Atlanta Falcons Depth Chart, First Preseason Game vs. Miami Dolphins | Falcons Podcast

and good morning everybody sorry we're just a little bit late that's my fault we are going to bring in our other Facebook groups real quick Atlanta Falcons on SI and Scott Kennedy Sports get those going we'll get into it because we got a lot to talk about today and as they get rolling our Facebook groups come in we're good to go welcome everybody this is the Falcons podcast and as far as I'm concerned it's football season we've got a game in two days Nick how excited are you you look ah hell of a lot better today my friend I hope you're feeling better too I know I know it was kind of a a rough weekend with the with covid and all kinds of stuff like that's not enough yeah no I'm doing better uh only had to wake up two times last night to get the little guy back down he's still pretty congested uh so he's soothes himself with a pacifier and when you have a pacifier and you can't breathe through your nose not a good time uh I guess so um slept a little better last night I think we're going to be back to some level of normaly today going back to daycare back to work uh for me as well unless things change between now and uh the start of the day but um doing well excited to be here it's Wednesday man this this is just I'm ready to get back into a routine I know we'll get through today and it's like I love Friday football hell yeah um I'm Pockets play Friday right I haven't I don't usually think that far ahead I'm like there's games every day I haven't quite figured it out I know my son's got a football game on Friday night too so be uh be dual screen in a little bit go to one watch the other on on reserve but we'll get into all of that today uh we go live every Monday and Wednesday and once we hit the season we'll probably at least probably preseason games I'm thinking Friday once we start getting into the games too um even if Nick doesn't want to join us we'll probably pick up on Fridays again but we go live 8:30 AM 8:35 a.m. Monday Wednesday for sure on these channels because we like having the com the the uh conver ation with y'all guys like Eric coming in before we even got started Eric welcome in good morning Michael we can always count on being here uh appreciate you Michael and he gets up right and early with us he's out in Tucson Arizona so you know he's up early says good morning Scott Nick on the Falcons podcast right back at you Eric he says I just picked up my tickets to take my oldest brother and my son to their first NFL game on opening Sunday that'll be awesome it'll be my first game at the Benz traveling from from Virginia any suggestions Eric that's an email hit me up on that skinned ski and then Edy or or shoot me a DM Scout Kennedy on Twitter but uh have fun get there early um there's there's lots to do so uh have a great time you'll you'll have a blast um walk around I have one suggestion don't forget to drink water I was say drink lots of water that was my next one water it's going to be what September 9th and uh you know luckily you it's inside once you get in but you want to spend as much time as you can outside before the game um the retractable roof hopefully it'll be open it's depending on how hot it is but fall in the south is so awesome but it ain't fall yet guys it's it's it's September can be freaking brutal so uh fall in the south is amazing for for football weather but yeah well we can get into all of that stuff Rusty I see your question here I don't want to show it because it's got a profanity on it but um you know he saysi heard that Bo Knicks is a Broncos third Stringer on the depth chart right now are you at all worried that he couldn't beat out Zach Wilson or Jared STM just a reminder on this one at this time last year ban Robinson was fourth string and we told everybody how ridiculous that was that's just where rookies go uh we're Nick and I are going to get into this a lot more on my high huddle uh Broncos for breakfast in an hour but we're going to get into our own depth chart and we'll start talking about why the Falcons depth chart matters a little bit more to me than uh than one full of full of rookies Yeah Carl and I talked specifically about bonick being third string last year and I described it as small potatoes doesn't mean a lick uh he could I'd still put him as the favorite to be the week one starter based on who I've spoken to based on what the big media with boots on the ground in Dove Valley uh Denver uh have uh spoken with so third string all the rookies are third string it's a it's a bill parcel's Mo move is how it's being painted and Shawn pyton does that historically I guess so not surprising yeah I uh I I said on Monday I'll be I would consider it a disappointment if if Bo Knicks on the opposite end Michael penck we know is not gonna start because he's got Kurt Cousins ahead of him but when you got Zach Wilson and Jarrett SDM ahead of you you expect your 24 year old rookie to start and if he doesn't start week one I'll be a little disappointed by week two I'll be I'll start you know running up some red flags uh that said I didn't expect him to start to be the week one starter for preseason I expect that to be Jared stum it's just kind of it's almost like a respect thing you know when you've got a guy that's been there at least a year we're not talking Caleb Williams here who came in and we shipped out the former starter and you're our guy you're you're my number one guy um this is this is a little different so on that note let's get back to some Falcons uh funeral Services says we are here we're here good to see you Terry Clark says good morning ATL coach Scott father Nick it's finally it's here finally let's go yes it is Nando is here as well he says good day Scott Nick in the chat that's all y'all so we're going 12 and five the season and win the Super Bowl we just need to trade for Micah Parsons oh my goodness would that be expensive what do what do you think Micah Parsons gets in a trade right now I'd say the bidding starts at two first rounders and a starter I'd say two first in a second probably cuz it's you're going to have to pay him unbelievable money as well but also there is the the background still it exists you know there's been some he's been fun to talk to but I think there is still like opinion of some volatility uh there potentially so not like physically just you know like uh you don't know exactly what you're going to get uh from him off the field so we talk about trust Nick coaches trust can you trust you you give you give when when Micah gets his 25 million actually they're up to 30 now on edge rushers aren't they when they get get his let's say 5 years at 30 150 guarantee three and a half of them at $100 million do guaranteed do you trust him to to live up to that contract over the course of the next five years that's a that's a risk all a risk of course yeah but he's got different different risks and I gotta say though I mean like I know that he had the pen State incident there's been some questions about imiter in the past but like I love hearing him talk like he's a fun person to listen to uh as well but uh yeah if he's available he's probably the oh man second best pass rusher in football I still got to give it to Miles Garrett miles Garrett number one yep yeah but uh that's U if he's available I'd be interested for sure I don't know what's going on with the Cowboys and hopefully my internet's not tanking too much right now what just happened to me that might be me can you hear me I can hear you but you're Frozen on my screen all right well there goes Scott for a second so um we'll uh keep it going but yeah thank you so much Nando for the comment here uh great to see you I don't know if that was Scott or me going on BRB says Scott all right well I'm running the show now um good to see you of course we got cam coming in and says it's nice to see clas be a bridge between teams not wasting time fighting yeah absolutely good to see you Michael as well and we'll get right into it uh the thing that is pretty surprising to me not surprising but good to see is Michael penx number two on the depth chart uh really happy to see that happening uh not wasting around any time nothing too crazy uh going on with the dep chart but penx as the number two quarterback uh not really a surprise right you have Nathan RoR you got Taylor hinei uh but pennx is the guy uh of course so he are going to be the guy so not was ending times I hope we get a lot of reps of his uh in the preseason that would be fantastic uh we could get that going so hopefully that is uh hopefully that's all fine uh with Michael panks hope he can stay healthy the Falcons I feel like I've done a decent job um working on the offensive infrastructure around penx uh so he should be set up to succeed now what does success look like for Michael penx just getting out there and running the offense uh making the the simple play I know it's boring but like how's he doing with the verbiage of the offense you know relaying the information in the Huddle the pre- snap checks everything like that uh if the box is heavy you audible into a pass if the box is light getting to a run and just making the right reads not trying to do too much I feel like that's where a lot of rookies get in trouble uh they try to do simply just try to do too much uh so can you go out there and just do the simple stuff I'm also curious to see what it looks like in a more NFL Concepts uh panx has an incredible arm but it was a lot of shotgun vertical Air raides Concepts out there with Washington last season and there's Scott again so we're just talking a little bit of uh Michael penx here and expectations with that first game being listed number two uh but really just looking for the simple things I mean boring as heck the verbiage of the play The Playbook getting that in there and making the right reads staying healthy how does it look like with the offensive line I'm excited to see but excited also He's listed as number two yeah sorry about that y'all I um I ran a video Drive update on my computer this morning I've been up since 4:45 uh but it didn't ask me to restart my computer because everything was fine uh logged in everything is good and then when I switched tabs everything blanked out on me so I'm like all right let's give this a good oldfashioned restart like I probably should have and we're good to go there's uh appreciate you holding it down Nick there's um lots of talk in here about something that I wanted to get into and we'll get into it again later because it's Justin Simmons this is a guy that we have advocated for for the Atlanta Falcons who's still a free agent who is visiting the New Orleans Saints I don't want Justin Simmons in New Orleans while we're rolling out Richie Grant I I want Justin Simmons in Atlanta and let Richie Grant go to New Orleans so that was one of the things on the depth chart Richie Grant is listed number one ahead of safety DeMarco helm which those were flipped at the end of last season does the light bulb come on for Richie this year he's got plenty of talent um you know good in coverage big hitter as far as physically speaking but the game has just seemed a little too fast for him up until this point which is why we have advocated for free agent Justin Simmons I mean you still have one more year of cost control left right he was a third round selection uh so there is Talent there and the ability to take away the football was one of the things that stood out with him at UCF so we'll see I mean it's probably more of a we have a young cost controlled guy and we're gonna let these two battle and we're gonna recast the die next season probably $4 million I mean that's good money for a safety it's not that cost controlled I mean it's controlled because it's not variable but it's yeah that's also he's middle he's middle of the pack in in in money right now for for safeties like 15th he ain't playing 15th he played about 83rd last year yeah absolutely and brown cow I don't know what's going on there but U good luck with the your education yeah I think I already I already deleted one of these earlier so uh you know just just stop this is La last warning you know either you are upset that's fine we're all pretty cynical or if you're trolling then just go away yeah God Bless yeah whatever good good luck um but uh yeah no it's we'll see what happens with Grant I guess yeah four million is that's surprising um that we've talked about that because he's in the fourth year which is basically almost like a fifth year option for a day two guy so he's he's I think he's like 3.8 and you save 3.2 if you wave him so we've been how we've had Richie Grant cut since last year you know for the amount of money you save almost $3 million well $3 million and I've said that Justin Simmons is going to probably get around seven is what I've been saying for the last six months that he's affordable yeah the the Falcons don't have a ton of available money but they got enough to to work something around to bring in Justin Simmons if they if they need to that's for sure because as Michael says good to see you Michael thanks for the care package again hope youall are doing well I know speaking having a rough go of it Michael's had a rough go of it the last couple months too um just that's my internet that one just flashed right there Nick if I frze up again um so we got all kinds of problem going on in John's Creek today it could be streamyard too but but yeah I could find a way to get money for Justin Simmons if they thought they needed him I worry a little bit about the arrogance of coaching with four defensive backs coaches on this team ah we'll just coach him up that scares me a little bit especially on the defensive side I mean you can hide some stuff with scheme but the actual like coaching I don't know these guys are born not made necessarily U safeties and linebackers we could argue a little bit but it'll be interesting to follow what happens with Richie Grant going forward I mean like you mentioned we all but wrote him off uh but he's still kicking it around here and when you have a guy like Jesse Bates next to him you don't have to worry I think as much uh I'm more worried about you know the cornerback situation in the edge rusher room than I am the second safety uh right now on this Falcons defense but good for Grant I mean we both liked him coming out I had questions about his he does have some big hits but his like actual like tackling consistency um like coming in the alley there's Miss tackles and when you're safety can't have that you can't have that especially with how spread and quick everything is nowadays you better be able to freaking tackle on the open field uh consistently but good to see him stepping up and um pulling for him too right you know last year of his contract he hopefully has a good season and goes out there and earns a nice second deal granted you know 4 million this year he is making okay money as it is he's not like a seventh rounder out here a udfa but you know this The second contract is meant to be the the game changer uh for a lot of these guys so hopefully he does it and I don't expect him to make more next year than he's making this year probably not with the sa great if he does for him that means he had a hell of a season yeah for sure yeah I mean if he it's like oh I always think it's kind of funny it's like oh he's you know going to be too expensive next year okay so it was kind of the Jeff Auda argument you know well Jeff Auda if he plays and he's a $10 million Corner great that's that's fine with me bring him in if Richie plays that was the Justin Fields argument well you're gonna have to pay him anyway okay great if I get a $30 million quarterback in 2024 and have to pay him 40 in 2025 great that's a good thing that means you're more than likely in the playoffs so if Richie is making more money next year than he's making this year because he's on about average money for for salary I think I've looked it up and it's like between 15 and 18 if you're talking maybe it was like 30 because there's 64 safeties but he's right he was right in the middle of of average and if he ends up making more money next year that's a good thing for the Atlanta Falcons and Richie Grant if they end up paying him so be it but it means he's had a good year which is what we're looking for and yeah there was a little scrap yesterday uh I guess things got a little physical Drake London and he he stood up took exception Dolphins defensive back stood up took exception little brewhaha and as 10 gam says it's nice to see Kus be a bridge between the teams and not wasting time fighting yeah you gotta go out and have a little pushy shovey that's we don't we don't mind that out there and if there's two guys on the field that I'm gonna kind of get behind in a battle royale it'd probably be kalas Campbell and Kaleb McGary those are two of the most physically imposing guys on the field yeah uh definitely don't want to get between them I don't mind it too much I mean these guys have been going at it with you know since July right they really kind of get pretty frustrated uh with each other at that point they need some fresh blood right we talk about it being a zero sum well same guys over and over again you know you don't you don't love the fighting but also you understand it uh when it's the infighting stuff as long as it doesn't get to elevat or it's not consistent and continuously disrupting practice then we have a problem uh then people are going to be running wind Sprints and maybe you know have to do the uh oh gosh what is the thing the parents do they put them in like the big oversized sweatshirt this is our getting a long shirt you have to get something very big for some of those guys out there but uh hopefully um just a one andone and can move forward and they're going to get some fresh blood to go against here pretty soon Mr show enough says good morning guys I heard in another podcast the Falcon started off slow in the first half of the Dolphins but then won the second half that was probably the falcoholic podcast you were on last night I know Daniel uh flick was going to be a guest on that last night and Daniel has a spectacular write up on uh on Falcons SI that recapped everything so um you know and that's kind of what he said so I would imagine he said the same thing last night and uh if you heard it somewhere else then you just got another opinion on that because I know that's what Daniel wrote up that it started off a little slow and then uh then it was slicing and Dyson with with kurk cousins and and Michael pennx and I think one of the things that that Daniel has has really made a point to point out is Michael pennock's completion percentage might not be as good but he's also being more aggressive he's taking more shots I want that out of my rookie in preseason in training camp is to go out there and be so he might be eight for 16 but take four shots of 20 plus yards instead of just one so the the the point is did the Falcons handle the quarterback position 100% the right way there's Arguments for and against whatever you want to but there's no question if you're going to overspend and get it right the Falcons should have a quarterback this year Nick and that was the big problem last year did you overcorrect okay if I'm gonna overcorrect anywhere let's have it be at the quarterback position yeah absolutely I mean again back to the slic of the pie there's only so much out there right like I don't I don't I know you're seeing probably Scott romad dun a lot of highlights out there in Chicago how would that be for the immediate uh Falcons team versus penck but you know Raheem Morris and a lot of these SE guys drafting in a way with job security right and the overex not overe expenditure but heavy expenditure of resources so we'll see uh how it plays out but hard not to be excited about the long-term Prospect especially given the the desert that Falcons fans have crossed over and over again uh since Matt Ryan left let's even say Matt Ryan's last season in Atlanta I mean it's not a long period said the Bronco fan uh who watches Iowa Hawkeye offense but you know you should you should have answers there that at least give you b-level quarterback play in the immediacy I won't say for sure be level with penck yet because right you know unknown but and that's one of the things that we never really got into at all with with the Michael pennick draft pick because there was so much question of like how did you allocate your resources was was this the right pick at eight was did did they overdraft frankly I think they all got overdrafted honestly I mean you go from six quarterbacks in the first 12 are they really all that good what was it I think what I hear on a podcast the other day that from uh that that Tom Brady was the sixth quarterback taken in that class I said that y that was me so it's like yeah you you do overspend over over overspend on the quarterback position it doesn't matter if Michael Pennock hits but if he doesn't that's kind of the thing everybody's assuming right now about this whole situation is that Michael penx is going to be a hit in in 2026 what if he's not maybe he's not now you're right back in that boat but to their point we like the guy we're gonna take him and I'm okay with that I I I am okay with that um especially at quarterback yeah at quarterback trust your board you know nobody's gonna get them all right I'm not grading with hindsight um saying oh you should have done this oh you could have had Brock p with the last pick in the draft man if anybody had any ideal Brock py was going to be he never was going to last till the last pick that that's that's what I mean by grading with hindsight coming in with forsite though as a coach he says morning fam have a great day and the rest of your week he's got the coffee Emoji coming up I'll drink to that thank you coach appreciate you being in Terry Clark comes in he has a question he says uh Arnold MTI being outplayed um that was one of the guys that we hit on as maybe a little bit of a disappointment so far uh this year is like stocked down as eetti is not taking that step and is getting getting outplayed because the depth chart list two outside linebackers but they're not playing two edges a lot they're playing a very similar scheme to what we saw last year and I still think that's out of necessity Nick when the strength of this team is you could go nine NFL caliber defensive linemen and you know a couple of average guys at Edge why am I going to force edges on the field when I got all these DL and some pretty good inside linebackers the only thing is that the edge is the setting the edge aspect right for the Integrity of the defense in theory you can put linebackers out there but they're typically smaller they just don't have the same base uh to do that very often I mean so that's the one thing I'd be nervous about maybe you get really creative on third downs and there's different looks there but what does it look like on first and second down are you going to play those like third down kind like we saw last season just need to see it in theory I mean it's there's a lot of uh like you Madden or whatever in theory that might work well but you do have to be able to sit there you know hold your gap down and stop the run first just with how defenses are built up front so uh on third down you know second and long etc etc get exotic get fun uh but I I I do have a hard time scene where you're like completely abandoning The two-edge Rush look now you can have a little bit of flexibility with guy like Doras right guy like Zack Harrison uh they also fact into what your front can look like you can be a little lighter on one side heavier on the other kind of like those uh legion of boom Seahawks but want to see what that actually looks like from a formational on the field perspective Robbie red has a good question because speaking of depth chart where we don't have any questions on the depth chart is pretty much the entire offense um we we joked about that you know in Camp battles it's like let's see offensive Camp battles uh number three wide receiver and I'm done that's that's pretty much it when we're talking about the starting 11 and a number three wide receiver might not even be a starting 11 um but the Seahawks just signed Conor Williams to a one- year up to six million he had a PFF grade of 86 and a half what do you think the Falcons pay dman with his 83 PFF rating now didn't Conor Williams have some injury concerns also am I not mistaken on that one oh yeah he's he failed over and over again with a bunch of different teams out there I'm actually surprised he signed um he has it's I think it's the ACL uh is concerning for him but um no yeah that's a he's gotten a big injury concern yeah so that's part of it he's worth more than that as when he's playing but again he's that's a reflection of his unavailability at times um but he ask about dolman he says try and avoid the Lloyd cushenberry money although in my opinion Dolan's a much better Center than cushenberry I I would have rather had dolman than cushenberry I watched cushenberry for three years with the Broncos bad bad okay was kind of how I said was was okay he worked his way up to an average NFL Center and then he's got now he's got he's tied for the second highest paid average contract in the NFL at 12 uh at 12 and a half uh I think cushenberry gets I mean I think dolman if he plays another season like this I think he's gonna get an eight figureure deal uh by eight figures I mean 10 plus million that would put him in the top five uh as a free agent that's just kind of the way it works is he a top five Center maybe maybe not is he a top five available Center yeah he he probably will be so I think you're GNA see Dalman in the in the in a similar call it three years $36 million with 22 guaranteed something along those lines so it turns out to be a two-year 1110 million contract I think we're in that range if Dalman plays similarly or takes a step up and is even maybe a little better which you're hoping for uh in in this year that he's he's going to get some money so we we talked about depth charts there's not much going on with dep charts on the offensive side of the ball other than Ray Ray McLoud as the head of Darnell Mooney that's it not Darnell Mooney ronell Moore him thank you I'm gonna confuse those guys it's the first time I've done it I almost said it on Monday Mooney and Moore they got added him like in the same week and I'm gonna confuse him a zillion times until I see him on the field so Mumu right more God I had a I was coaching baseball I had these two kids they join met him like right next to each other lennin and Lawson good luck I was done I was done no Darnell Mooney is almost in Sharpie is the number two Ray Ray is ahead of rondale Ray Ray ahead of rondale for uh rondale yes no you're right I just it's confusing because all Ray Ray is ahead of rondale for the number three SLS slot wide receiver roll that's really the only Camp battle on offense that's going on yep I I will be curious to see about the depth of the offensive line um that's something to kind of talked about while you were uh getting your computer all sorted out there Scott but when you have a Young quarterback especially one who was hardly breathed on in Washington uh because of the Pack 12 defenses and uh just you know the offensive infrastructure they had there with the Huskies but the depth of the offensive line is something I'm always curious and you don't really hopefully get a chance to see it but you do in preseason how does pennx operate behind a less than ideal offensive line I mean cuz the way it's set up Scott I mean you know this but just for the the chat in here the difference in Talent level when you go from your first team offensive line to second team offensive line compared to your first team defensive line to second team defensive line is astronomical um like if offensive Line's at a disadvantage with the defensive line uh but then you get second string and this just those second string guys are getting a lot of snaps you're hopefully never seeing your second string offensive line so I mean preseason can be just a baptism by fire for some of these quarterbacks when they're playing with second and third string because I mean this it's it's crazy how incompetent some of the pass blockers look in those situations so I'm not worried uh for penx you know I'm guessing that he's going to get a fair chance behind ones in preseason as well but is he going to be behind twos and threes what does that look like what does the Falcons even look like with those guys let alone what's the quarterback look like behind those guys yeah I think the depth is a lot better and again he'll be going against twos and threes which you know but like you said the defensive line is is typically better that gets mitigated a little bit by you get you should be able to dictate to the next guy to to the other team so it helps mitigate the athleticism Advantage because Silas comes down I'm Gonna Roll into what your point into this question from Silas says how do you both think the dline and rotation is looking and then Jay asked about uh Eddie Goldman too and you you look at the the depth chart and you know I think one of the reasons I think the Atlanta Falcons depth chart means more than most is because we're not expecting we weren't expecting any of the rookies to be in in the first team so you're not disappointed you're like wait Bon Robinson's listed fourth what is this it's nonsense um there that is what it is but what we do have here is the Veterans and you see cavius Street ahead of Eddie Goldman okay maybe Eddie's had a good camp uh and has a really good chance of make the team when when Daniel put out his 53 he has Zion Logue off the team and he strongly considered keeping nine defensive lineman he still kept eight because you got to figure Brandon dorles is going to make it and he had any Goldman and kavia Street on the team ruk oroho taquan Graham Zack Harrison David Animan and grd Jarett that's eight guys and I'm like now the Falcons did wave a draft pick a six round draft pick two years ago the guard from Georgia Nam slip in my mind he's uh he's still made the team on the reserves uh let me see what was his name not Fitzpatrick no it was it was it was the offensive guard not he doesn't look like he's on the team anymore uh but they did cut him it doesn't happen real often especially a team that's strapped with salary cap money but um this team isn't quite as you know they're they're up against it they've spent but they're not you know they're not in salary cap hell like they were but there is a little bit of a precedent there Justin cutting who was it now Justin schaer yes Justin Schaefer uh they did cut him coming out of camp and resign him to the practice squad U would they think about doing the same thing with Zion log maybe rotation looking good defensive line going back to Nick's point on the defensive line rotation it's the most heavily rotated position in in the game the inside linebacker safeties and corners and offensive linemen typically play every snap you're hoping they play every snap of the game you'll see some rotation at wide receiver with packages you'll see a lot of rotation at running back that's probably the other one and uh but but defensive line is the place where depth matters Beyond injuries and I think the Falcons defensive line is the strongest part of this team Nick man the dep with the depth when they can when they when you can line up I think of it like a wrestling match you know okay one versus one this team wins they get a point two versus two this team wins that's how I measure strength I measure it by depth and one through eight I think this team matches up with anybody in in depth in the NFL may not be the best but I think it's the strength of this team yeah I I think I agree with you there yeah I was gonna say quarterback too right because you just have one guy you got a rookie and a guy who's coming off an injury so there's I have bigger questions at quarterback than I do want defensive line yeah that's true I I will say that on the defensive line I don't want to dispar disparage Grady Jarrett but I don't think he's one of the top five interior defensive linemen in football right now and having a singular Superstar defensive lineman uh pass rusher I think makes more of a difference than a lot of spots granted you know it's different ways to skin a cat I hate that saying but like you had the Eagles a couple years ago where did they have an actual absolute Superstar on that defensive line when they had an ungodly amount of uh sacks and pressures no but their second string defensive line could have started for a lot teams uh so when you have that level of depth and waves you can do things I will say though Scott it's just because everything is connected the and it's not fair because we need to be able to isolate them to uh to analyze them but the lack of talent at Edge might have a little bit of an impact on the ability of the Interior defensive line and just the advantageous looks they can get uh but I'm with you I mean if you want to lump in like Zach Harrison as well excited to see the flashes from ruker ruro who there's no pressure to get out there you know just a a freak athlete hopefully he'll uh step up obviously you got U we always love Graham right Grady Jarrett kavia Street I've saw a question about Eddie Goldman Eddie Goldman I think is from what I've heard been solid uh so far so it's a good unit it's definitely the the anchor of the defense and the deepest part of the the defense you might want to argue running back because but we're both Tyler AER Fanboys uh so that's he's great yeah the running back position might be the might be the strongest part of this this team relative to other other places uh Cory Ellison this is this is a good thing this is a good thing right here I haven't really heard much about Matthew berson seconde guard left guard out of Syracuse how's he doing really good because you haven't heard much about it that's that's a good thing it this team it feels so much different than teams that we've grown up with I say grown up or you know lived with the last several years this team is strong in the trenches it really is the offensive and defensive lines have been rebuilt credit Arthur Smith credit Terry font over the last three years give credit it was too late but uh dmitro you know Caleb McGary was his draft pick Jake Matthews was his draft pick that was one to pair with with Matt Ryan a long time ago so he at least recognized that but McGary and and lindst I'm pretty sure were in the same draft class it was just too late by then it was they'd missed their window uh but but they're strong in the trenches they've invested money into the defensive line now rather than because I just said too late rather than wait for it to be too late they just got their defensive line of the future in this last draft class we spent what five picks you know on on four on the defensive line and then an inside linebacker so they they recognize where where do we need to be in two years well that's where you're hoping aoo dless Trice uh Logue those guys can really step up so good foresight um you know again my I'm listening to uh I was looking at Rusty's comments here Scott I went back multiple times and watched your live reaction to the Falcons drafting Michael pennx it never gets old the this draft wasn't about if you take win now out of the equation this draft was about where do we need to be in two years which that's not necessarily a bad way to go and Rusty I've watched it myself also and I'm proud of the fact like within the first 10 seconds I say this isn't about Michael Pennock this isn't a knock on the Michael penx himself this is a knock on resource allocation which I disagree we've been in through that a zillion times um let's see Eric he's got this to say we got about uh five or so minutes left in the show then we're going to get out of here um so if you got any burning desires get them in there uh Eric says it's ak's third year I think hope he turns turns a corner he's talking about eetti no pun in intended he can get at least uh if he can add two to last year's total I'll take it what do you have six last year that would put him at eight uh sacks the fact would' be happy with eight sacks is sad a little bit um it's amazing to me though is you get 42 sacks and nobody has more than six and a half so there is room there for a a top guy for sure yeah uh there is no doubt to have a top guy in there and we'll continue to hunt uh without a doubt so last show before the preseason game obviously uh Scott I we talked excited about Michael penx I want to see what some of these uh non-elite pass pressures look like because there's going to be obviously it's going to be funneled more throw through pits and London but how does Mooney look how is he deployed exactly uh can Moore be more of a gamer you know get the ball in his hands create some stuff Ray McLoud uh I mean I'm we haven't even talked about it but shout out to the flicks article talks about McLoud having the kickoff uh the special team stuff over Williamson which is shocking considering how great Williamson was so just a lot of fun things to catch up on yeah I think the question one of the questions is is does Avery Williams make this roster He's listed number three safe uh running back right now I don't think he can make this team as a a position player so he's got to make it and will you keep to a special teams only guy when you've got a dual threat like Ray Ray McLoud that's one of the big questions for me over the next three weeks Sam says we already talked about Simmons meeting with the ANS yes yes um that's still a player I would advocate for um is is Justin Simmons now we've seen the fal you know we we do my high huddle next talk a lot of Broncos who hit the Waiver Wires Kareem Jackson no Dalton Ryner was was linked to the Atlanta Falcons I said hell no uh wrote a big com column on this about what how disastrous that is and people looking at Stats and not watching football um because stats lie um Simmons is a guy I would advocate for he would fit in perfectly with this team and I think if they feel like they need some extra help they could find the money to do it um I mentioned the the arrogance of coaching I don't mean just the Atlanta Falcons coaches I mean coaches in general there's always this thought of we can fix this guy I can coach this guy up and there are a lot of defensive backs coach on this from Jerry gray Raheem Moore um Jimmy Lake one two3 those guys are all defensive back coaches by Nature that's where they've cut their teeth in the NF and in growing up you know earning their stripes and they didn't make a single move in the defensive back room which was struggled last year is there this thought that we can make this work okay maybe you can maybe you can I'd like to see uh Justin Simmons and and Brian real quick and then I'll flip it back over to you before we get out of here was wasn't dolman a demitro pick no he was in the very first draft class with Richie Grant he was the pickup with the Broncos the Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons swapped second round picks and the Denver Broncos took javante Williams a running back and the Falcons traded down and took Richie Grant and they got a fourth round pick in return uh that they used on dolman and dolman may end up being the best player out of both of those the one that hurts is the pick after Javonte Williams in that draft was javant Holland I think he's made two pro bowls already at safety so if you maybe had stayed and and picked Holland that's that's the one that hurts a little bit but this is why we Advocate we like more picks because it gives you more of a chance to hit and Dolan's been a hit not even not just for a fourth round Center but he's a he's a good Center in the NFL I mean considering cushenberry is what the second highest paid now what is dolman gonna actually get you talked about keeping it out luckily the Center Market is very deflated uh so it's even oh highest paid it's like well the money is compared to Garden tackles is nothing uh but yeah he's he's been a good player for them and uh pretty good offensive line we'll see about McGary this year right he's he's the big question mark uh with the new scheme probably going to leave him a little bit more vulnerable hopefully the quarterback play helps him out some but we're we're on McGary watch uh last thing then we're gonna go is uh a137 sa says morning guys what do you thought on the linebacker group I think it's one of our strongest position groups to me I think you got two good players right now and Kaden Ellis and Nate lman played really well and then you've got one who's got absolute Superstar potential in Troy Anderson um is he behind a little bit because he got hurt and didn't get to take that next year of development did it help him because all he could do was study and learn and and and and read and get out there but I've said before this our The Edge group on this team is not good it it's just it's just not the defensive line is good the linebacker group is good so expect to see something similar to last year expect to see those three guys on the field at the same time uh Ellis Anderson lman and then bertran will make this team and back them up uh and maybe only one Edge at a time where where you see out there who who was Bud depri last year um and I think was it James Smith Williams is that guy this year where you only play one Edge and then ETI comes in as a designated pass rusher yeah we will uh we'll be on watch there the one thing again injuries are going to happen so you're like oh we have too many here that can like that now everyone knock on wood you know do whatever little the grab your rosaries or whatever uh but the things can change very fast especially now that we're entering preseason so yeah there's not too many anywhere no there's not Surplus anywhere on a 53 53 man roster in football not in NFL college Alabama running out at the end make moves for salary reasons and attitude reasons those only reason you make trades you don't you don't typically oh we got too many of these guys that that doesn't happen in the NFL um who we can never have too many of is guys like uh Keith and Ellen Johnson thank you for the Stars over on Facebook and Coach thank you for coming in over on YouTube listen we're gonna get out of here appreciate everybody checking in and spending the morning with us hit those comments uh look forward to some Friday Night Football Nick and I will be back on Monday if you want to continue the conversation we're going to talk some depth charts we're going to talk a little bit more Justin Simmons over at youtube.com High huddle we'll get started over there in about 20 minutes uh until then Nick any last words what are uh what are you looking forward to on Friday I mean penics getting out there the the want to see what the defensive line depth actually looks like can they control the game and dictate upfront continuously and I mean the drop off in passing games is so substantial from the first to second team I'd love to see the secondary but again the coverage is the so vanilla 2 I don't know how if we're going to get too much from the secondary so really defensive line does penx belong those are the ones I'm excited to see yeah for me it's it's pennx and I'm pretty sure he had a funny quote just talking and the the video is going to post here in about 30 minutes on on YouTube uh I've got a schedule for 10 a.m talking about uh you know are you expected to play as like what did you talk to coach what do he say I i' love was I thought it was it was very charismatic I'd love to know if I'm playing I want to play uh and then I think there's enough depth at the wide receiver position that I'm looking forward to some of those battles let's see um if cadero Haj can step up let's see Austin Mack coming off a huge CFL year let's see rondale Moore and Ray Ray McLoud who are talking about battling it out for that that position so lots of good and then and then the rookies you know let's let's I don't know that we're going to see a ton of the rookies except in second rotations this year as backups so let's let's get a look at those guys so thanks for taking a look at us this morning we're going to get out of here we will see you Monday morning thanks a bu everybody for joining us we will see you next time peace