Falcons Rumors After Trading Taylor Heinicke: Sign Kadarius Toney Or Michael Thomas?

[Music] a trade went down earlier after roster cutdown day sending Taylor hinei to the LA Chargers and a 2025 conditional sixr draft pick to the Falcons which can Elevate to a fifth based on playing time although if Justin Herbert is healthy there's no way H he's going to see the field so let's just call it a six round draft pick so when that trade went down I made a short about it and my initial reaction to it was good happy they got something for a qb3 like hopefully nothing bad happens to Kirk Cousins this year but if something does happen it's not like Taylor hinek is even the next man off the bench anyway you've got Michael penx for that so yeah six round draft pick is not going to move the needle a whole lot but it's something and while there are minor cap savings to be had there are some cap savings to be had now the moment that I put that short out uh within about 5 or 10 minutes comments like the started to flood in from Evans saying go get cadarius or I hope we can sign Russell Gage or Cory Davis or Hunter Renfro or how about this one from Hunter let's try to sign Hunter Renfro or Michael Thomas now like these were not the only comments we got but this was just a snapshot of what my comments looked like after they traded Taylor hinei so Bravo and kudos to all of you by the way you're kind of becoming your own little Falcons today reporter of you know connecting the dots trade hinei all right what's next well that's what I try to strive to answer every single day on this channel what's next so which receiver do you want the Falcons to sign we're going to talk about a couple of names but I do want to get your thoughts early on in the comment section don't be afraid to scroll on down drop a name especially if a YouTube ad break comes on by don't just sit and watch the ad while the ad's rolling type a name when you come back up it should be over now unfortunately if you're wondering if the Falcons are going to go and make a big major Splash move unlikely they've got $1 million in cap space I'm not really even sure how like I I've looked at the numbers and it all adds up but still it doesn't seem right when Kirk Cousins is the highest cap hit at just 25 million a season like it they have a bunch of players in between 25 and 10 million but still those are the numbers I'm not making them up um spot Trak over the cap they both have them right around $1 million so here are some ways to generate more cap savings if you'd like you can restructure all these players or some of these players or just one of these players and you'll generate this much in cap savings now I will say a restructure to keep it short is not the player taking less money a contract restructure is taking a player's base salary for this season 2024 and lowering it to the vet minimum and then prorating that fat you trimmed off for the base salary over the remaining years of their contract into signing bonuses you lower their cap hit for this year while raising future cap hits so why do teams do this well you do it to try and spend more money now to take advantage of maybe an aggressive win now window you have but you also do it because NFL salary cap is always going to go up so you got to look at salary cap hits at percentages not the number right the percentage is what you want to look at because as the cap goes up if it goes up at a higher rate than the restructures do in terms of raising future cap hits you're actually better off doing it as backwards as it may sound as long as you like the player and think they're going to be here for the duration of their contract so with that all being said I don't see a big name coming after trading Taylor hinei I don't think the Falcons are going to decide all right now that heii's gone let's go get a big Superstar player like no one I don't think they feel the need to go do that too you're not going to find a superstar player most likely at this late stage in the game like it was a miracle that Justin Simmons was still a free agent and Ma Matthew judon was you know a trade candidate so I don't foresee a big name like Simmons or judon coming but there are some recognizable names like I wouldn't call any of these guys Superstars you know what I mean hunter Renfro Michael Thomas a familiar face in Russell Gage he was signed by the Ravens he was cut on roster cut down there right beforehand uh Jamal agnu is a allpro return man so if you want some help on special teams or speed look at him and then Chase Claypool he sucks so don't look at him but I would say the three most notable names Hunter enro Michael Thomas Russell Gage unfortunately Russell Gage missed 2023 due to a torn ACL so you got to go back to 2022 for his last season Michael Thomas and Hunter enro come off down years and what's kind of been a down trajectory for them anyway over the last few years one guy I would highlight though is Gage he's got the familiarity of course with Atlanta and with Raheem Morris so if the two had a good connection when they overlapped with the Falcons that could be an easy signing and call to be made I I I'm not opposed to Russell Gage coming back by any stretch I feel like he still has some good football left in him now getting released by the Ravens May point to the opposite direction but again it's nearly September or it is September depending on the time you're watching this there's just no one that's going to come through that door and save the day for Falcon wide receiver three or four Fontano though has a type let's start from the beginning of this off season which big name receiver did he sign darn Al Mooney okay which type of receiver did he trade for a speedy guy in Rond Del Moore and then when Rond Del Moore went down who did he sign a faster guy in jaem Grant are we noticing a pattern he's not looking for a 6'4 cinder block feet type of receivers he wants speed on Renfro Michael Thomas those Speedy guys like H Renfro maybe Thomas not really I don't know if Fontano wants to pursue an older slower receiver just because at one point Michael Thomas was good and at one point Hunter Run for had a th yards now one name I have not mentioned that definitely checks the box is cadarius Tony there is definitely no question about his speed right turn a punt in the Super Bowl to help the Chiefs win yeah Tony is probably the fastest guy on the market right now with you know some level of decent experience and history however similar to chase Claypool I go back to this point he sucks so you really want to sign a guy that's not that good I mean his rookie season with the Giants 420 yards he was an absolute headcase they traded for traded away traded him away for a third round pick I me when a team gives up on a first round pick that quickly there's more than just production issues right teams can sometimes work through that with first rounders and not give up so quickly no I think there are major character concerns that I'm just not that interested in inheriting at this point so yeah cadarius Tony is a first round pick at one point sounds compelling and the speed element is attractive but I'll pass not interested in Tony now next up on the show we're going to talk about a surprise prediction that ESPN's Dan Graziano made for all 32 teams so you're going to want to see what he had for the Atlanta Falcons but first first I got to tell everyone watching about Factor if you want to save some money while also maybe eating a little bit better than you normally do then get started with Factor today because thanks to their awesome Chef crafted meals with options like calorie smart Protein Plus and keto you can save time with their meals being ready in Just 2 minutes without breaking the bank in the process with 35 different meals and more than 60 add-ons to choose from every week you'll always have new flavors to explore treat yourself to restaurant quality meals that feature premium ingredients like filet monan shrimp and black and salmon head to factor meals.com Falcons ch50 and use code Falcons chat 50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month that's code Falcons chat 50 at Factor meals.com Falcons chat 50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month while your subscription is active I put all that information in the comments and description of today's video go check them out today now ESPN like I said came out with the don't be surprised if for all 32 teams and here was Atlanta's don't be surprised if Tyler aler remains an annoyance to bejan Robinson fantasy managers this has been a very subtle fear of mine just from a fantasy perspective but at the end of the day fantasy is not what the most important thing is for the Falcons um here's what Graziano wrote though Robinson is a special talent and in line to be the Falcon starting running back and get the bulk of the work but aler who has 1,718 rushing yards through two NFL seasons is too good to keep off the field completely the Falcons trust him as a pass protector which means he could spell Robin in the two-minute offense and they trust him at the goal line especially because of his ball security I am slightly torn on what kind of role Tyler Alger is going to have this year because everything Dan said at the end there is accurate aler is good in goal line situations short yarded situations he's good with ball protection he's good in pass protection those are really valuable traits that sure they don't really pop on the screen for your fantasy team but coach does not care about your fantasy team they want to protect the football and protect the quarterback and if aler can do those two things then yeah there's going to be a role for him on this offense I mean last year though 976 rushing yards for bejon compared to 683 with a decent Edge going to Robinson in overall carries compared to aler but we don't have an exact blueprint to go off of for this year but the closest we can come to is what did Raheem Morris and the rest of this coaching staff that come over from the Rams due last season in La again it's not Apples to Apples sha McVey still with the Rams it's different Personnel but the only stat I can give you is this Kyon Williams the ram starting running back received 68% of the car carries in games he played last year for La that's a big stakehold like that's a lot of the touches going to just one running back so my prediction for this season last year Robinson got about 40 7% of the carries for all players minus quarterbacks I think we're going to see a 60 301 split 60% goes to Bean 30% goes to aler and the last 10% go to maybe receivers on trick plays and other various guys getting touches in the back field Jace mclen here or there Avery Williams for example but I think we're going to see still a majority go to Robinson but I could see some annoyance coming through if Tyler Alger is the guy getting the Rock at the goal line because he's just a little bit better in that area now before we sign off and let you guys get on with the rest of your day help us reach our next subscriber Milestone we are sitting right below 23,800 subscribers so if you have not subscribed yet go ahead and do so lock yourself in for the best free Falcons YouTube content out there and as always we got to show some love to the dirty birds Club Jose Santana Ken Ballard Trey 1222 shout out to you three for being the first members of our dirty birds club and if you want to get shout outs for the entire 2024 season $100 super chat during our game day watch parties and we'll throw you on screen to get shout outs all season long [Music]