0:00

Falcons Audible presented by AT

0:02

and T is back, and yes we

0:04

are here. We are post draft

0:07

coverage mode right now. You

0:09

got Rack, you got DJ, you got Arch,

0:12

and guys, let's dive into it because

0:15

there's been so much discussion about the entire

0:18

draft, whether it's the Falcons,

0:20

it's the NFL, but we are here to

0:22

talk about the Atlanta Falcons. So if

0:24

you're a Falcons fan, if you're an NFL fan,

0:27

if you're a football fan, get ready

0:29

because we about to give it to you. Okay,

0:32

Hey, guys, by the way, I just hyped

0:34

it up, so good bring

0:36

it. Okay, all

0:38

right, so let's go. Let's get into this, and

0:41

let's just start with as

0:43

as I've heard Terry and Raheem

0:46

say, the elephant in the room a quarterback

0:48

situation. Okay, not only

0:50

was it a focal point this entire

0:52

offseason from the moment that Raheem Morris

0:54

was hired, he even said it himself. The

0:56

elephant in the room was the quarterback situation

0:59

addressed in free agency with Kirk Cousins

1:01

and then arguably pulled off

1:03

the surprise of the first round by picking

1:05

a quarterback with their eighth overall

1:07

selection. In Michael PENNOCKX junior. So

1:09

there was a lot of question marks. And then after

1:12

the end of the first round, Terry and Raheem

1:14

came out and they did a press conference and they kind of explained

1:17

where they were going with the idea

1:19

of picking Michael Pennix. We

1:21

talked about this a little bit last year. We

1:24

talked about this in our pre draft show. You

1:26

never really know what the head

1:28

coaching, the coaching staff, and the personnel

1:31

department, what they have between the years

1:33

because they're not telling anything right. But

1:35

they decided that they wanted to make a play for the

1:37

future and they felt like they were not going to

1:39

be having an opportunity to be picking this high

1:41

again. With what they are projecting,

1:44

they're going to start winning, so they plan on being

1:46

at the latter ends of the draft from

1:49

now on. So they said, we got a quarterback

1:51

that we feel really good with. He

1:53

fits the makeup. They always talking

1:55

about the makeup, the ethos,

1:58

that what they're looking for. And so Shock,

2:00

let's go ahead and start with you your

2:02

initial impressions and then

2:05

after you heard the rationale, your

2:07

thoughts behind the selection of Michael Pennock junior.

2:09

I'm glad you put it that way, because I'm

2:11

gonna keep it a buck. I was

2:14

kind of similar to every other fan that

2:16

was outside the building of Flower

2:19

Branch, and I was confused.

2:22

I didn't know why the pick was made.

2:24

I didn't understand it. And that's

2:27

because this entire time we felt

2:29

as though the thing you just talked

2:31

about was solidified. You have a quarterback

2:34

here that can win ballgames

2:36

for you. That's the number one thing you talked about coming to the offseason

2:38

was hey, make sure we solify this position

2:41

and we're good. So we get to the eighth pick and

2:43

we said, okay, we got our quarterbacks, we got receivers.

2:46

What else do we need? What else is out

2:48

there that could feel a need for this

2:50

team? And obviously, similar to myself

2:53

and everybody else who had followed this

2:55

franchise, you thought, okay, what's time to go get

2:57

an age rusher, or it's time to get a corner, time

2:59

to feel spot. So initially I was

3:01

a little confused. I didn't know why the pick

3:04

was made and I didn't understand it. But like

3:06

you mentioned, they came out, they spoke

3:08

on it. They talked about the scenario

3:10

in which why they felt as though this was

3:12

a home run for them, And I heard

3:14

Terry say he wanted everybody

3:17

in the building, from owner Arthur Blank

3:19

to the scouts to love this

3:21

pick and it had to be made in this position

3:24

because of where they feel the future

3:26

is headed. And the other thing that

3:29

I think confused me at first was I said, all right,

3:31

at the beginning, we talked about.

3:33

This was a team that wanted to win right now.

3:36

And when you initially say, okay, let's

3:38

drive a quarterback for the future, what is

3:40

that saying about right now? But I

3:43

thought after they explained it, it makes perfect

3:45

sense on why they went this route and

3:47

why he was the pick. Now, it could

3:49

have been these other guys that's out there,

3:52

but they felt as though Michael Pennick Junior was

3:54

the guy that they wanted for the

3:56

future, which gave them the opportunity

3:58

to go out and get him. And kudos

4:00

to them for keeping it all inside, because

4:02

that is something tough to do exactly

4:05

in this day and age. You know,

4:07

I heard Terry talk about, you know, he had a situation back

4:09

in the day with Patrick Mahomes and all that kind of stuff,

4:11

and he got out and this was the guy they

4:13

really wanted. So I know there was a very

4:16

very small circle of people who knew about

4:18

this possibility, and when it finally

4:20

came to fruition, they explained

4:23

it really well.

4:24

And I'm all on board with Arch.

4:26

It's real easy for everybody out

4:28

there to be armchair general manager right,

4:30

to feel like a lot

4:32

of them that they've got every single answer,

4:35

But none of those people sit in the chair.

4:37

None of those people actually sit in the chair. And Terry

4:39

actually talked about it in their post

4:43

draft press conference, saying a conversation

4:45

he had with Bill Pollion or Bill Pollion

4:47

told him that when he got the job as a general manager,

4:50

he said, the most scrutinized people in

4:52

this country are the President of the United States

4:54

and sports general managers. So

4:57

get used to it, right, So Terry said,

4:59

it comes with the territory. You gotta understand. You gotta have broad

5:01

shoulders, you gotta have thick skin to be in this position.

5:03

But I'm gonna ask you the same question, Arch, your

5:05

initial impressions when you heard the pick, and

5:08

then after the explanation, after you

5:10

were able to stew on it a little bit, did your

5:12

initial impression change it all?

5:14

Yeah?

5:14

We you we sat here the week

5:17

to Tuesday before the draft, or the Tuesday

5:19

before the Tuesday of the draft, or whatever it was,

5:21

and you and I both picked Dallas Turner,

5:23

and you picked Kenyon Mitchell Quinnon

5:26

Mitchell. So we were thinking

5:28

along the same way. I'm sitting in Mercedes

5:30

been Stadium, not far from where Shaq was,

5:33

we were doing our radio show, and shock

5:35

would probably be a good way of describing

5:37

it. When they made the announcement,

5:40

I didn't know what to say, you know, because

5:43

it was not what I was considering.

5:45

I wasn't thinking along those lines or any

5:47

of that kind of stuff. But as

5:50

the term I used was, I marinated.

5:52

On it for a while.

5:53

You got it, got Dale's steak. So whatever

5:56

I put on it, I marinated for a while. And

6:00

and when you begin to look at what they did,

6:02

it makes a ton of sense. These

6:06

guys said in their pre draft press conference,

6:08

both of them, or least Terry said,

6:11

we're going to draft the best player available

6:13

for us, and that back

6:16

end is very key, if you remember

6:18

it, he said, for us. So

6:21

if you look at this team, let's

6:23

just go to the Matt Ryan era. This

6:25

team got caught with its pants down when

6:28

Matt Ryan left. You had

6:30

no idea what you wanted to do. You tried

6:33

to stop Gapitt Mariota came in,

6:35

you drafted Ritter. You

6:37

had a lot of stuff you're trying to do, but it was

6:39

all on the fly. Okay, there

6:42

was no plan in place. That

6:45

very much resonates here too, is

6:47

the succession plan. Yes, there's

6:50

a chance that Michael Pennix

6:52

Junior is not going to play for a couple of years. In

6:54

fact, the grand scheme of things in the perfect

6:56

scenario, as you talked about, this team

6:59

plans on winning a lot of games in the next couple of years.

7:01

That means they're not picking in the early part of the draft.

7:03

That means they don't answer they have access to

7:06

a guy like this. So that planning

7:08

and future thinking was part of the

7:10

mix as well. That Okay,

7:12

in a perfect world, Michael Pennix Junior plays

7:14

two years from now, three years from now. Okay,

7:18

So what's that look like? Did you give up on

7:20

opportunity to get some key players? Well, what

7:22

did you do in free agency? This team

7:25

wasn't a sleep in free agency. They

7:27

went and got guys, they built. Yeah, they put

7:29

depth and stuff on this team. By

7:32

the way, they went ahead and did

7:34

a really good job of drafting in the

7:36

second, third, and fourth rounds as well

7:39

as we'll talk about some of the players that are

7:41

going to be on this football team and

7:43

probably on the field on the first

7:45

day of the games they play.

7:48

So all that played in and then you begin to look

7:50

at the player. And as

7:52

you started as I got that Meritnation process,

7:55

and look at the player. Just look at the player.

7:58

This guy fits exactly what you want to be. I

8:01

mean, seventy five eighty percent

8:03

of this game shot and I'll tell you, having played

8:05

the quarter of position is played on time.

8:08

We get so caught up in

8:10

the periphery, the impromptu, off

8:12

schedule plays that guys make. And oh, by the way,

8:14

this guy ran four to five nine at the combine. He's

8:16

going to be able to do some of that for you did some of

8:18

it in his career. But what did he

8:20

do the last two years at Washington He's

8:23

twenty five and three. He played the game

8:25

on time? And what has Rahem

8:28

talked about repeatedly processing

8:30

and getting the ball out. That's who Kirk

8:32

Cousins is. That's who Michael Pennocks Junior

8:34

is. So if something happens to Kirk

8:37

and the unlikely event, hopefully nothing happens

8:39

to him. But if he does, you're handing the

8:41

ball to a dude. You hand picked the play

8:43

in this offense because of what he does,

8:45

his ability to process and get the ball

8:47

out on time. All you gotta do is put any

8:49

tape on you want to. You can even put the National

8:51

Championship game if you want to. The things that

8:54

he did in that game wasn't his best game, but he

8:56

still did things, a lot of the stuff on time,

8:58

and that's the way this game's played.

9:00

I want to add one more thing right before we get

9:02

yours initial thought on it and

9:05

the more mayor Nate on Like ars

9:08

mentioned, I thought about from

9:10

day one what Raheem said

9:13

and what things he put

9:15

in place to help this position

9:17

but also to help this team. You're

9:19

talking about first going out to get Zach Robinson as

9:22

your OC, then you move TJ. Yates

9:24

back to coach the quarterbacks. Ken

9:26

z MPZ DJ Williams. All these guys who

9:29

are quarterback who play the position,

9:31

who know the position and been around the league for years

9:33

and been able to do it. And he spoke about having

9:36

those guys in the building that can

9:38

help you with that process. Now, obviously

9:40

we thought, okay, that was for Kirk Cousins,

9:42

but also look forward, it was

9:44

for this position as well. For when you think about

9:46

going to get Michael Pennick Jr. You have all

9:49

these great minds coming

9:51

together to come up with what they

9:53

got, which was Michael Pennick Junior. So if

9:56

you ever questioned it, you have some guys

9:58

who have been around and done it that I absolutely

10:00

know what this position looks like and what it looks

10:02

like to play at a high level. And you can say,

10:04

all right, it just happened by one

10:06

guy Raheem liked him and say all right, let's go get him.

10:08

There is a multitude of people

10:11

who went through this process and said all right, this

10:13

is the right guy, like Ark mentioned for this

10:15

offense arch.

10:16

You mentioned QB on the fly once

10:19

or twice when you were talking about this right, And

10:21

I know Terry has said this on multiple occasions

10:24

that the quarterback position is the most important

10:26

position in the game of football and in

10:28

the National Football League, and so

10:31

they had to address it. They had to. And what

10:33

it said to me as soon as I heard the

10:35

pick was because I was not thinking

10:37

quarterback. But what it said to me was

10:40

quarterback is not going to be an issue for this organization

10:43

anytime soon. That's what it told

10:45

me, and that's what this entire organization

10:48

decided, is that quarterback is

10:50

not going to be an issue for the Atlanta Falcons for

10:52

the next I don't know, call it three to five

10:54

years, don't know what's going to happen. Right. The

10:57

other thing that I thought about is Kirk

10:59

Couzins. This is a competitor. We've seen that

11:01

on the field. Don't you think maybe

11:05

Kirk Cousins gonna lock in just a little bit more

11:07

even if the contract and

11:09

the age and all that other stuff wasn't enough

11:11

motivation for him. Don't you think the fact

11:13

that in the back of his head somewhere

11:16

he's saying, this organization just spent a

11:18

first round pick on my position. So

11:21

what you might end up getting an even

11:23

better version of Kirk Cousins moving

11:25

forward, because the competitor

11:28

in him is saying, I'm not giving up

11:30

my job to this dude, because

11:32

nobody in the NFL wants to give up their job

11:34

to anybody. Because you know how prescient

11:37

it is it is when you actually

11:39

get an opportunity to step foot on the field,

11:41

so they're going to have a healthy competition. And

11:44

the last thing I'll say before I turn it back to you, because

11:46

I want to get your thoughts on the quarterback is

11:48

processing information. You talked abou all

11:50

the people in the building right that are going to

11:53

be able to help not only Michael Pennicks but

11:55

Kirk Cousins. But just think about how

11:57

Michael Pennis is going to be able to watch Kirk

11:59

Cousins process information

12:01

at an NFL level, listen to one

12:03

of the better guys out there, because Kirk's

12:06

game is reading defenses

12:08

and throwing the ball on time. Right, That's

12:11

exactly so you got Michael Pennock

12:13

Junior is gonna be able to turn on the tape of every single

12:15

practice that happens on this field behind us, in

12:17

every single preseason game and every single game

12:20

and watch how one of the better quarterbacks

12:22

in the league processes information,

12:24

gets the ball on the time, and sees

12:27

mistakes that he can kind of correct him

12:29

in the meeting room before he even gets out on

12:31

the field. So you've got a lot of really

12:33

good things working for the entire organization.

12:36

Nonetheless, those two players before

12:38

we move out of the rest of the draft, because we got to get to some other

12:40

guys. I want to get your opinion,

12:42

your kind of scouting report on Michael Pennock

12:44

junior. What you saw. I got two quarterbacks here.

12:47

You guys are the most qualified to talk about the player.

12:49

Interesting enough, he

12:51

was just one of those guys that I was kind of drawn to

12:54

before the even this process started. Was

12:56

out at the NFL Combine and obviously played

12:58

a lot of attention to the quarterbacks, thinking oh,

13:00

it has something to do with the Falcons, but just because

13:03

we played the position, and you want to hear these guys

13:05

talk, you want to hear what they're about. And I

13:07

had a chance to, you know, have maybe

13:09

like a three four minute conversation with Michael

13:12

Pennings that he was, you know, leaving on the podiums

13:14

and just introduce myself to him. Hey man in Georgia

13:16

game, all this kind of stuff, and throughout

13:19

that conversation is just that little time you

13:21

got you felt as though he was one

13:23

of those kind of guys that you knew from day one

13:25

was a leader, was a guy that you wanted

13:28

to be a part of your team. And one thing that

13:30

I wrote down was this guy has the

13:32

followed me factor. And when I say that,

13:35

that means off the field on the field. I wrote down

13:37

some attributes about him that you know when you

13:39

turn on the tape or you talk to him. I had a chance to talk

13:41

to him on Friday when he came in, you

13:43

know, with his introduction, press conference and all that,

13:45

had a chance to sit down with him and just shoot the breeze

13:47

and yeat. Certain things just stuck out to him.

13:50

And one thing you like about

13:52

him is he has a charisma about him.

13:55

And to have that as your

13:57

quarterback, a guy who you know is out in front

13:59

of a the time. He just has that kind

14:01

of you know all about him when he walks

14:04

into the room, when he's shaking hand, when he's talking

14:06

to people, and you got to like that. Very

14:08

likable, easy to communicate with. You understand

14:10

his teammates, you know they love him. You can

14:13

look at any videos you have. They're always

14:15

having a good time. They're back and forth. He

14:17

has a little swagger about him too, as we know in

14:19

Atlanta, having a little swagger at the quarterback existion. Having

14:21

it anywhere period is a big thing. And

14:24

then you start thinking about some of the things that he did on the

14:26

field. Great pocket movement, good vision,

14:29

understands arm angles, understands,

14:31

you know how to layer footballs.

14:33

And he gets talked about a lot throws

14:36

a really damn good d ball.

14:37

We've seen that.

14:38

We know that, but your turn on tape you

14:40

see him making all type of different throws

14:42

all over the field, and that gives

14:44

you even more reassurance that this

14:46

guy gets it. He understands it upstairs. He

14:48

understands it with his feet and arch

14:51

youo, manche you run a four to five to nine.

14:53

He can move, He can run.

14:54

He probably surprise a lot of people, but

14:56

the last two years he didn't

14:59

even use it.

14:59

A lot of people question could he.

15:01

Move because he didn't because he

15:03

was such a prolific passer inside

15:05

the pocket that people didn't even recognize,

15:08

Oh, he actually can move, he can run, he can

15:10

actually get escaped. And those are some of the

15:12

things that I looked at and said, Man, the

15:14

quick release, just having that mental

15:16

capacity to even understand, and we all

15:18

talked about the process is a big part of it. But when

15:20

you're around him, you feel like he

15:23

is that franchise guy. You feel

15:25

like you just know he's a quarterback from day

15:27

one, and I enjoyed sitting

15:29

down talking to him. Man, very humble kid, had

15:31

a bunch of his family here. Everybody

15:34

was excited, but just the fact

15:36

that you get that kind of guy who can

15:38

come and learn, is willing to learn.

15:40

And one last thing I heard throughout this process,

15:42

there were a couple of guys who the.

15:43

Falcons wanted to work out and they

15:45

said, oh, no, we

15:48

probably be gone by that time. We don't need to work

15:50

out. He was one guy that said, yeah,

15:52

I want to work out, And I thought that spoke

15:54

volumes that anytime he get a chance to compete,

15:56

like we just talked about with Kirk Cousins, he wants

15:59

to do it. And I thought that's about Volumes two,

16:01

about who he is as a player, but

16:03

also as a person regardless of what's

16:06

going on. This guy is a guy you

16:08

want to be at the helm of your office.

16:10

Here's the last thing I'll say on Michael Pennix and then we'll

16:12

get to the last part of the draft. To kind of close

16:15

this thing up, is I love the quote

16:17

that came out that said, obviously we know

16:19

about all the injuries that he had in Indiana, and

16:22

they were asking him about it, and the quote

16:25

was, Yeah, they can do

16:27

all the MRIs and everything that they want to do on

16:29

my body, but what they really need is to

16:31

do in EKG to basically see what's

16:33

in my mind and what's in my heart. And I

16:35

was like, he kind of just might drive on. He

16:39

said, I don't care. You can do all the little men

16:42

the evaluations you want on me medically,

16:44

but you better find out what's up here first,

16:47

and maybe that's what won this organization

16:49

over So Michael Pennocks Junior, eighth overall,

16:51

first round, twenty twenty four Draft. All right,

16:53

guys, so we thought defense

16:55

might have been the spot for number eight overall.

16:58

Well, let's talk about out second, third,

17:00

and fourth round because that's where the focus

17:03

shifted to. So Arch, I'm gonna come back to you when

17:06

I'm gonna I.

17:06

Can't wait to hear him.

17:08

I'm gonna give you three names, and

17:11

I'm gonna let you go wherever you'd like to go

17:13

with this. All right, second round Rooke

17:15

aroro Row out of Clemson, Brayln

17:18

Trice out of Washington,

17:21

and Brandon Dorles in the fourth round.

17:23

All three defensive linemen

17:25

slash outside linebackers, give

17:28

us a little scouting report, and what you like

17:30

most about these guys are, well, let's.

17:31

Let's couple Rooke Aroo

17:34

with Brandon Dorles because

17:37

what you're getting our versatile

17:39

defensive linemen that are very similar

17:41

players from a size standpoint, both about

17:43

six three sixty four, about two

17:46

eighty five to two ninety five, both are

17:48

very similar guys. What you see

17:50

when you put Rooke's tape

17:52

on is a violent

17:55

player that plays to a certainty,

17:58

which is kind of cool, kind of plays a little that

18:00

out of control, kind of plays a little bit high,

18:02

which you'll have to work on at the National Football

18:04

League level, get his pad level down. But

18:06

when he picks a side and decides

18:08

that's where he's going, there's not a lot of

18:10

people that stop him. And I think that what

18:13

you saw with he and Dorriless, the young

18:16

man out of Oregon was position

18:18

versatility. These are guys

18:21

because you're making a transition to a

18:23

hybrid three man line. You

18:26

now have Doro Less and Auroro

18:29

can play from the

18:31

one technically all the way

18:33

out to the five techniques, so you're talking

18:35

about three technique five, so they can play

18:38

all along the line. Where were you hurt last

18:40

year. From an

18:42

injury standpoint, Grady Jarrett goes down with

18:44

a knee, you lost David on Yamata

18:46

for a significant amount, you had guys playing that

18:49

were off of the streets that you didn't you know, had

18:51

to look them up, you know who they were. You've

18:53

got some depth now as you add these two

18:55

guys in and they're young guys that

18:58

have had success. Now do they have do

19:00

they need to work on their games? Yeah, But to

19:02

go back to what Terry said in his pre

19:05

draft press conference, We're going to draft the best

19:07

player available for us. And

19:09

why these two guys fit is because

19:11

of their position, versatility,

19:14

and their relentlessness with which they come

19:16

off the ball. They're

19:18

splitters of gaps. You're tall. You're

19:20

not asking these two guys to two gap or anything. You're

19:23

going to give them a side and they're going to rip through people

19:25

and the ability to do that. Brandon

19:27

Trice Rayln Trice is a guy

19:30

that has a more polished game.

19:32

This is a guy that comes in from

19:35

Washington, had outstanding success.

19:37

You go back two years ago, he and

19:39

will Anderson were the top two pressure

19:42

makers on the quarterback in the entire

19:44

nation. So this guy has success. He's

19:46

got a mature game. By that, I mean he's got multiple

19:49

moves to get to the passer. You essentially

19:52

got a guy that many had raided in the

19:54

back end of the first round, and I had him

19:56

on my top five edge rushers in

19:59

our evaluation on falcons dot com. He

20:01

was one of the five I talked about it. They

20:03

had him rated in the back end of the first round, early

20:06

second round. You got him in the third round,

20:08

like seventy fifth pick. This guy

20:10

had first round grades all aroum.

20:12

You know why didn't he go in the first round? You're asking didn't

20:15

run four or five. He didn't run four four

20:17

six like Dallas Turner did. He ran four

20:19

to seven or something like that. But when you put the

20:22

tape on, he has what I termed

20:24

on those breakdowns, he has a

20:26

last play mentality. Every

20:28

play he plays with a relentlessness

20:31

and a motor that doesn't turn off.

20:34

And by that you got a guy that's

20:36

gonna make a lot of plays for you. That's my evaluation

20:38

those three.

20:38

Day One thing I wanted to point out arch

20:41

you mentioned that Rouke's game was a little bit

20:43

out of control. I'm sure you guys might

20:45

have seen it, but if you didn't get a chance, Like listen

20:47

to Rouke's conversation when

20:49

he got the phone call about him getting drafted.

20:52

He was going out of control when

20:54

they found out let's know that he was getting drafted.

20:57

I mean to the point to where he wouldn't even let Arthur

20:59

Blank, the owner, talked to him. He

21:01

was going nuts with all the people that was at

21:03

his draft party, and let's go, y'all

21:06

got a dog, I'm ready to go to work.

21:07

He told you.

21:08

He told you it was pretty entertaining. So

21:10

if you haven't seen it, make sure you go look that

21:12

up. It's pretty cool to see dj

21:15

I'm gonna ask the same question to you, which of these

21:17

three guys sticks out to you as a guy

21:19

that's gonna be a potential difference maker

21:22

maybe early on for this Atlanta defense.

21:24

I think it has to be Brailer, the last guy

21:26

that that Arch mentioned, because of

21:29

his ability to be able to like

21:31

mention. He's one of the more

21:33

polished guys that's come out the league, and he's

21:35

a guy that struck out to me when you watch Washington,

21:38

he was a guy that I watched.

21:39

I saw that number eight all the time, and

21:41

he was a guy that showed up for you.

21:43

So when his name came across the board,

21:45

he said, Oh, this is a guy you can get in the third

21:47

round. You feel as though this is a guy that can come in from

21:49

day one and add value. Now, not

21:51

saying the other two guys won't add value, because I think

21:53

they will, but I think Brailan comes in and

21:55

has that kind of distinctive nature

21:57

about him that he's gonna find a way to get on the

22:00

whether it's a third down, maybe it's in a

22:02

rush package where he's gonna find a way to

22:05

be a part of the mix and be a guy that

22:07

you can actually depend on when you

22:09

open up the year.

22:10

Yeah, he's probably the one of those three

22:12

that I'm the most excited to see if he

22:15

ends up being the difference maker, probably just because

22:17

we talk so much about an edge rusher,

22:19

an art you talked about again for those that

22:21

may not be that football savvy, you talked about

22:23

the other two guys as being inside like one

22:25

technique meaning out to a five right,

22:27

So you're looking at a guy that can line up over the center,

22:30

right over the top of the center, anywhere out to the

22:32

outside shade of a tackle, right, So these

22:35

guys are basically playing inside of the tackles,

22:37

whereas Brayln Trice is probably gonna

22:39

be more of your prototypical nine technique. Maybe he's

22:41

gonna line up on the on the outside shade

22:43

of the tackle, but he's likely gonna be somewhere

22:45

out there in space so he can go and use some athleticism,

22:49

use his length that we're

22:51

talking about so much that you know Terry and Raheem

22:53

talking about length. Raheem loves length,

22:56

right. He brings some length to this defense,

22:58

but you also got two disruptors inside

23:01

that you've got some depth behind. Because

23:03

they also talked about it's the one position on the

23:05

field where you're seeing probably the

23:07

most rotation. Right your offensive

23:10

line. You might have eight of them active on game

23:12

day, you're pretty much seeing five of

23:14

them play right. You're seeing one quarterback

23:16

play, you're seeing three or four wide receivers, but

23:18

you're generally seeing your defensive front

23:21

rotate.

23:21

Right.

23:22

If there's sixty plays in a game, it might be forty

23:24

to thirty five for one and twenty five

23:27

for the other. Right, So they're going to

23:29

play a lot. If these guys prove

23:31

during training camp and during the preseason

23:33

that they're ready to go out and compete for this organization.

23:36

Guys, let's wrap this up with the final four selections.

23:39

JD. Bertrand out of Notre

23:42

Dame. You got inside linebacker. You got a running

23:44

back, Jase McClelland from Alabama. You got

23:46

a wide receiver in Casey Washington from

23:48

Illinois. And Zion log a dog

23:51

Georgia, another big body for the

23:53

interior of that defense. Let me start with you, Dj,

23:56

which of those four guys sticks out to

23:58

you the most.

23:58

I'm excited to see a Nady Birchran and obviously

24:01

a guy from this area with

24:03

the blessed trinity. An

24:06

athletic guy from that lineback position. Actually

24:08

played both sides of the football in

24:10

high school, played off at play a linebacker

24:12

and also running back on that side. You know

24:14

he has the athleticism, but then goes to Notre Dame

24:17

and is a leading tackler in the

24:19

last three years. Had to

24:21

see on his jersey at a place like Notre

24:24

Dame. You know it means a lot. You watch this

24:26

guy. He is a downhill

24:28

thumper, wants to get to the football, probably

24:32

not going to be confused

24:34

at all because of the way he plays. But

24:36

you're talking about a guy led team in tagle last three year

24:38

seventy sixth, last year two and a half. But

24:41

it's just want to stay title on two state

24:43

titles in high school. But a guy

24:45

that you know, if thrown

24:48

in the voy, you need a guy like last year we

24:50

had Nate Lambon throw in there and the guy played,

24:52

actually JD birch Trane. I think fits similar

24:54

mode of Hey, if something happens to your inside

24:56

guys or you need a now that the guy

24:58

to come in there and run and move around.

25:00

He is that kind of guy. So I like j. D.

25:02

Bertrand is one of those type of players to really pay

25:04

attention to and then you know he's gonna be a really

25:06

good player on teams, and I think that's part of

25:09

this process as well. Like a Casey

25:11

Washington as well, a speedy kind

25:13

of guy you expect to see him Acgunnard who could show up

25:15

for you and be a real gown

25:17

that third that fourth down play for you and

25:19

be bad for you. So I like those two guys for

25:22

the fact of they're gonna add great depth for you,

25:24

but also are probably gonna be Stale made from

25:26

day one on your special teams.

25:28

Yeah, Arch, you're probably looking at you know, not to take

25:30

anything away from these guys as far as

25:32

their ability to play offense or defense, but you're

25:34

you're looking at more teams guys, somebody that's gonna

25:36

provide depth for you, but is maybe

25:39

gonna be on the punt team. They're gonna be on the punt

25:41

return team, and they need

25:43

to go out there and take care of that business, show

25:45

a willingness to do that. And then

25:47

if their number is called due to injury or due

25:49

to lack of production, then that's when you step

25:51

up and you contribute at an inside linebacker position,

25:53

at a wide receiver position. Which one of

25:55

those four guys sticks out to you.

25:57

Yeah, I mean Shock did a really good job of breaking

26:00

those guys down. I guess instead of camping

26:02

on JG. Bertram, Well, what I'll

26:04

do is mentioned with Bertrand and Trice

26:07

both were team captains. You mentioned were the

26:09

Sea. It's something that I've talked

26:11

to Terry Fonta about a number of times.

26:14

He loves guys that were those

26:16

kind of guys for their team that were elected by

26:18

their teammates to be captains.

26:20

Why is that a big deal. Well, they're self

26:22

starters. There are guys that you're not going to have

26:25

to encourage to go in in practice, they're

26:27

going to be the guys doing that, even though they're young guys,

26:29

because that's the role they played in college,

26:31

and so they're going to bring that to the table here. And

26:34

so you love self starter type guys,

26:36

and that's what a lot of team captains are.

26:38

Trice and Bertrand both held that

26:41

mantle when they were in college at Washington

26:44

and Notre Dame. I

26:46

think Casey Washington, and I'm going

26:48

to liken him to a guy we picked in a very

26:50

similar situation, probably about

26:52

six or seven years ago, again named Russell Gage,

26:54

that we drafted that had not played a lot

26:56

of receiver or not, had not garnered

26:59

a lot of attention as receiver, racked up

27:01

a lot of numbers until his senior year and

27:03

then it was still a little bit slight there. This kid

27:05

is very similar to that. He can run, he's got good

27:08

size, six ' to two, about two hundred pounds,

27:10

but a shock talked about this guy's going to be a

27:12

monster for you on special teams. And

27:14

oh, by the way, he had two hundred and eighteen yards

27:16

receiving. In his last game against against

27:18

Northwestern, he had eighty five thrown

27:21

balls thrown at him. He dropped three passes.

27:23

So if he does get pushed into wide receiver

27:25

duty, the dude's going to catch the rock when

27:27

you throw it to him. I mean, his his track

27:29

record would say that log is a guy

27:31

that's going to be another rotational guy if he's going

27:34

to be a developmental guy too. Talk about

27:36

Zion, he's a guy that got to play at Georgia,

27:39

played a lot of games. What was more of a

27:41

guy that they plugged in from time time and Shot

27:43

can talk more about him, but he's a guy

27:45

at six foot six, three hundred and fifteen

27:47

three hundred and twenty pounds that becomes one

27:49

of those bodies that if he does get to play

27:51

on game day and is active on game day, which

27:54

there may be some develop metal pieces to that as

27:56

we move forward in his career. You love

27:58

those guys you can kind of develop on practice

28:00

squad or at the back end of your roster

28:03

that ultimately are going to have to play. Probably because of

28:05

the just the guys going

28:07

down, he has the opportunity to come in and do

28:09

that because of the big body. Jace McClellan's another guy

28:11

will be a special teams guy. He was a

28:13

solid runner, nothing flashy

28:15

about him. He does have really good vision.

28:18

If you watch him on tape, he is a

28:20

really quick decision maker. Doesn't

28:22

have great top end speed, but all of a sudden

28:24

you look up and he ravaged five point six

28:26

yards of carry for Alabama. So that's

28:28

a guy that if he does get plugged in at running back

28:31

that third running back position, he's gonna be able to come

28:33

in and do some stuff. But he's also going to contribute

28:35

on special teams. So all in all, I thought

28:38

they got a bunch of guys that are self

28:40

starters, like I said, but guys are going to come in

28:42

and are going to contribute. As you start

28:44

talking about depth.

28:45

The self starter is a big thing.

28:46

And the other part about the last two guys you mentioned Jas

28:49

and Zion Low two guys who are

28:51

patient, guys who knew their

28:53

role. You think about the last few years. How long did

28:56

it take for Jas mccollon to play at Alabama.

28:58

Yeah, and then when he finally got his got his

29:00

opportunity. He was a big part

29:02

of how good they were last year, So give

29:04

him a lot of credit for understanding that he

29:06

wanted to compete. But then also he held that role in Zion

29:08

Logan is another guy who you know, he played throughout

29:11

his career, played a bunch of games for Georgia, but he also

29:13

sat behind Jordan Davis, sat behind

29:16

Jalen Carter, sat behind guys who were

29:18

really fagme names and faces.

29:21

And then he got his opportunities last year and

29:23

was a captain, played really well and

29:25

got on the radar and obviously called the eye

29:27

of the falcon.

29:28

So give those guys both a lot.

29:29

Of credit for understanding their roles, which is gonna

29:31

be huge coming to the National Football leagueer O, I just

29:33

mentioned where you're probably gonna be a developmental guy.

29:35

You may be a practice squad guy, you may be a

29:37

guy that's forced to be a scout

29:40

team guy. So you got to make sure you know how

29:42

to handle that particular role. And these guys

29:44

have been in it, and they also have been at the highest

29:47

of captains and all that kinds of part of their team.

29:49

Yeah, I mean Terry and Raheem talked about so

29:51

how makeup is so important

29:53

and that probably was part of their decision

29:56

making process on those two guys, like they

29:58

liked the makeup of those guys that stayed

30:00

in it, stayed committed, waited

30:03

for their turn because guess what, at the position

30:05

that they were drafted, You're probably gonna have

30:07

to wait your turn here in the NFL too, if

30:09

you get a turn. That's just how things

30:11

work in the National Football League. But somebody

30:13

that's willing and able to just go work every

30:16

single day and wait for your opportunity

30:18

and then seize that moment once you do. The last

30:20

thing I'll say about these last four guys, and I

30:22

don't want to take anything away from Casey Washington, He's

30:24

going to kind of be excluded from this comment. But

30:27

you had J. D. Bertrand from Notre Dame,

30:29

you had Jace McClelland from Alabama, and you had Zion

30:32

log from Georgia. Three what I would

30:34

call purebred college

30:36

football programs that are always

30:38

in the spotlight, and guys that

30:40

produced at programs that are always

30:43

in the spotlight. There's always pressure on their

30:45

shoulders at those three organizations.

30:47

Take that for what it's worth, but

30:49

it's another factor that I think coaches

30:52

and personnel departments look at is. These

30:54

are guys that performed when they were

30:56

constantly on television, constantly

30:58

evaluated, on criticized,

31:01

and in front of some really good coaching

31:03

staffs. I mean, you can make an argument that Kirby

31:05

Smart staff and Nick Saban's staff is

31:07

very close to an NFL staff the way that they coach

31:09

their players. So these guys have been coached

31:11

extremely hard and they're ready for this

31:13

opportunity. So there you go. We broke

31:16

it down from one to seven. Hopefully

31:18

we gave you some nuggets. Hopefully we gave you some information.

31:21

But that is the twenty twenty four Atlanta

31:23

Falcons draft class.

31:24

Aren't you got any nicknames? Are

31:26

ready for any of these guys yet?

31:27

You know?

31:27

Well, I mean thinking.

31:28

About going with Ruke ro

31:31

Okay, okay, I'm gonna

31:33

maybe his first name is

31:35

actually tougher than his back last name.

31:38

They've simple flied. Ruke is like

31:40

four letters in the middle of his first name,

31:43

so they did them somebody a service. At

31:46

Clemson, his first name actually starts

31:48

with an O two, so I thought double

31:50

O and if we could give him like number seven,

31:52

could we put number seven?

31:53

Oh?

31:53

Yeah?

31:54

Yeah? Like it?

31:54

Can we go double oh seven? This

31:57

hedge. You might bet there, But hey, how about Dorlesworth.

32:00

I love the Big Dade single

32:03

digital number?

32:04

Yeah, I love that, knew I knew

32:07

had thought about it because you know, I know

32:09

he got some good ones when he called double Oh.

32:11

I like that one for Ruke. Although a lot

32:13

of people, if they don't know the story, we're

32:15

going to be like, what's the first his name

32:17

is Ruke? But I know you're

32:19

pretty safe if you go with Ruke. If you if

32:21

in the broadcast arch, if you keep

32:23

saying a roller row, at some point, you're

32:25

gonna get tripped over that. As broadcasters,

32:27

we all know how that goes, all right. So

32:29

there's a breakdown of twenty twenty four Atlanta Falcons

32:32

draft class. Again, this is looking out into the future

32:34

and maybe these guys end up being playmakers.

32:37

They said that they were very busy in the

32:39

off season and free agency, and by the way, the

32:41

guys that were drafted last year or the year before,

32:43

they're looking for them to take bigger steps

32:46

in their game and be bigger contributors. As

32:48

we step closer to the twenty twenty

32:50

four NFL season. That's going to wrap it up here in the Falcons

32:52

Audible presented by AT and T. We are

32:54

here talking about all the big moments of the offseason,

32:57

and I think the NFL Draft classifies

32:59

as one of those big moments. That's DJ,

33:01

that's Arch, I'm rack. Thanks so much for joining us. Take

33:04

care. We'll be back on the next big moment

33:06

of the NFL offseason.