 What's up everybody and welcome to the latest edition of the Falcons final whistle podcast. I'm Scott Baer. That's Steve Frickin' Weish in Flowery Branch at the brand new Ticketmaster Studios, which you just toured. Thank you so much for coming up, man. This is a big day for us. Well, thanks for having me in these studios. Come on, this is like NFL Network. We got some new studios there two years ago, and this is pretty spectacular. I mean, great investment by the ball club. It's going to make your life a lot easier, making it a lot easier for everybody here. Yeah, and it's going to be fun to see we've had so many of the Falcons' new free agents come in, sitting in that chair that you're sitting in right now. Pretty soon, we're going to have the number eight overall pick. At least that's where they're slotted right now. The NFL draft is coming up. The Falcons currently have eight selections, one in the first round, second and third rounds, two in the fourth. They just traded a fifth round pick for a guy named Jeff Okuda, who we're going to get into that later. But this is a pre-draft show, Steve. But how can you talk about the draft unless you talk about what's been done before it, because all that funnels into what they could do at number eight and on day two and on forward? So before we go forward to the draft, let's go back and talk about what the Falcons did with the second highest amount of salary cap space in the league out of getting out of salary cap HE double hockey sticks. Sorry, I've actually been prisoning the salary cap prison for a while. Yeah, so what's your take on, I mean, there are so many moves, so many to list. Right. What was your take overall about what Arthur Smith and Terry Fontenot were able to do since the league years started? Well, clearly, they said, OK, we have some pillars on our defense, but now it's time to fill in the walls, right, to build the walls. So going in and getting David Anyamata from the Saints, I think he's a stud, you know, but when people signed it, it didn't it didn't cause a lot of headlines, but that dude's a hell of a player. Right, and of course, Ryan Nielsen, the new defensive coordinator, comes over from New Orleans. So you got Anyamata, Grady Jarrad, then they had Kaleas Campbell. That was a huge get. It's a huge get because of the position flex, right? He can play inside. He can play outside. If you guys, if it's a run type situation, a goal line situation, move him outside, really good, heavy up front. So that's a nice pickup. But then on the back end, you get Jesse Bates, right? A true free safety guy with a lot of range, but he can come up in the run game, but that will allow Richie Grant to kind of be more of that rover in the middle. You know, Richie likes to come down and stick people and do things like, so that'll give them that freedom to play some strong safety principles. Let's not forget the fact that they went out and they acquired John New Smith, a tight end. To me, that really is gonna change what they do offensively, because now you've got tight ends you can block, tight ends you can flex. You got a big wide receiver with Drake London. I think they still gotta add at least one wide receiver in the draft, at least. And someone who can go, like someone who's got some blazing speed who can really get there and open things up. And so you say to yourself, okay, how does this affect the draft? Well, they're not gonna go ahead and draft a defensive tackle high. They're stacked there, right? Even though Calais Campbell's on a one year deal, you know, Grady's probably got two more years, you're good there, okay? How does, you know, you're not gonna draft a safety high. There's not one to draft high anyway, but you're gonna stay away from that position on defense. You're gonna stay away from tight end and you're gonna stay away from offensive line because you already have your anchors on the left and you've re-signed Gaila McGarry and Crystal Lynch from on the right. So that's how free agency kind of sets the table for the draft and you've already committed to Desmond Ritter to being your starting quarterback. So that takes that position off the plate as well. Yeah, so you can start to see that the quote unquote pressing needs are getting smaller and smaller. Correct. And I think that that's the objective. So you can walk in there at number eight and be like, okay, we feel confident wherever we are, but where can we add? Where can we bring in a player to develop or enhance the latest moves by the Falcons? Trade of a fifth round pick to Detroit for Jeff Okuta. Everybody knows him, the Ohio State Gay number three overall pick. So you have that and then maybe you can go one, two here. You have that one and then a very recent one as we're recording this is the reported edition of outside linebacker slash pass rusher but Dupree who everybody knows another first round pick coming in. Do those guys influence number eight? Well, two part. Do you like those moves and do they influence what's done at number eight or are those things independent? That's a lot of stuff. No, they're not independent. First off, I like the moves. I don't think either one of them's necessarily gonna come in here and be a savior type of player. Right. You know, Bud Dupree, someone's been injured a lot the last couple of years. He had a couple of really flashing years in Pittsburgh. They let him go ahead some injuries. He's with Tennessee, got a big contract there. Just hasn't been on the field. So he's gonna have to come in and compete for a spot. I don't think he's got a given here knowing that they've got, you know, Ebuchadne, they've got Malone, they've got some players there who aren't just gonna let this thing go. Sure. So he's got to compete for roster spot. He's got to make this team. I don't think it's a shoe in it. And then when it comes to Jeff Ocuda, I think he makes the team. I think this could be worse news for Casey Hayward. Right. But we don't know, you know, look, that's gonna be a competition thing to see what happens there. But then he, you know, it's gonna be a competition. Ocuda's got a lot to prove. This is a one-year proof of season for him. He's got one year left on his deal. Things did not materialize for him in Detroit. And remember, this was the Detroit team last year. They had two rookie sackmasters and James Houston and Aidan Hutchinson have some really good defensive back coaches as well. So I'm really wondering how things are gonna work out for Ocuda here, which is why I don't think either one of these moves influences at what the Falcons could do with that eighth overall pick. Yeah, cause when you look at it, especially guys, both of the guys that we're talking about are one-year deals. Even Campbell, who's 106 maybe. He's close. He'll be working on a phone network after this year. I mean, talk about his voice could like, Oh yeah. Oh, can make like water shake on the table, basically. Coming from a six, nine friend. No kidding. So you have some of these guys on one-year deals. You're not thinking necessarily long-term with that. I think maybe it helps you up front, but then you look at it and I've been getting a lot of questions in the mailbag. Well, so does the Jeff Ocuda trade eliminate Christian Zala sir or Witherspoon? I don't think so. No, I don't think so at all. I don't think so at all. Cause again, especially if it's a Devon Witherspoon, this guy- Hits like a safety. Hits like a safety can play in the slot, can play outside, but the fact he's got the position flex. And we're seeing this more and more in the NFL now, cause his teams are a nickel all the time is you're finding that guy, Jalen Ramsey does it. Derwin James does it. That kind of that star player, right? Who can play safety on one play, who can move into the slot on the next. You can play corner on the next. But you know, they're responsible a lot. Charles Woodson used to do this big time in Green Bay with some outside linebacker responsibilities in the running. Interesting. Witherspoon can do all that, right? So if you, if you, Okuda does win the job and you've got AJ on the other side, got like Witherspoon coming right in the slot and you've got some speed, some youth and a lot of, a lot of range in that backfield, right? And so that could be a possibility. And then if it's not a corner, I mean, even if it's Christian Gonzalez, he's more of an outside corner. He's got size. Yeah, he's range. He's big. He's got a little taller than AJ but got kind of the same type of frame, got the great speed. He saw the 40 time, can get his hands on the ball, willing tackler as well. So I think corner to me is a very, very ripe spot. In fact, I think that's a position. If one of those guys is there, but then edge, right? If a guy like Tyree Wilson is there and I'm not so sure he's going to be there by the time they pick. But if a guy like that is there, that's you say to yourself, like, okay, we have bodies but we don't have at either of those positions, well, AJ Terrell is a difference maker. But at the edge, we don't have that one guy who can win. Right? We've got to do some things to get, you know, Ebiketti's got to manufacture some pressure sometimes and he's just got to out there for guys. You got a guy like Tyree Wilson who can win. That's a game changer, right? So now corner or edge, those are two high priority positions throughout the NFL. If you get a stud rook corner to go with AJ Terrell, how are you going to pay him both? Don't worry about it. Because AJ's up next year. Got a rookie on a five year deal. That's how you have two stud corners right there. We're both young. Edge rusher, same way. They need a guy who can win off the edge. They have not had that guy since John Abraham. So. And that's been a while. And that's back when I was covering them for the Falcons for the AJC. So I think those are the two spots depending who's available where the Falcons go in the draft. What? Yeah, but. I'll save it, right? We'll save it for later. Yes, we are. We'll save it for later. I can't wait to get that one. So yeah, stay tuned. So I was talking to Terry Fontenot at the league meetings. And the question I asked was, do you need to add more pass rushers? This was obviously well before the Bud Dupre thing and everything. And what, you know, he didn't necessarily give me the exact answer. Oh, did you mean Terry didn't default? Yeah, like what a shocking revelation. But he basically said, we never want to feel desperate. And I think what, going back to the Okuda move and the Dupre move, is you feel like you don't feel desperate at number eight. Like if the board falls to you and you're not like, we have to have a pass rusher, or we're in big trouble, or we have to have a corner, or we're in huge trouble. I think that these moves take away some desperation at some of those spots so they can feel comfortable sitting there and be like, OK, Wilson's gone. Gonzalez may be gone. But Witherspoon's right there, great. And we can survive on the defensive front, maybe waiting till 44 or even 75, right? It gives them a little more confidence heading into the draft as opposed to, we got to get this thing. Got to get that guy. And what else, what else they've done? Like you look at the talent up front, right? Suppose they don't go edge up front. Well, you still got enough guys to put pressure on the quarterback. Like I said, you got position flexor. You can have Grady Jarrett, Anyamata, Clays Campbell on the field at the same time with Arnold Ebuketti or whoever's on that side, right? Or if you go five man, you could do that. What does that do? It allows you, if you have a rookie at corner, to say, we can put enough smoke on the quarterback. So we can give him time to develop. And I use the 49ers model. They put all of their resources in their front seven. The guys on the back four, we like them, but we don't have to have a great, great secondary. They finally invested in Shadarius Ward last year at corner, but they say, let's put the smoke up front. So it's either way, but I think they've done enough up front, like you said, and enough on the back end is to where, OK. We'll get whatever we can get. The guy's going to take a while to develop. Or if he's going to be an immediate impact guy, we have fortified those key areas of the defense. And again, folks, Ryan Nielsen's coming over from the Saints. What were the strength of the Saints? The guys up front and the guys on the back end, right? They always had safeties who they didn't want to pay, but they went elsewhere and made money. Marcus Williams, all these guys who were fantastic player. That's how they built the defense. Look what the Saints have done. That's what the Falcons have done. Fortified up front. With big dudes. With big, bigs. The Saints form a wall, right? Form a wall. And there ends, I mean, Cam Jordan and Davenport, who's no longer there. Trey Hendrickson, like big dudes who come off the edge. So don't look for the Falcons drafted 235 pound edge guy. Yeah, probably not. If they go high, it's going to be someone with some beef on their side. And Tyree Wilson has that. About 260. Lucas Van Ness has that. I don't know if he's maybe number eight, maybe a trade down. But nonetheless, there are guys with size that fit this scheme. And that's kind of what it's about as you proceed through this thing. As we look at it from a national perspective with the top eight, you're so much about are we going to see quarterbacks in the top four. Could we at least see them in 304? Arizona seems like that's a perfect trade down spot. What's your take on the top of the draft before the Falcons line up at eight? How could that shape up, do you think? It's so intriguing because you don't know what the Colts are going to do at four. Interesting. I think that's where the draft starts. The first two picks are going to be Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, I'm not buying any of the stuff. Well, the Houston could pass at a quarterback at two and maybe move up from 12. Why? Yeah. Why? If you have a chance to get one of those two guys, you go ahead and do it, D'Amico Ryan's. He's got some bandwidth, some years to work with. So quarterbacks here at three. Arizona, I think someone's going to come up. There's just too much chatter out there. Someone's going to come up and try to get a quarterback. Whether it's Will Levis, whether it's Anthony Richardson, we don't know. Well, it's the Arizona keeps the pick, OK? So there's Will Anderson from Alabama. He's got to be the guy. So then the Colts at four, what are they going to do? Are they going to grab one of these quarterbacks? They've got to get a quarterback. They haven't made any type of move. So you think they're going to take one of these quarterbacks, but good grief. Does somebody come up and say, why don't you move back a couple of spots? It's just really weird. And then at five, we've got Seattle. Seattle's real interesting now. Like that's where someone like a Tyree Wilson could go. Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too. They've never picked as high under Pete Carroll. They've never picked as high under Pete Carroll. Yeah, because they have a reputation for A, picking lower, and B, getting out of those spots. Yeah, I mean, the highest they've picked is sixth. And they took Aaron Curry back into Pete Carroll's. Wow. That's a name from the past right there. Go show you how long Pete Carroll's been coaching up there, too. But it's real intriguing. I think they go deline to, let's take Tyree Wilson off the board there. At six, we have got Detroit. And you got Jalen Carter just floating out there. Yeah, I mean, he seems like a perfect fit for what they want to do. There's just so much stuff out there. That you got a count for, right? You got a count for. So you don't know if they say, we've got the type of team that can absorb him and nurture him and grow. I think they do, because you've got the young guys I mentioned, James Hughes, Jenedayden Hutchinson on that offensive line. Frank Ragnar, Panay Suu. Like if this guy doesn't love football, they'll beat it into him. If he does love football, they'll stand up. Like they've got enough youth and veteran leadership, but overall toughness to kind of figure out what he is. But you still don't know. But OK, let's go ahead and put Jalen Carter there. You've got the Raiders at seven. They're either going quarterback or corner. Right. Right, they've got to get, their secondary is terrible. Right, so let's go ahead and give them either, let's just say Devon Weathersville. Sure. OK, so then Christian Gonzalez is sitting right there at eight. There's either going to be a pass rusher or a corner right there for Atlanta to take it eight. You know, they're not taking a quarterback, so everyone get rid of that right there. Wide receiver's tempting. It is tempting, but I just don't know if they would go that high. Because there's no. And they go tight end, or pass catching tight end, wide receiver, wide receiver. I just don't know. There's just nobody like the Drake London Tide. There's no, there's just not that guy out there when you're talking to some of these scouts. There's not that amazing group like we saw last year. So I just, that's why I think it's going to end up being a corner when I think the way the draft is going to fall. You know, the Colts are just such a wild card. What are they going to do? Because if they draft one of these quarterbacks, and then now someone like the Titans at 11 might come up. Right. They might come up to five, to Seattle. Right, or they might come up to six, to Detroit. Those teams will drop back in a heartbeat. Sure. So, you know, getting that, that could push one of these pass rushers down. So I think that's, it's going to be a very interesting front end, because do the teams like these quarterbacks as much as we in the media think they do. That's always such an intriguing part of it, right? Right, because guys don't move up and down draft boards. That's just the media mock drafting them one way. And then when they fall or they rise, oh, see who rose up? That didn't happen. But I just talk to too many people who think that these quarterbacks are going to probably be gone in the top six. Interesting, which, so let's say your Falcons GM, right? And it's fallen. And whether there's a quarterback or not, if there's a quarterback free when you hit to eight, or maybe not, is your phone like on? Like you checking your color ID all the time? Meaning like, are you willing to move down from there? Or you think? Oh, 1,000%. Why wouldn't they? Yeah, right? I mean, why not pick up more assets plus a guy? Yeah, I mean, it's one of these things that let's say the Titans want to come up from 11, move back to 11, right? Then you've got some edge rushers. You've got the young man at Clemson, maybe. That's a little high. I don't know. But if you fit your scheme, he does physically. Right. He's going to fit your scheme, fine. One corner, Joey Porter, right? There's guys there. Like there's three corners who are top 15 talents, right? So if you're picking at 11, no shame in that game. No way. Luke Van S, he could be there at something. No shame in that. Plus, you pick up more draft capital if you move back. So I think, no, I think I don't think they would lose any sleep if they had to move back three, four, five spots. Yeah, I mean, if that's the scenario, if you can get one of those guys plus an additional asset in 24 or maybe down in the draft, I think that's a huge win because you've got these top tier guys. Like if Wilson's on the board, I'm turning my phone on. I'm done. I'm just handing in the selection, right? But if you move down and you're like, OK, well, could I get Murphy or Van Net, you can start playing with it. But I'm not going to 20. No, no, you're not moving beyond 13. Yeah, that's quite fair. So you're probably checking in with Nashville, maybe. Checking in with Tennessee, see how bad they want. A quarterback, you never know what Washington's going to do. So there's lots of intriguing options for the Falcons if they stick or if they don't. But you said quarterback, you consider that. No, no. No, they're not going to, not with the number he picked. That could happen. And so my thought is. Here's part of my rationale for saying that. The only quarterback they liked a couple of years ago was Trevor Lawrence. Right. Right, Justin Fields. Not with where they were picking right at fourth. They weren't going to go there. Would you say that draft class, which was pretty good. Pretty good. Is worse than this group? No. So I don't think that's why I think they've been so strong in committing to Desmond to take them out of the whole Lamar Jackson chatter, potential draft pick chatter. I think that's part of why I'm saying they're not going quarterback. Right. So the Desmond Ritter, I cannot let you sit in the seat and not talk quarterback, right? I just can't do it. The commitment to go with Desmond Ritter, you saw those four games. You know, you talked to people around the league when he was coming out, 44 and 6 in college, what he's done, and the decision. How do you evaluate the decision to be like, hey, we're going to go get an experienced backup and Taylor Heineke, who's been through it and taken a team through the second half of a season but understands his role and let Desmond Ritter kind of run the show and make that. Arthur Smith said at the league meetings, like, we're not playing games here, right? That that's what we're going to do. What do you think of that move, that decision? Yeah, look, I mean, one, I salute them for being clear cut, right? They've got a plan. They're not what if-ing, right? So they're being clear cut. We're going with Desmond, but I think it also, they're saying themselves and that they've probably got some type of assurances for Arthur Blank that they don't go deep in the playoffs this year or whatever, they still have more time because if they felt that they were on the green mile this year, I think they would have a little more urgent trying to get a veteran quarterback here, right? And so let's see if Desmond Ritter works. We're run first offense. We're not going to ask him to do too much while he develops, right? We still have a young nucleus of players around on the algae years of Drake, London's, the cow pits. So if it doesn't work, then next year we're all in. Right, next year we might be able to get Lamar. Next year we might be able to get some of these players who are coming up at the end of their rookie contracts or there might be some guys in the draft who will use some capital that maybe they accrue this year to move up and go get a quarterback. So I think that's kind of the thinking that quarterback is, we want him to develop. We saw enough things. Arthur won with Ryan Tannehill. He did. Up in Tennessee. So maybe they figure we don't need that elite guy. I would beg to differ because they didn't win a Super Bowl in Tennessee with Ryan Tannehill. You need that elite guy to win a Super Bowl. You're not beating Patrick Mahomes or Joey Burrow, running the ball 35 times a game. Not when they can do it, Dave. Got to put points up on the board. I saw the Bengals live last year against the Falcons. My goodness, it's a difficult thing to handle. They come at you so many different ways. That dude, Joe Burrow's a different dude now. He is, he is. So we're talking about explosive offense. We've been proceeding logically, Steve, because that's what we like to do here. Can we just throw a wild card on the table? Let's do it, man, because I love this. There's Bijan Robinson is, I think, the wild card of this draft. Positional value, whatever the heck that means, says running backs aren't worth top picks anymore, right? Or whatever. But then you look at this guy, play, and it kind of knocks you back. He and Jalen Carter may be the top players in the draft. I don't know. I'm not a football expert. But you look at Bijan Robinson. You look at the fact that the Falcons have taken away the desperation aspect. And they've got LGR and they got CP, but only for one more year. Remember our logic of guys on one year deals don't affect the draft, right? Correct. So then you look at it and you think, I mean, what Arthur Smith can do with a positionless sort of guy? I love how you're thinking. And it just, I love how you're thinking. I have one more mock draft to go. And I keep steering at the name Bijan Robinson. It's right there. And I think, what if? It wouldn't. What if, right? And we were talking about it earlier. The one thing that would not shock me is if Bijan Robinson's the eighth overall pick. If they take him. It wouldn't stun me whatsoever because he's a special talent. He can run the rock. He can line up wide and catch the rock. He's got all that versatility. And he's just one of those special players, right? When you look at it, he's got kind of that Adrian Peterson stuff to him, except he can catch the ball. So. Adrian Peterson stuff, but he can catch the ball. That's the nicest compliment you could possibly give. Correct. I mean, when you talk, when Will Anderson said, yeah, when I had to try to tackle that dude, that's, that was a different player. Yeah. OK, that's telling you how good Bijan Robinson is. And in this game, with the way they ran the ball, actually, with the way they blocked and set things up. I know, right? You just start playing with it in your mind, and you're like, OK, so then Ritter would have, I'll jeer for the heavy stuff. He had Robinson who can, as many missed tackles forced as anybody in college football ever. And then you got Pitts, maybe falling out here. You got Jonu in line. You got Drake London on the outside. And Cordero's your ex-factor. You stopped that. I'm just saying, I'm just saying now, they better score some points. But the defense is fortified. But you still say to yourself, if you get a stud edge rusher, you're going to get eight, nine years out of him. You get a stud running back, you're going to get four or five. Interesting. It's the whole Saquon Barkley thing right now that you're going through. If that dude gets nicked, you're like, oh, man, we banked so much on that guy. Like the Giants, it was Saquon Barkley, and he got injured. And now they're franchise tagging him. But I'm telling you, Scott, at that. It's a fascinating discussion. It would not stun me at all if that happened. So we've taken the logical route, both in the trade down, if you can get it, the second class, or you stick it eight and you'll get a stud cornerback and edge rusher, our premium positions. And then we got this other thing. It's there, though. And that's what I think. That conversation should not go away. And I think that's what makes where the Falcons are sitting. It's going to be such an interesting thing to see how the board falls, to see who's available, how many quarterbacks go up. That top 10, with the Bears at nine, the NFC champs at 10 of all places. That top 10, drafts are always fascinating. But I think this one, with the amount of different ways that it can go, is going to be really interesting. And the Falcons are sitting right there in the middle with a bunch of fun options. They took a beach on Robinson. What that does to the picks after them? Because it's pushing somebody back. Yep. If you get four quarterbacks and a running back in the top eight, chaos ensues. That's what you see a team like the Chargers at 21, just jump right up like, OK, we're coming up to get some guys. There'll be some movement. But that's what I think is fascinating about what the Falcons have done to this point. And I kind of dig it, to be honest with you. The way they fortified this defense, they still need another wide receiver. There still needs to fill through the draft. If you like a last year's draft class, Arthur and Terry did a pretty good job with that one. Really good job. So can they duplicate it? Roster building, frequency is fun. And it's been a fun couple of months around here in terms of new guys coming in. But draft is your bedrock. So what they do next, what they did last year, how they build this roster of the Young Foundation, this draft is going to be fun. That's how you sustain. And what does Arthur Blank, the owner, said for the past two years, we have to come up with a sustainable winning formula. He does not want peaks and valleys. He wants to go on the type of run he had when Matt Ryan came in, back when Mike Smith was coaching when they were perennial playoff contenders played in the Super Bowl. He wants to revisit that, that era, so to speak, one more time. And I think it's possible, assuming they keep taking advantage of their opportunities and using their assets well. So please stay tuned to AtlantaFalcons.com for a bunch of draft related stuff. Also, rate review, positive ratings and reviews, please. And subscribe to the Falcons podcast network for all of your post draft analysis. Steve White, again. Positive reviews, Scott. Positive reviews. Positive reviews. We're so stoked that you joined us. Thank you so much for coming up. And I'll obviously stay tuned to NFL Network for all of Steve's Falcons and NFL analysis. And we'll come back to you post draft with another Falcons final whistle. See ya.