00:00I am someone who believes in changing their opinion when presented with new information.
00:04I started off this show, actually, with one of my first shows saying,
00:10I don't know how competitive the Falcons are going to be.
00:12I kind of looked around at the rest of the division,
00:15and I wasn't fully sold on their ability to compete.
00:23I thought everyone else in this division took pointed steps forward,
00:27and with your questions at quarterback,
00:31it was really tough for me to kind of buy into the notion
00:36that this team was going to be able to keep up with some of the progression
00:40that was going on around the division.
00:42Also, new staff, trying to figure out things.
00:45You were maybe more so worried about figuring out what you had in Penix,
00:49but there was something that I saw that kind of really put this in perspective for me,
00:57and it was an article that I read over the weekend from ESPN from one Seth Walder
01:04who put out an article where he proposed a couple of trades
01:07that some teams could be looking at and good fits for certain players.
01:14And the number one trade that he had,
01:17or at least the first one that was mentioned in the article,
01:20involved the Atlanta Falcons.
01:22And it involved trading Jesse Bates for a third-round pick to the San Francisco 49ers.
01:30And one, no, not trading Jesse Bates at all.
01:36And actually, I'll let you hear from Kevin Stefanski in just a second
01:39about why trading Jesse Bates would be a terrible idea.
01:41But I want to get into, more specifically, this one quote
01:48where when I heard it, I immediately gave a lot of pushback.
01:53And he says,
01:55If the Falcons were expected to contend,
01:57it would make sense to keep Bates and see the original contract through.
02:02But they aren't.
02:03And with a ton of 2027 cap space,
02:07even after the B. John Robinson extension,
02:09the Falcons will likely be Spender's next offseason.
02:13He said they would risk losing Bates without getting a compensatory pick.
02:18And they have a, what,
02:21the emerging second-year player in Xavier Watts.
02:25I do agree with the second portion of that.
02:28You have an emerging second-year player in Xavier Watts.
02:33I agree with that a ton.
02:34And actually, I believe Kevin Stefanski agrees with that a ton.
02:38I'm actually going to let you hear what Kevin Stefanski thinks of this duo
02:41specifically with Bates and Watts here.
02:44That's extremely important to have that.
02:46And especially when you have that,
02:48you can have versatility to what you're doing with both players.
02:50And the good news is those are two extremely intelligent players.
02:54And like you, like Hood mentioned,
02:56like you mentioned just their relationship
02:58and how they can feed off of each other.
03:01And a lot of the dialogue and the communication that happens back there
03:03oftentimes is signal or sometimes nonverbal,
03:08communicating amongst yourselves out to the corners,
03:11certainly with the linebackers in the nerve center.
03:14But having guys that are on the same page is a very big deal.
03:19And when you have that,
03:20then you can push the envelope a little bit in terms of scheme
03:22and asking to do a little bit more.
03:24And, you know, we may ask this safety to drop down to the box
03:28and then this one to go to the post.
03:29But if we get this look, we're going to change it
03:31or you're both going to be back.
03:32And there's just no end to what you can do
03:36when it comes to X's and O's.
03:37But you have to have the players that are capable of doing all that.
03:40And we have that with our safeties.
03:42We have that with our safeties.
03:44We have the ability to move them around however we want.
03:47That is something which is why I've been extremely excited
03:50about the secondary.
03:51And I believe that this can be arguably a top five secondary
03:54in the league this year, truly,
03:56with Jesse Bates, with Xavier Watts, with the Terrell brothers.
04:00I think you have that.
04:02And because of that,
04:03because of how good I believe the secondary can be,
04:05and also because of how things are looking around the division right now,
04:12first two weeks of training camp have not really gone well
04:15for anyone in the NFC South.
04:17You look at injuries already starting to play a factor.
04:21Jalen Walker, out for the season.
04:24Nick Scorton, out for the season.
04:26Brian Brzee, out for the season.
04:28Dylan Radunes, over with the Saints as well.
04:30He suffered an injury.
04:34The Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
04:36while maybe not dealing with the injury front,
04:39kind of feels like everyone's jumping ship.
04:42Baker Mayfield gave them their ultimatum.
04:44Didn't work.
04:45Now he's going to possibly be a free agent at the end of the year.
04:47They're saying they're going to figure out
04:50some sort of contract situation for Vita Veo,
04:52who has publicly clamored for a trade.
04:54You already lost Mike Evans this offseason,
04:56who I kind of was convinced would be a Buccaneer for life.
05:01So it seems like Tampa Bay is kind of in a ton of turmoil right now.
05:06And when I kind of look at the landscape of the NFC South,
05:11the Falcons,
05:13yeah, you have the James Pierce Jr. suspension pending.
05:17Yes, it sucks seeing Jalen Walker go down.
05:21Yes, you do have a question market quarterback right now.
05:26But you've got guys locked in.
05:30You've solidified your core roster.
05:34Drake London's locked in.
05:36Kyle Pitts is locked in.
05:37Matthew Bergeron is locked in.
05:39B. John Robinson is locked in.
05:40B. John Robinson, by the way,
05:42I was looking at some of the reports from training camp
05:44on his first day back from his hold in.
05:47I believe he had a 90-yard touchdown that he scored
05:50on a pass from Tua Tungvalu.
05:51So things like that.
05:53He's back.
05:53That's good to know.
05:54Also, for the question marks at quarterback right now,
05:58I don't know if the Falcons have the biggest one.
06:02I honestly feel like I would take the Falcons quarterback room
06:05right now probably over the Saints
06:07just because I'm not a believer at all in Tyler Shutt.
06:10I think a lot of people,
06:14there were very little expectations of him.
06:17And so when he kind of showed any signs of competence,
06:21it was like, oh, all right, maybe he can be something.
06:23Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh, no.
06:25No, no, no, no.
06:25I'm not buying it.
06:27I think what you saw from Tyler Shutt last year
06:29is probably the best of what you will see.
06:31Maybe he's a little bit better this year,
06:32but I don't see this grand jump for him,
06:35and I don't see this Saints offense
06:39getting that sort of offensive punch.
06:43I'm telling you right now,
06:45I look around the NFC South.
06:48Like I said, Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers
06:51are kind of in a weird spot.
06:52The Saints dealing with a ton of injuries.
06:55And again, the Falcons aren't the only ones
06:57with quarterback question marks.
07:00Like Bryce Young,
07:02the Panthers still really don't know what he is.
07:06The Panthers really still don't know what he is.
07:11And they have a contract situation coming up with him soon.
07:14Got to figure out what they're going to do.
07:16Possibly if he doesn't prove it this year,
07:18they're going to be looking for a new quarterback soon.
07:23The Falcons, for as much of a circus
07:27as I feel like the Falcons offseason
07:31has kind of been made out to be
07:32by some outside sources
07:34or maybe national media looking around like,
07:36oh, you know, you got Tula and Michael Penix,
07:38two guys who can't stay healthy.
07:39You know, all this other stuff.
07:40You know, you know,
07:41worst quarterback room in there.
07:44For all of that,
07:47I really don't see any other team
07:50having a clear advantage
07:51over the Falcons in this division.
07:56And by just kind of circumstance,
08:00you're going to be competing.
08:02I don't think this is another year
08:03where you're eliminated from playoff contention
08:08with five weeks left.
08:11I think this is another season
08:13where you will be fighting
08:16for this division lead.
08:18You will be fighting for this division crown.
08:22And Day Day and I were talking about this
08:24on his show on Sunday.
08:26Tula's been looking good.
08:29Tula has had some of the,
08:31you know, like I said,
08:32he had the back injury
08:33where he kind of tweaked
08:34and it was off to a rough start
08:36to get training camp going.
08:38Obviously had three quarterbacks
08:40not ready to go,
08:41had to sign Cooper Rush
08:43off of the scrap heap.
08:44But since Tula's come back,
08:46it seems like they've been
08:47trying to work in,
08:48making him more aggressive,
08:50seeing some of his ability
08:51to push the ball down the field.
08:53Just kind of opening things up.
08:57But all I'm saying is
08:59this Falcons team
09:00is good enough
09:01in this division specifically.
09:04they are not the only ones
09:05that have question marks.
09:08And
09:09you can find yourself
09:11in a position where
09:13you could be
09:14hosting a playoff game
09:17at the end of the season.
09:18You could be.
09:20Whether it's Penix,
09:22whether it's Tula,
09:23I think this division,
09:24there's so many question marks
09:26where everyone has a shot.
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