- 1 day ago
Drake London and the Atlanta Falcons made Drake London's contract extension official yesterday announcing that he's now under contract through the 2030-31 season. London addressed the media for the first time since the news today. Dukes and Bell break it down.
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00:00Man, let's hear from Drake London because he spoke today.
00:02He signed his deal yesterday, and certainly congratulations to Drake.
00:06We said this last week when the news got out.
00:08But he was asked about the quarterbacks,
00:10and we'll get back to Alex Van Pelt, the quarterback's coach,
00:12and what he had to say here in a second.
00:13But Drake was talking about where he's at with both Pennix and Tua.
00:17I feel great about both of them.
00:19Obviously, it's early days, and all of us are here right now competing our butts off.
00:24But I'm just glad about both spots they're in,
00:27and whether that's Tua learning the offense and whether that's MP getting back on his feet.
00:31So, yeah, I'm really happy with both of them.
00:35What's he mean, getting back on his feet?
00:36Now, you see, I was going to say, if you bring this up, you may trigger somebody.
00:40Drake said it. I didn't say it.
00:41Tua learning the offense and MP getting back on his feet.
00:45As in getting back on his feet.
00:49As in getting back to – see, Oren, this is –
00:52see, we say this, and we play the audio.
00:54That's Drake London said that.
00:56Yeah, we didn't – Dukes and Bell didn't say that.
00:57We just played the audio for it.
00:59We didn't. No.
00:59And again, doesn't mean he won't, and he's going to, right?
01:03He will be, and he'll be battling for the quarterback job,
01:05but just can't do everything that Tua is doing right now.
01:09What about Drake – Mike, and we discussed this –
01:12average value, okay, makes him the third highest paid receiver.
01:17I said to you, we asked our buddy Brian McFadden about this,
01:21and talking to people around the league is like, okay, is he the third best receiver?
01:26Guys, you can't look at it like that.
01:28His time to get this deal and the timing of it plays out where this is the annual average where
01:35he fits in.
01:36And Mike and I said, 32-35.
01:38We didn't know what it was going to be.
01:39I said, if you go over 35, I may have a problem with it because I think you might be
01:42overpaying.
01:42They didn't.
01:44So here's what Drake London said today about carrying the weight, Mike,
01:47of being the third highest paid receiver.
01:49Obviously, there's going to be a weight, and then, too, the numbers are public.
01:54I mean, everybody can see what you're making, and everybody has an opinion about that stuff.
01:58So obviously, there's a natural weight, but that's just what comes with this sport.
02:02And honestly, I'm blessed to have that weight on my back right now.
02:05So just, again, going back to I've got to level up in every single way in every category.
02:12So that's my goal right now.
02:14Yeah.
02:14And look, I agree with him on that as far as the public stuff.
02:17There are a lot.
02:18Most people are underpaid.
02:20Right.
02:20But there are people who, if you found out what they were making, you'd be hot.
02:24Because you'd be like, what is he?
02:25He's not worth that.
02:26And in the NFL and the NBA and Major League Baseball and Mike, these salaries get out,
02:31and we all go, whoa, because that's just sports.
02:34But there are people out here, and if you found out what they were making, you'd lose your mind.
02:37But the market resets, and that's why, and the key is when you have your guy.
02:42You know, like we always, again, not trying to pick and trigger Julio fans, but when Julio
02:46got his deal, and then two years later, in his mind, that guy's not as good as me, but
02:51it reset the market.
02:52And then, obviously, then it gets people a little sideways.
02:55One interesting point, though.
02:56You know, he's going to be making more than Justin Jefferson in total.
02:59Yeah.
03:00You realize he's got five more touchdowns than Justin Jefferson had last year?
03:02I didn't realize that.
03:03But Drake had seven.
03:05Again, that's dealing with some injuries, dealing with some inconsistent quarterback
03:07play.
03:08Eventually, you know, it was what it was.
03:10Who was Jefferson's quarterback last year?
03:12It was, well, a bunch of guys.
03:14It was not J.J.
03:14McCartney.
03:15That's the problem.
03:16Honestly, that's the issue.
03:18I'm willing to tell you this year with Kyler Murray, and we'll see, he gets a lot of balls
03:23and probably catches a lot of touchdowns this season.
03:25Right.
03:25But if you go by strictly the yardage because he missed some time with the injury, yeah.
03:29I mean, look, the next guy's going to get paid is Puka Nakula.
03:31If he probably wasn't doing some funky stuff off the field, the Rams might have already
03:34extended him.
03:36But Jackson Smith and Jigba, Pickens, Chase, you mentioned Amon Ross, St. Brown.
03:41These are all dudes that are doing the work.
03:43Yeah.
03:43And Pickens is franchised, right?
03:45I think.
03:45Correct.
03:45Pickens is franchised.
03:46There was a little bit of weirdness, but he signed off on it.
03:48It's Dukes and Bell, guys, talking about Drake Lennon and things he said today as he spoke
03:51to the media.
03:53Here's Drake talking about how the team is working right now under Kevin Stefanski.
03:56I would honestly just say we're working.
04:00It's a huge difference.
04:02We're working right now and we're getting after it.
04:05And everybody's here at the moment and we all have the same goal in mind.
04:11And so we're just pushing and pulling people along as we go.
04:14And I think that's the biggest difference right now is genuinely the same goal is in play.
04:20Okay.
04:21And again, the whole culture thing and what our team is, you won't know, we won't know
04:27until we see them on the field week one, week two, week three.
04:32And Mike, hopefully by that time we get into the end of September and you go, all right,
04:35well, maybe we're on to something.
04:36But they know in the building what they're doing and how it feels.
04:41You talk to people who've been around winning organizations, they will tell you, felt right.
04:45Felt right.
04:46We talked about the culture thing.
04:47And again, sometimes fans don't really grasp onto it.
04:50But all the teams, San Francisco's got a culture, right?
04:53They haven't crossed the finish line with the Super Bowl, but they're always in the mix, right?
04:57The Rams are one of those teams.
04:58The Bears think they're building that.
05:00The Eagles, despite all their soap opera dysfunction.
05:03Now the question is, for instance, they have a culture.
05:05Maybe it was good as an addition by subtraction to get A.J. Brown out of there.
05:09We never have a squeaky wheel on this team.
05:12That really has not been an issue.
05:13But, you know, the problem is, you know, we've been good enough to be in the middle of the pack.
05:18You know, we're not terrible, so we don't get that first round, that top overall pick.
05:22You know, but we're not – that's the thing.
05:25This is a year that, let's hope, the Matt Ryan era, i.e. the Ian Cunningham-Erin Stefanski thing,
05:31is one that maybe is what John Lynch built in San Francisco with Shanahan.
05:34It'd be great, Mike.
05:35Because you are competitive, and the expectation is, even in down years,
05:42where the team, like San Francisco, when they were hurt, they're still going to the playoffs.
05:45That's the crazy thing.
05:46Right, but that's where, like, if you're – like the Jets, you have no culture.
05:50No, you don't.
05:50Right?
05:50I mean, there's teams like – that's why – and that's kind of where we were trending.
05:53That's why Arthur Blank spent all that money with the consultants.
05:56Couldn't he have had somebody else tell him that?
05:58I don't know.
05:58I don't know.
05:59Doesn't matter.
05:59We turn the corner, I think.
06:01Let's – one other thing from Drake.
06:02Drake, what about the quarterback and wide receiver's relationship?
06:05We're talking about QBs and then the wide receiver room.
06:08Guys, a lot of new faces in that room.
06:09Drake's going to be the front – you know, the face of the group and certainly the leader.
06:13Here's what he said about those relationships.
06:16Understanding on both sides.
06:18Being able to cooperate and work with one another and just understand each other on the field.
06:26And that's really – you don't have to understand each other off the field or whatever.
06:29Everybody be behind the field.
06:30You've got to have that communication.
06:32So I think that's the biggest thing.
06:34Okay.
06:35Look, I think we are really in a good spot with a star-wide receiver who's very young,
06:43who Mike has got his best days ahead of him and he hasn't even hit his prime yet.
06:47The thing that he has no control over is who's delivering the ball.
06:50Right.
06:51From Marcus Mariota to Desmond Ritter to Heineke to Kirk Cousins to Michael Penix Jr.
06:57Why do you bring up Heineke?
06:58He was in there too.
07:00Remember, you and I were up there in Nashville.
07:01We've got a bench Ritter and then we thought Heineke might be the answer.
07:04He wasn't.
07:04Let's get back in this.
07:06I know he's a local guy from up north part of town.
07:07We like Utah, but it is what it was.
07:09Now you're hoping that – look, that's why when we've debated, you know,
07:12who's going to win this quarterback job, you know, it's easier for one guy
07:15if he's getting more reps.
07:16That's not – is that a lie?
07:19No.
07:20More experience.
07:21The thing will be if Michael Penix Jr. finally gets 100%, gets clearance to go 11 on 11,
07:26to really dazzle the fans against his coaching staff.
07:29But right now, Tua does have that high ground, forging relationships with guys like Drake.
07:33Yeah.
07:34No doubt.
07:34Not like they – not like they forgot who Penix Jr. is.
07:36Everybody loves him.
07:37He's been in the facility working.
07:38You know what?
07:38Remember you and I last year at camp with the Titans?
07:41Remember the fight?
07:41Mm-hmm.
07:42Everybody loves the guy.
07:43They're pulling for him.
07:44You don't think there's players on that offense that are pulling for Michael Penix Jr.?
07:46Oh, of course.
07:47I think he is very well liked by his old line.
07:50Him and Bijan have a great relationship.
07:52I absolutely do.
07:54But you know what, Mike?
07:55Sometimes you're in that huddle and you look up and the guy that should be calling the
07:59plays is not calling the plays.
08:00And you still have a job to do.
08:02And that's what – that's like – Drake's like – they asked him today about who's
08:05throwing the ball and he's like, look, I'm not overly concerned with who's throwing
08:07me the ball.
08:08When the ball is thrown, I got to catch it.
08:10Like, you still have a job to do.
08:12But yeah, I absolutely agree with you that there are guys who are rooting for Michael
08:15Penix.
08:16Hey, last but not least on this, Alex Manpel is the quarterback's coach.
08:19And I said this.
08:19Guys, to me, he's going to be the most important guy in the development of Michael
08:22Penix because he's going to be around him every day.
08:24He's the guy that's helping him on a daily basis.
08:28I'm not telling you Stefanski's not involved or, for that matter, Tommy Reese.
08:31But when you say, man, Penix has improved, this is the guy we'll be talking about.
08:35Here's what he said about showing our quarterbacks film of guys that
08:40he thinks can help them understand even more of what they're looking to do.
08:44Oh, I definitely use all the quarterbacks I've coached.
08:47We have extensive drill tapes and game tapes of exactly what we're looking for with our
08:51footwork, what we're trying to get accomplished in our drills.
08:53I show a lot of Aaron Rodgers film, a lot of Andy Dalton, a lot of Stafford, guys that
08:59have been around and watched perform at high levels.
09:01So we definitely lean on those guys for teaching.
09:04He talks a lot about footwork, or at least he did yesterday.
09:07But I also think, Mike, that's what they're working on.
09:10It's not just, all right, let's throw some out patterns.
09:12Give me a couple down the field.
09:14Like, how you get to that.
09:16And he talks about the body and your feet being lined up.
09:19All the stuff that you take for granted, because we don't play quarterback, but that
09:22stuff matters.
09:23And about the balance and the ball, I mean, we've got to get the completion percentage
09:26up for Mike, right?
09:27One way or the other.
09:29And it's not Michael Pettix Jr.'s fault that Zach Robinson didn't.
09:33Think about the amount of people that were around him the last two years and the guys
09:37now that are coaching the offense that are in that room.
09:40I mean, across the board, it's an upgrade.
09:42But I mean, unfortunately, they wasted two years of Michael Pettix Jr.'s development, if I'm
09:47honest, and now, you know, he's got to play catch up in that sense, too.
09:51The one thing that helps Michael Pettix Jr. is, too, also has to do more of the stuff
09:54he wasn't doing last few years in Miami.
09:56Yeah.
09:57Yeah.
09:57I would agree.
09:58What do you guys think?
09:59404-726-0929.
10:01Follow us, man.
10:01Well, did you think his footwork looked funky last year at times?
10:04Pettix Jr. in the pocket?
10:05Well, I think it was sometimes, and I want to be careful, like, you make things as simplistic
10:12as possible, so I don't have to think about all these different things.
10:16And I think what Kevin and Tommy Reese want to do, Mike, is getting back to, again, what
10:22this kind of looked like when Kyle was here.
10:24Right.
10:24And even Matt.
10:26Matt knows what that looks like.
10:27And I think, we're talking about Matt Ryan, that's a little bit more complex than me being
10:32in the pistol, turning around, faking off a handoff, and then turning around and throwing
10:37a pass.
10:38I'm not taking anything away from that, but I just think that what they're asking and what
10:42this is, it's a little bit more involved.
10:44So, yes.
10:44And he said he's got more work to do under the center drops.
10:49But that's part of it.
10:50Don't you just wish they had done that two summers ago?
10:53Of course.
10:55Period.
10:56But you have to have the right guys to do it.
10:58I don't think we had the guy in the building.
11:00I just think because the Rams did so much under center, and again, they just said Matthew
11:04Stafford.
11:04There's a place for center.
11:06It's not like you're not going to be in shotgun.
11:08You and I got pistol to death last year.
11:10We got pistol whipped by that offense in times the last two years.
11:13Yeah.
11:14Well, and look, I wouldn't be surprised if they still use it.
11:16I just don't think they're going to use it as much.
11:17I just don't think they'll be in charge.
11:17I hope they didn't do it.
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