19they did um enough in the draft to at least kind of maintain if not maybe take a step forward
02:25certainly on offense um so yeah like i agree with you i think when you look by and large around
02:32the
02:32nfc south yeah you can point to levante david retiring mike evans leaving the division things like
02:38that where the brand name players some of them may have left but i do expect uh the nfc south
02:45to be a competitive division again and a tight division because i think even though all the
02:51teams improved i don't know if one is really pulled away from the pack rookie camp over the weekend i
02:58got
02:59to say well i really liked what i heard from both the players and the coaching staff it really seems
03:03like everybody's in lockstep in terms of not only the type of player that they want but the mindset
03:09that comes with that as they try to build up this program a thousand percent i i think that one
03:15of the
03:15things that has struck me so far about um kind of this new falcons leadership group has been their
03:23attention to detail their kind of just understanding of exactly what they want you can usually kind of
03:31get a read on where teams stand in in that specific aspect based on the messaging conversations with
03:39them throughout the start of you know from january to to now there's a long time between that and you
03:46they have a lot of media appearances a lot of opportunities but in every touch point whether it
03:50be kevin stefanski ian cunningham any of the assistants matt ryan like the message has been clear uh you know
03:58they want to bring in some smart intelligent football players who are going to compete it's clear through
04:06the draft there there's some value in the big collegiate programs whether it's clemson or georgia
04:12lsu um you saw a lot of the commonality in those picks and guys like zachariah branch and avion terrell
04:20like
04:20really stood out to me when we got the chance to speak to them after they were selected because of
04:26that mindset of like it's one thing every team is going to tell you that they want competition that
04:31they want guys to come in here who who have kind of that self-starting mindset but then it's another
04:37thing to actually talk to the players and come away feeling exactly that and and that is what i got
04:43out
04:43of zachariah branch and avion terrell and all of the day three picks as well so from kind of a
04:49cohesive
04:50standpoint in terms of division and what they're looking for i think they did a great job of everybody
04:55getting on the same page early on and then following through on that vision in free agency in the draft
05:02and now is when the rubber really hits the road but i think the rookie minicamp returns hearing those
05:08those first year players talk over the weekend seeing them out on the field you get the sense that they
05:13are they're ready they're coming in they know it's their business to handle kevin's fancy wants a
05:18player-led culture and i i get the sense that they brought in a lot of players this offseason that
05:23are
05:23going to fit right into that culture one guy who's going to have a chance to do just that kendall
05:28daniels fourth round pick linebacker linebacker out of oklahoma i've seen a lot of post-draft analysis
05:36and the consensus being that the falcons reached there but will i think you have to argue for what
05:41they need that guy could come right in and have a major impact right away if he if he plays
05:46up to it
05:48absolutely i mean i think he's i think we've kind of reached the point in the the post-draft cycle
05:54where zachariah branch avion terrell obviously everybody was talking about them coming out of
05:59it but now it kind of feels like kendall daniels is the the sneaky just favorite pick before a down
06:04has even been played right because when you look at him he's six five he's you know 242 he former
06:11safety all the length in the world it's it's easy to envision him playing kind of a a little bit
06:18of
06:18a positionless role on this defense which is so important in today's nfl you know i wrote um a
06:25piece that actually went up on atlantafalcons.com not too long ago looking at at specifically kind
06:30of ian cunningham's first three picks and how they are a unique blend of all of his previous stops
06:38in his nfl career you've got baltimore and and how much they value just football players and value
06:45in the draft that's avion terrell you look at philly and kind of how much they love traits and
06:50and um dominant traits at that but also this georgia pipeline as zachariah branch and then you look at
06:57day three with kendall daniels their first pick there and to me it's like tremaine edmonds is is a great
07:04model for what he could be in chicago and at that middle linebacker position next to tj edwards
07:11like he has been flourishing he has nine interceptions in the last three years which are the most among
07:17linebackers uh in that time so if he can slide in right next to divine diablo and it's early we
07:24don't
07:24know really what the linebacker rotation is going to look like that's one of the the biggest things i'm
07:30going to be watching uh kind of from now to the start of the season is just how that emerges
07:35but
07:36if kendall daniels is able to progress pretty quickly here then i i really do think the falcons
07:42are whatever the the pre-draft rankings said whatever the the consensus big board said i think
07:49they'll come away feeling really really good about that pick um if he develops the way they expect him
07:54to talking all things dirty birds with our buddy will mcfadden check out his work
07:58at atlantafalcons.com one thing i'm going to be very curious to see especially early on will with
08:04the offense is kevin stefanski not giving into the temptation to give the ball to bajon robinson 35
08:10times a game because whether it's tua or whether it's pennix they're both going to be learning the
08:16new offense they're both uh quarterbacks that could take a little time to get into rhythm here in
08:21atlanta so you know making sure that you don't run bajon robinson ragging i think could almost be
08:27a challenge it's like you have this golden ticket but you got to use it you know at the proper
08:31times
08:33yeah i i think the i think the key here is maximizing his efficiency right it's you want
08:42to keep him involved but to your point you don't want him to kind of have meaningless is a strong
08:51word
08:51but you want to make sure that the touches he's getting in each game maximize his chance uh to
08:58produce at the highest level so whether that is handing him the ball off or quick screens kind of
09:05throwing it out in the flat having him run these option routes any chance that he has at getting the
09:10ball in space should be kind of like in my opinion the primary goal so if and that is why
09:18i think brian
09:18robinson is is here and that is why they valued tyler algier so much because they are able to i
09:25think
09:25have the carries and the touches with the most um violence attached to them again for lack of a better
09:33word like if if bajon is able to kind of stay relatively clean on his plays then i think you
09:41are able to get him the ball a fairly significant amount i mean he is in my opinion i think
09:47the best
09:48like most dynamic weapon that the falcons have ever had like i mean he's on the short list of
09:56of short lists and the falcons have had some amazing athletes in their day but i'm looking right now at
10:02his his touches the last two years in 2024 365 in 2025 366 so his efficiency on a basically the
10:15same
10:15amount of touches escalated immensely he got like 400 more yards on just one more touch and the most
10:22shocking thing was when we talked to him a little bit ago he said that he felt fresh at the
10:27end of
10:27the season based on the routine that he and christian mccaffrey have been adhering to they've been
10:33working out the last couple of off seasons worked out again this off season and he said that that kind
10:38of routine and just paying attention to his body come week 18 he was like i could i could keep
10:44playing
10:45which obviously that's the goal and you want to get into the playoffs and feeling good um so while i
10:50agree with you that i don't want to see bajon suddenly turn into michael turner and be running
10:56the ball 400 times on the ground i do think or i would be curious let's put it this way
11:01i'd be curious
11:02to see if tommy reese and kevin stansky view him being right around that 360 touch mark like he has
11:09been or if they do indeed want to lower that number to closer to 300 or 325 like i think
11:16you're on to
11:17something here but i also think the bajon in the right situations can handle another big workload
11:23a little in the weeds here but are you surprised a guy i was keeping a close eye on was
11:28brandon
11:28frazier the the tight end from auburn i felt like he had a real shot to fit into the scheme
11:34here of
11:34what stansky was trying to do as a true big inline blocking tight end but they decided to part ways
11:41with him as part of their first moves after the draft are you surprised you didn't get a longer look
11:48you know i like maybe i it's honestly it's tough it's always tough to tell with with these types of
11:54players because it could be one of a number of reasons right like the the player and this is pure
12:01speculation on my part but like it could be the culture fit thing it could be off the field stuff
12:07it could be you know just we're looking at the position matrix chart that we have and we have a
12:13bigger need over here and so where can where is there maybe an expendable or an extra kind of guy
12:18all
12:19right it's it's at this spot so unfortunately that's a move you got to make like i i agree and
12:24i
12:24think that the falcons will utilize a lot of tight ends if you look at kevin spansky's history
12:30at cleveland as a head coach he kind of he got into heavier personnel sets as he went along it
12:37was it
12:37was 12 personnel 13 personnel like he was a little bit ahead of the rams even in in leaning on
12:44that
12:44almost to like an arthur smith degree so yeah like i think frazier would have been an interesting
12:50player to keep in the mix but i get the sense a little bit that the the tight end room
12:56feels
12:57pretty set with the the top three and charlie warner austin hooper and kyle pitts maybe they keep a
13:03fourth for that extra in line because kyle is such a a dynamic receiving threat but yeah it's it's tough
13:12to tell this time of year with so many players and so many transactions i i generally just kind of
13:18wait and see until i get my eyes on them for two three weeks at a time in training camp
13:22yeah no i
13:23totally understand and one more on that front before i let you go a guy who i thought really
13:28had a chance to contribute to this team over the last couple of years carlos washington the running
13:33back he was also let go during that early transaction period what do you think the falcons because i mean
13:39yes you can go through the season with primarily using two running backs but at times you will need
13:46to dress another guy or two do you think the falcons have options on this team
13:52yeah and i mean as much as i hate it for for carlos uh who is known in the building
13:58as los uh he's a he's
14:00i hate it personally because i really enjoyed he came on a podcast last year uh ruffled feathers he and
14:06tyler algier kind of were joining me on that um and so i i really like him as a person
14:12i think he's a
14:12great culture fit in any locker room but this is another situation where it purely could be
14:18stylistic fit it could be um you know familiarity with with coaches things like that although michael
14:25petrie is is there so they have a good sense of what he can do which to me means this
14:29is a more
14:30informed decision uh and there is a reason why uh but i i think to answer your question with tyler
14:37goodson on the roster um you know they're they're not they've got three that i think they would feel
14:43comfortable going into the season with because he was a free agent uh and he is a little bit of
14:48a
14:48smaller i think receiving threat speedy guy out of the backfield they also have nathan carter um who
14:54signed as a udfa last year so they they're not like thin at the running back position but i certainly
15:01would have loved to see carlos washington still on this roster and and you never know like i have
15:06been part of off seasons where a guy gets released and then two weeks later he's brought back or later
15:11in training camp you know they they want to evaluate somebody else it's not working hey carlos is still
15:16available we know what he can do he knows us let's bring him in um and do it that way
15:20so you know
15:21yeah like i i hate it for carlos um but let's not count it out just yet
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