00:00That was the only fun thing that happened during COVID.
00:02I guess a lot of people liked working from home,
00:04but I didn't really like working from home.
00:06As it stands right now, and obviously things can change,
00:08the season is still a number of months away,
00:10but by and large, the Falcons roster is what the Falcons roster is going to be.
00:14They may add a veteran at some point during training camp
00:18when some of those guys get cut by other teams.
00:20Maybe there's a defensive lineman that they can add.
00:22I don't know.
00:22But by and large, the Falcons roster is what it's going to be.
00:24When you look at it, say that this is who they're going to the season with,
00:30where do you feel like they're better right now
00:32than they were going into last season?
00:35Special teams?
00:36Definitely.
00:37Definitely.
00:38I mean, the most glaring, obvious answer would be special teams?
00:42Because that's the thing they were legitimately—
00:44Custom games.
00:45Custom games.
00:45Actively custom games.
00:46Multiple games between the kicker and the punt coverage
00:48and the punt returner.
00:50There were so many bad mistakes by the special teams last year
00:54that, yeah, that's absolutely right.
00:55If their special teams was just average last year,
00:58there's a pretty good chance that they make the playoffs.
00:59Two, maybe three more wins?
01:00Yeah, probably.
01:01Honestly, probably realistic.
01:03Yeah.
01:04They go 9-8, 10-7, something like that,
01:06if special teams is just an average special team.
01:09So, yeah, I'm with you.
01:10Assuming that these guys that they've brought in are going to be average, then—
01:13Yeah, Nick Folk is the kicker, plays the Jung-Wa-Ku.
01:16Bradley Pinion, who was the punters out.
01:18I think it was David Bailey.
01:19Yeah.
01:20Long snapper, Liam McCullough, still there.
01:22Still there, and he was good.
01:22And we expect, I think, Zachariah Branch maybe as a return man?
01:26I think so.
01:27Last year was supposed to be Agnew, and we never saw that?
01:29Yeah.
01:30And then was it Agnew—
01:31We dropped a couple of punts.
01:32Was it Agnew that tried to field the punt against the Jets
01:35and fumbled it at the goal line, or was it—I don't remember.
01:38I thought it was maybe one of the other DBs.
01:41I'm not sure.
01:41But anyway, that was obviously a disaster.
01:43But again, assuming Zachariah Branch is the kick returner,
01:46that's exciting.
01:48Should be.
01:49That's a chance for that to be like a real weapon for a team
01:52that hasn't had that in a long time.
01:54Not fair catch leader.
01:56Which, again, when the—
01:58NFL fair catch leader.
01:59When the offense was rolling, fair catch it.
02:01That's fine.
02:01But the offense hasn't been good, and the kick returners haven't been good.
02:05Yeah.
02:05So, maybe, you know, some extra yards there.
02:08I also—you know, I just kind of looked at the tight end room last year.
02:12Kyle Pitts, Charlie Warner, Cotoriano, and Felipe Franks.
02:17I think the addition of Austin Hooper, along with Kyle Pitts and Charlie Warner,
02:21now slashed a third on the depth chart as opposed to second.
02:24Like, it just feels a little bit better.
02:29Other than that?
02:30Right.
02:31Other than that, not really.
02:32Like, I think you can make arguments for different position groups,
02:34and you and I will, but, like, those are the two that jumped out at me.
02:37It's like, I think you are very safely saying that you're better there this year
02:42than last year.
02:43Yeah.
02:43I mean, I think the receiver room is better.
02:46It might not be better on paper because Darno Mooney, on paper,
02:49is a really good player.
02:50He just wasn't that guy all season because he broke his collarbone
02:53the first day of training camp and seemingly never recovered from it.
02:56Right.
02:57I think Jahan Dotson is an interesting experiment.
03:02We'll see.
03:02It's a tough read at receiver this year because I think you got
03:04two guys where you don't really know what they're going to be this year.
03:07Jahan Dotson is one of them, and then I think Zachariah Branch is probably
03:10the other.
03:10The good thing, though, is you do know exactly what Olamide Zakiya is going to be.
03:14Now, he's not going to be a pro bowler, but if he's your third or fourth option
03:20in the pass game, as he has been in various spots the last handful of years,
03:25he can pick up 400 or 500 yards.
03:27He's going to catch the ball.
03:29He's very sure-handed, and he'll score a couple touchdowns.
03:33I like that.
03:34And again, I'm not saying Olamide Zakiya is making you go from this team to this team.
03:38It's not making a huge jump, but it's a really nice depth piece.
03:42Where last year, the Falcons had zero depth at wide receiver.
03:45When Darnell Mooney got hurt, it was a disaster.
03:47Yeah, and I think that's the question.
03:49If John Dotson comes anywhere close, I don't even mean anywhere close to being a legit
03:55wide receiver two, not even knowing what Branch's role and how he's going to fit into this,
04:00but again, as you correctly pointed out, feeling pretty good about what we're going to get
04:04out of Zakiya and knowing that.
04:06If Dotson's anywhere close to a number two, this is a much better receiver room than we
04:11had last year.
04:12Much better.
04:12There were weeks last year, late in the year, when Drake got hurt, where your main options
04:18were really like David Sills.
04:20Well, those are the games where Pitts?
04:22Yeah, obviously, Pitts was the main option in the past game that I'm just talking about
04:27from a wide receiver standpoint.
04:28Yeah, it was not good.
04:28There were games where you attempted less than five passes to wide receivers because you just
04:33didn't have any options.
04:34So yeah, hopefully the depth there is better.
04:36And again, Drake London obviously got that nice contract earlier this week.
04:41Hopefully, he can stay healthy this year because the full 17 games of Drake London probably
04:45has another 100 catches and another 12, 13, 1400 yards and touchdowns.
04:49So he just was so banged up last year, couldn't play.
04:53Missed like seven games.
04:54Offensive line's an interesting discussion.
04:56You obviously thought you were set last year.
04:58Caleb McGarry goes down and now you're struggling there at left tackle.
05:02You've got most of the same guys.
05:05Matthews, Bergeron, Ryan Newsel, Chris Lindstrom.
05:07The difference is you went into last season, after the McGarry injury with Elijah Wilkinson.
05:12Storm Norton was hurt.
05:14You go into the season with Taylor.
05:19And I think Juwan Taylor is probably, at the start of the season, feels like an upgrade
05:24from what Wilkinson was last year.
05:25So I would think the offensive line, if they stay healthy, feels like they should be better
05:30than last year, right?
05:31Right.
05:32If you put it like that, what you went to week one with last year is worse than what
05:38you have on paper right now.
05:40And that's just because Juwan Taylor's better than Elijah Wilkinson.
05:44The rest of the line's the same.
05:46Yeah.
05:46And, you know, which is fine.
05:47I mean, Jake Matthews is over there at left tackle, as he has been for 100 years, and
05:52is really solid.
05:54And I just don't think the offensive line was the main cause of a lot of the issues that
05:59the team had last year.
06:00Although the right side got pretty bad as the season went on.
06:03It wasn't the cause, but it wasn't a cover-up either.
06:05And I think that's part of the discussion, is if you're going to have less than stellar
06:10quarterback play or whatever, let's at least get a line that can maybe help out, give this
06:16guy time to throw it away or whatever.
06:18What is the quarterback situation right now compared to what the quarterback situation
06:22was last year?
06:24In my opinion, it's worse.
06:26Yeah.
06:26In my opinion, it's worse.
06:28I think so, too.
06:29And look, I don't feel the same way about Kirk Cousins that a lot of people felt, or still
06:34feel.
06:35I just don't.
06:38What does that mean?
06:39I don't hold this nonsense against him.
06:42I don't think he was bad.
06:43I don't think, like, we all understand what happened, and it was tough to take at the
06:46time.
06:47But, like, I don't want to sit here and be like, well, your backup now is Tua, and your
06:52backup last year was Kirk Cousins.
06:54Like, Kirk's better.
06:55Kirk had been better.
06:56Yeah.
06:57I mean, I think they're pretty similar guys right now, as far as where he's at in his
07:01career.
07:02Sure, sure.
07:03Because Kirk, like, second half of the year last year when Pennix...
07:05But I'm not downgrading Kirk just because of what happened, I guess.
07:08I'm taking Kirk at what level of performance it was.
07:11No, I'm not.
07:12He won four straight games at the end of last year.
07:14He did, yeah.
07:14Like, that's not irrelevant.
07:16But he didn't play very well.
07:17No.
07:17And they played bum-ass teams.
07:19Sure.
07:19And he's a dork.
07:21But that's not...
07:22That's got nothing to do with it.
07:24Well, that's why I never got on board with Kirk Cousins.
07:25I think a Pennix Cousins quarterback room...
07:27Best case scenario, Kirk Cousins is never that good.
07:30Healthy Pennix, and then whatever Cousins was last year, I think it's a better starting
07:33quarterback room than question mark Pennix, health-wise, and Tua.
07:38Well, because last year your starter was Pennix and he was healthy.
07:40Yeah.
07:40And right now, Pennix is hurt.
07:43So it's definitely different.
07:44And I don't think Jack Strand makes up the difference.
07:47No, I don't think so.
07:48Or Trevor Simeon.
07:49If we see either one of those guys at any point, we're screwed.
07:53All right.
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