- 16 minutes ago
The Atlanta Falcons traded star safety Jessie Bates to the Jacksonville Jaguars in exchange for draft compensation, including a second-round pick in 2027 and a fifth-round pick in 2028. Ali Mac, Mike Johnson, and Beau Morgan break down the blockbuster deal on The Morning Shift. They analyze why Atlanta moved on from Bates, what this means for the defense going forward, and whether more roster moves are coming before the deadline.
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00:00that Jesse Bates was just one of the players that Jacksonville acquired. Kevin Stefanski did talk
00:05with the media yesterday, got into how he's going to prevent the locker room dysfunction for the
00:09Falcons without Jesse being there. Sure, you know, Torrey, there is that business of football and
00:15we've all been a part of it. I've been doing this now for, been in the league, I think 20
00:18-some years
00:19and, you know, that's the business part of this happens and guys are traded, guys leaving free
00:26agency, guys get injured, all the above and it's our job as coaches and players to navigate those
00:33times and, you know, do you have to step up when you lose somebody? Absolutely and it's not never
00:39just one person has to step up, it's all of us have to step up in whatever roles that we
00:44have to step
00:44up in. So that'll be our charge moving forward and I trust the guys that we have. It's just, it
00:51stinks,
00:51man. There's no two ways about it. He's been one of your best players for years now, the guy you
00:56can always point to, you know, Mr. Consistency there on the back end and, you know, this is
01:01always the day we do the good battle. I'm watching all 22 and Kendall Daniels makes a good read on
01:06a
01:06play, makes a nice tackle out in the flat and Jesse walks up and just, you can tell he's so
01:11excited for
01:11Kendall Daniels being that young rookie that he's like, I saw you, you know, like dabs him up. He's
01:16getting him so rowdy and that's just what he brought to the table and it's not there and look, I
01:22mean,
01:22it's unfortunate, but it happens every single year when it comes to the NFL and this, the, the,
01:29you know, the turnover of these captain positions, unfortunately happens a lot. It's, it's what
01:34have you done for me lately? The NFL stands for not for long, man. So got to turn to the
01:39next guy.
01:39And some of these guys that are getting these contracts or some of these draft picks, man,
01:42you got to step up into those roles. Yeah, they absolutely do. The problem is most of them
01:46have been offensive players that have kind of gotten these deals, right? Well, I was thinking
01:51Javon Dexter, but yeah. Um, well, yeah, that's a good one, but I'm not looking at Javon Dexter
01:57to lead the, um, the secondary room as far, but on the field, you're right. And I, I think it
02:03needs
02:03to come from the middle of the field now. I think this is a chance for Kendall Daniels to more
02:09and
02:09more take over and, and, and be a, be a young leader on this team. Um, because that, that's what
02:17it's
02:17going to need. And, and, and now, and back there, Xavier Watts might need to be the guy
02:21because I think he's got that type of personality. Um, I could not agree more. His interview with
02:27Arch in our pregame on counting the kickoff where, you know, listen to that going, wow, dude,
02:31like he sounds impressive. Well, you go back to that one and then go back to the one that the
02:37three of us did with him. Yeah. And you just, he, he has a certain command of your, uh, when
02:46he's,
02:47when you're in his presence where it's like, man, this guy, this guy gets it, but he also doesn't,
02:53doesn't mess around. Like he's, he's legit. He just, he comes off legit. That's it. When you're
02:58around him, some guys come off like, is this guy for real? Like, is this, is this really what he
03:03wants to put on like tape or, you know, is this how like he, he actually, like with the Xavier
03:08Watts, you're like straight up legit. Like he's that dude. And he has a presence that's more than
03:16just a player. It's like more of a, um, uh, almost a little coach. And I think Jesse did a
03:21really good
03:22job of helping young players learn, including Xavier. Um, but everybody's getting paid. So if you
03:29want to be here next year, you want to be on our roster next year, go ahead and go ahead
03:34and be that
03:34guy and step up while putting good stuff on film. Can I just one, one sidebar on that topic
03:40is Brennan Dorliss going to get a contract extension before next year?
03:45Well, let's see. He's entering. Oh yeah. He's in year three.
03:49Uh, I think you could see that. Yeah. Uh, I could too. I started thinking about that in terms of
03:53the
03:53Dexter thing. We're talking about leaders and I was like Dorliss would be one of the guys that
03:57you'd look at this off season and go, all right, man, let's do this thing. Cause I think you've seen
04:00now Brandon Dorliss can play multiple positions up front. Yep. And that is in, in today's NFL,
04:07uh, big one. That's really big up front. Like I know we're going to get to it later,
04:11so I'm not trying to jump the shark, but the Jordan Davis trade, like Jordan Davis is really just a
04:18one, a one trick pony. How a lot of people view him in the NFL and that's a run stuffer.
04:26And when he doesn't, Oh, when he's not overly good at that, he becomes immediately expendable.
04:31And I think that's a little bit where Philly's what Philly was thinking like, Hey,
04:35it's got a lot of money and he's not stopping the run as good as he has in the past.
04:39We'll go ahead and, you know, reshuffle the deck here. Plus you got a guy like Jalen Carter next to
04:44him who essentially, I think Jalen Carter is a three down player. Now he, he, he can't play every
04:52play because of the position he plays and the size he is. But I do think he's a guy that
04:56you can throw in there against the run and the pass. It does feel like it's going to be a
05:00pretty
05:00active day. As far as the trade deadline, a lot of movement going on. I do want to say,
05:05as far as Jesse, it made me a little sad yesterday to see his Twitter. He put ATL forever grateful,
05:11you know, and then a little heart, which is great, but then back to back all caps woke up a
05:14Jaguar.
05:15Yeah, exactly. Oh man. But it feels like it's going to be pretty active today. Is there
05:21any chance the Falcons are getting into more trades today?
05:26You know, I, I've, you could sell me on just about anything in terms of what I think is
05:31happening because we don't really, we think we know what Ian wants, right? And he's kind of
05:35displayed that, but there's really not a lot of buildup or momentum in any direction. It feels
05:41like otherwise, like you, you have acquired players this year. Dick, if you're going into
05:45a going, Oh, they, you know, free agency says you're, you're in that turnover year. Well,
05:50then they go and trade for Javon Dexter, Mason Smith and try to bolster his defense, you know?
05:54So they're, they're making moves towards the future and any move that can be made between
05:58now and four o'clock has got to be one with eyes on the future. Right. If whether or not
06:03you're
06:03bringing somebody in, getting rid of somebody, whatever else it is, or, or just staying in Pat
06:07because they feel like that's the best move towards the future. Then I think that that's
06:10definitely what it is. I don't, there's nothing they're going to do today that says, Oh, this
06:14is going to make us better right now. And I think that's the, you know, that's the, that's
06:17what we have to come to grips with. Yeah. I think the only way that would happen is if
06:21it was a guy that, um, if you were trading a player for a player, that's all, I think
06:25the draft capital can't be understated that they, they absolutely want to be a team that
06:31can have that draft capital. And so, uh, but I, I just don't know when, when, when, when
06:37you ask me that and you're not the only one, and I think about the question as you
06:41know, is that you ask, like, I'm like, who else has that, this huge trade value to someone
06:47out there? Like who fits a system or is the exact player in the exact system? If
06:55we're talking about offensive line or maybe even line player in general, that they would
06:59come in and be the guy that sets them apart and they're willing and they're close enough
07:03to, to give up enough. Is that, I mean, Minnesota is not going to call you today and be like,
07:10Hey man, we'll give you, we'll give you a third for two. Uh, that's something that's
07:14going to happen. And they need a quarterback, honestly, because I don't think either one
07:18of the quarterbacks they have are very good. Uh, yeah, Arizona, add them to the list with
07:23Minshew and we'll get to that later. But I, I think that Vikings too. I can't, can I throw
07:28this one out there? And I hate this cause he's one of my former teammates, but would, would
07:31Jake be somebody that would have a market? I don't think so. I think the price tag
07:35and well, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, but I think, I think he's got to go to the right
07:42situation. And I also think it's a weird year to, for, for another team to come calling
07:47about Jake. Cause it just hasn't, now he's had a couple of good, better weeks, but hasn't
07:51been, he hasn't had a great season. It would have to be somebody that's worked with him
07:54before, like a Ledford or, you know, somebody like that. But I, I'm with you and that would
07:58also leave the Falcons in a really difficult spot, man. They've, they've run through some
08:03left tackles now and I are, or the backups. I'm sorry that that one. And it just any of
08:09the guys that are, I try to think of guys that are under long-term contracts, but they
08:12didn't sign them under Ian Cunningham. You know what I mean? And that lends yourself to
08:16Jake and Lindstrom and whoever else, you know, AJ. Um, but I, I don't know that any of those
08:24pieces are going to be somebody you want to move on from. I really don't. I know that
08:27there's people out there right now looking at what AJ did this last weekend against
08:30Jamar, but dude, he's for the money you're paying for him. It's not that, you know, he's
08:36not being paid. I don't think right now as a top five corner and he's probably not
08:40playing like one either.
08:41And I know, I understand the thought process of, well, what does it matter if you're going
08:45to use those for draft picks and go retool the team for, for young cheap players, but
08:48you also don't want to be rolling into next season with 35 million and dead cap because
08:54you did a fire sale, a trade deadline for, and, and, and didn't necessarily, you know,
09:00and it was, and, and, and, and you didn't in turn put people in harm's way because look,
09:05I don't want to just trade off. I'm not about trading the offensive line because there's a
09:09big difference in, in, in, in guys that are starters and guys that are on the practice
09:13squad, et cetera, right now. And I'm not just trying to trade a bunch of guys because
09:16you got to wonder about it. We'll get Bajon's head taken off. We're going to get
09:19Pennix's head taken off. You don't know where, and you don't know what those people
09:22are. And you also don't know where you're at in the division. Like this whole
09:25thing, well, oh, they're out of it just because where they're at. You don't know
09:28that. You don't know, we don't know what this, me and Abe got in this
09:31conversation and he's like, well, you're, you're not going anywhere. And I said,
09:34well, you don't know that. I'm not saying you're going to win a Superbowl this
09:37year or make a playoff run, but you're, you, the division is not so great that you
09:42don't know that you're not going to roll off a couple. And so you're not going to
09:45go create, um, this huge, uh, dead cap moving forward and also put the players
09:53that are your core guys in harm's way. Yeah. You and I have been at odds on that
09:58conversation. I feel like for a number of months now. And I, I personally feel like
10:02the guys that are making the decisions today, I don't think they're going to
10:07allow the playoff, a potential playoff game to kind of cloud what they think is
10:12best moving forward. It's I really don't. It's not that as much as it is about
10:16the dead cap you create and you're, you know, so you want to John Robinson just
10:21trying to fight for his life and he's your future of the team. You're going to
10:24get guys, you know, in a lot of, in a lot of trouble that way. Um, so you just
10:28can't, we've seen, we've seen it. We've seen guys that just can't do jobs and
10:32that's why they're not starters.