00:00Atlanta Falcons vets are reporting to training camp today.
00:03We'll be out there tomorrow when the team has their full squad practice,
00:07and we are going over the guys that need to prove themselves this year.
00:11On defense, we were talking about Troy Anderson, Braylon Trice, Clark Phillips,
00:15Sidney Brown, Darren Hall, J.D. Bertrand.
00:17Offense, where does your list start with offense, guys?
00:20I'm curious if Bo has any returning players offensively.
00:27I think low-hanging fruit would probably be Michael Penix,
00:31but I mean guys that were Falcons last year.
00:33Michael Jarrell?
00:34Michael Jarrell, that's a good call.
00:36Michael Jarrell is a good one.
00:40We had this conversation this morning about, funny enough, injuries.
00:46I remember when you were playing,
00:52and it was like you had gotten rid of guys, right?
00:58The team had kind of moved on from some players,
00:59and Arch comes up to me, we're watching practice.
01:02He was like, that guy right there.
01:04And he pointed at Mike, and he was like,
01:06that's going to be the right tackle this year.
01:07He's like, you know, we were talking about it.
01:09All the things went through, and then Mike had an injury to that training camp,
01:14and it changed it.
01:16And I said all that because I thought about,
01:18I was looking at this and going over these,
01:20and I thought about Michael Jarrell.
01:22And I was like, I asked Mike, I said, hey, does it make you,
01:26this is screwed up, and I was like, hey, does it make you feel better
01:28that you knew you were, you were, you were, it was, you were going to,
01:31that was going to be you.
01:32And I look at guys like Michael Jarrell,
01:34and for whatever reason, he got here as a trade
01:38because you needed help last year, right?
01:39When, after Caleb McGarry went down,
01:42and you trade for Jarrell,
01:44and we're all thinking, hey, he played for Seattle the year before.
01:47He was a, he was a starter for a few games.
01:50He's probably going to come in here and maybe slide in
01:53and have a chance to take that job from Wilkinson.
01:56And he didn't.
01:57He got to the point where he was inactive on some days,
01:59some game days.
02:00And I was like, that must feel like, that, that feeling,
02:04I would feel like this enormous amount of pressure
02:09walking into the training camp.
02:11If I was Michael Jarrell thinking like, I've got to perform
02:13or I might not be here.
02:15Different, this isn't the group that brought me in.
02:18They've went out and made moves.
02:20I would be like, you know, just, this is it.
02:23And I think he's in that spot.
02:25Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt.
02:27And, and it was a good call
02:29because he was a part of the team last year,
02:31but it was evident how quickly he fell out of favor.
02:34Remember the same thing happened the year before.
02:35We, we, we got a guy that was,
02:37that we brought in after initial roster cuts from Denver.
02:39I can't remember that guy's name.
02:41I know.
02:41Brought him in to be a swing tackle.
02:42And like three weeks later, you were like,
02:44we, that guy's not, he's not even, he's not even active.
02:47You know what I mean?
02:48And started to have those, those thoughts on him.
02:51And yeah, it was interesting.
02:53And you get the year, end of the year
02:54and Jack Nelson's kind of the swing guy.
02:55And you're, you're, you know, you're pushing pieces around.
02:58Michael Jarrell really kind of got moved out of the picture.
03:00This is a guy who had started multiple games
03:02the year before for Seattle.
03:03And he thought it could be a good, a good player.
03:04So that's a good call on that one.
03:06And I, I had trouble coming up with anybody offensively
03:09other than Michael Penix
03:10that actually was a part of the team last year.
03:12Now, I think there's a ton of guys
03:14who weren't part of the team last year.
03:16Actually, I take that back.
03:17Ryan Neusel is the other one.
03:18Ryan Neusel is a guy who started last year.
03:21And I do think that he is under some pressure
03:23to perform this year.
03:24Cause I do think that there's going to be
03:25a good competition at center to be able to get it done.
03:28And curious how he fits into what Stefanski wants
03:31at the center position.
03:32But outside of those two, a lot of the names I have
03:34are newcomers that are kind of on one year deals
03:37where it's like, do you fit into the future of this team?
03:41Juwan Taylor's one, Brian Robinson's one,
03:45you know, Corey Levin, another guy that you brought in.
03:48Those are, those are names of guys that not on their last leg
03:50per se with their career, but as far as the future
03:53of the Atlanta Falcons goes, need to have a good training camp.
03:56Wanya Morris.
03:57Wanya Morris is a good one.
03:58Nathan Carter.
03:59Now he was here last year, right?
04:01Yeah.
04:02He's a guy.
04:03Andrew Stuber is a guy for me.
04:06I'm not sure where he stands.
04:07He's technically right now.
04:09I'll tell you one that I'm a little bit curious about
04:12and I haven't heard a lot this all season,
04:16but Jack Nelson is a guy.
04:18He was, again, different front office,
04:24seventh round pick,
04:27looked kind of bad last year in training camp.
04:30I think he progressed.
04:32He was active late last.
04:34In fact, he was active and Jarrell wasn't late last season.
04:38Exactly.
04:39Yeah.
04:40So I'm not sure.
04:41I really am interested in watching him this year
04:44and what he can do.
04:46Now, Kyle Hinton is a guy that I don't think,
04:49because I think he's your best option.
04:51It's, you never heard this term, but swing guard,
04:55you know, like the guy that can flip on and play guard.
04:58It's essentially what he is, right?
05:00I mean, he's going to come in and play either side
05:02of the guard position.
05:04It would help him a lot if he could snap.
05:06It would help him a lot if he could snap.
05:08Well.
05:09And I don't know that he can't,
05:10but we've never seen that.
05:12And if you can play only guard and you can't play tackle,
05:16but you can't play center, that's a tough niche to carve out.
05:19Yeah.
05:19But he's done it.
05:19He has done it for a few years now.
05:21But see, Kyle Hinton's got Cam Dewberry,
05:24a rookie out of Alabama, college free agent,
05:28that maybe could push him.
05:29I don't know.
05:30Do you think Cam Dewberry could push him?
05:34You know more about him than I do.
05:35In last year's offense, not even close.
05:37Like, Kyle Hinton's going to win that job 10 times out of 10.
05:39Now, I think Cam Dewberry, he's more of a,
05:42he has more mass, right?
05:45He's a bigger fella from what I can remember
05:48in terms of actually moving people off the wall.
05:50And so maybe that plays into the factor
05:52when you talk about how you're going to construct
05:53this offense line.
05:54And I think in the end, and that, we brought up,
05:57God, I think we've emptied the depth chart now,
05:58bringing it up off and some linemen.
05:59But that's really what the conversation is about,
06:02is about you're moving slightly away
06:06from what you have been,
06:07where you've been 6'4", 6'5", 300, 305,
06:12maybe 3'10", which I don't believe.
06:13Half those guys are even close to 3'10".
06:17And now you're moving to the possibly
06:19double-team, deuce-block, pulling-guard kind of thing
06:22where it's like, okay, yeah.
06:24If we want to add a guy who's maybe 15 pounds heavier,
06:27that's a conversation to have.
06:29So I don't know where their value will be
06:30for Ian Cunningham and Kevin Stefanski
06:32as far as that goes.
06:34Do you want me to talk about guys
06:35that aren't offensive linemen?
06:36I got a couple, I think, in the receiver room.
06:39Yeah.
06:40I don't know what Chris Blair
06:42and Dylan Drummond's future are.
06:43They've brought in a lot of guys
06:45in the receiving core.
06:46Do those guys, you know what?
06:49Also, Charlie Warner.
06:55I'm spot on with that one.
06:56I don't know how he fits in it.
06:58Dude, that offense was designed
07:00around Charlie Warner for the last few years,
07:01and Zach Robinson is in Tampa.
07:03Well, and look, I like Charlie Warner.
07:05He's a friend of the show.
07:06He obviously, we watch them work out,
07:08and they watch us do radio shows.
07:10Well, and he was saying he needs
07:11to practice his radio voice.
07:12There you go.
07:13But I don't, you know, I think there's a guy named,
07:18now I don't know how the blocking part of this
07:20for Joshua Simon, but Joshua Simon's a tight end
07:22that can catch the ball.
07:24And he's a guy that spent a lot of time last year
07:27on the practice squad and everything,
07:29and I think he's made some strides.
07:31And I don't know any.
07:32He was a dog, a dog in college.
07:35Oh, my gosh, he was so good.
07:37I don't know a lot about Jack Velling,
07:39who is the, what, a college free agent
07:43coming in this year out of Michigan State.
07:45He's, you know, he's 6'4", 250.
07:50Can he be a guy that maybe takes over
07:52that Charlie Warner type role?
07:54I want to go back to wide receivers for a minute
07:55because I think I would make the proclamation
07:58because you brought up Dylan Drummond,
07:59a couple of these other guys.
08:00I would say that in my opinion,
08:03there's only two guys that are guaranteed
08:05to be on this roster past this year
08:07in that wide receiver room,
08:08and that's Zachary Branch and Drake London.
08:11All apologies to Jahan Dotson and Olamide Zaccheaus.
08:15The buyout for Jahan Dotson after this year
08:18is less than you are owing Darnell Mooney this season.
08:21You know what I mean?
08:22Olamide Zaccheaus is making next to nothing
08:25after, you know, after this year.
08:26And really, even this year combined,
08:27I think he's making like $1.5, maybe $2 million.
08:29Like, it would be nothing to actually move on
08:32from those guys.
08:33Now, you get to a point where we start bringing up
08:34all these names and you're like,
08:36you only have a few draft picks,
08:38you know what I mean,
08:39and a certain number of free agents
08:40that you could bring in.
08:41Like, how much roster turnover could you have?
08:44You're not going to turn into the whole wide receiver room,
08:45but I think it's compelling,
08:47and I don't think it's empty to say
08:49that those guys have to actually perform
08:52on the field or risk at least sliding back
08:55on the depth chart at some point.
08:56Yeah, I think a value player like Olamide,
09:00because you know you can plug him in,
09:01he can be anywhere on the field, essentially.
09:04And you know he can block.
09:06Yeah, well, I mean, yes.
09:09Depending on what, yes.
09:10Depending on who you're asking him to block.
09:12But yeah, I mean, I think Olamide's a value player
09:14that you're lucky to have
09:16because he has gotten,
09:18he's had some good moments here,
09:20and in his other stance,
09:21he's been kind of a clutch player, right?
09:23Made some big catches, so.
09:25To me, it almost sounds like
09:27it would be easier to list off the guys
09:28that don't need to prove themselves this year.
09:31Because the list of names
09:32that you've got right now are so long.
09:34I would say that you're spot on.
09:36And a lot of that has to do, Allie,
09:37with the conversation going back to free agency.
09:39Almost every free agent you signed
09:40was on a one-year deal.
09:41I think it was 15 players
09:43that you brought in on a one-year contract.
09:45Deshaun Hand, Christian Harris,
09:47and all these players
09:48were only brought in for one year.
09:50And you also only had five draft picks.
09:53So you don't look at draft picks
09:55and think, okay, they're on the end of the rope.
09:57Those guys should be secure for the most part.
09:59But you only had five of them.
10:01So there's so much turnover right now
10:03with this roster and guys that,
10:05because Stefanski said it,
10:06Ian Cunningham,
10:07we talked to Dave Archer about it Friday,
10:08they want guys to come in and compete.
10:10So they don't want guys to feel like
10:12that their roster spot is secure.
10:13They want guys to go out there
10:15and fight tooth and nail for that spot.
10:16And I think you also were very cautious
10:17about loading up the roster
10:19with guys 30 and over
10:22with multi-year contracts
10:24and then you're stuck, right?
10:26I mean, that's why Caden Ellis isn't here.
10:29That, his age and the athletic,
10:31you know, they were...
10:31Own your mind the same way.
10:32Yeah.
10:33So the athletic ability at that point,
10:34what they want to do,
10:35I mean, that's part of that.
10:37That's part of the deal.
10:37But yeah, when you got 90 players,
10:41you can normally,
10:42we can normally figure out
10:44who has to really prove themselves.
10:46What's the percentage on guys
10:47that need to prove themselves
10:48versus the ones that don't?
10:50Out of 90.
10:51I didn't know you were doing math.
10:53Like 75, 80?
10:54That was, yeah.
10:55I do in the 75 range.
10:56Guys need to prove themselves.
10:57I mean, it's, you're right.
10:58It's easier to say it the other way around.
11:00Guys that you know are part of the future
11:02of this team than the guys,
11:03than the guys other way around.
11:04And sometimes there are guys
11:05that are on contracts
11:07that have been here for a while
11:08that still have a couple years left
11:09that you find a way to move on from
11:11at the end of camp sometimes.
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