 Hey guys, Matt Tobiek here, another episode of Bird Noises presented by Bose, a podcast about the Atlanta Falcons and mostly everything else. Today we have an exciting guest joining us, Matt Miller, formerly of Bleacher Report, which feels weird to say. He was there for at least a decade and he's got some new and exciting things he's doing now. We're going to talk about that and some of the changes he's got going on in his life and lots of exciting things for all you draft mix out there. We're going to talk about Arthur Smith, the new head coach and the new GM, Terry Fontenau, and get Matt's reaction to those new hires. We're going to talk, of course, for agency, the draft, mock drafts, Matt's latest. What do you think the Falcons are going to do? We're going to talk a little bit about some of his whiffs and his other mock drafts where he's nailed it and give him a chance to talk up what he's doing and then we're just going to end it with what do you think the Falcons are ultimately going to do. But Matt, welcome to the show. Yeah, thanks for having me. No pressure, right? First appearance, let's talk about all the bad predictions you've ever made in your career. That'll be fun. I actually love that part of it. That will definitely be fun. I appreciate you guys making time for me. Like you said, it's still weird for me for people to say Matt Miller for 10 years, you've heard Bleacher Report after that. So it's still weird for me to hear. So I'm kind of listening to see how other people say it so that I can steal it. So formally a Bleacher Report. I think that works. Well now it's the draft scout. So many people lived and died by your mock drafts and all your insight there and all the great content that you created there for a decade. Tell us about what the decision to leave and what you're doing now and why you're doing it and why you're excited about it. I'm excited about it, but just tell us a little bit about what you've got going on. Yeah, I think one thing it's kind of an inside baseball type thing, but those of us who work at networks or big companies, we're under contracts a lot like players are. And so two years ago, I signed an extension. I was actually in Atlanta for the Super Bowl and signed an extension to Two Year Deal and said, I'm going to give it two more years. I didn't really feel like I had done everything I needed to do at Bleacher Report or tried to build all the things I wanted to build there. So it's like, let's give it two more years and hopefully can accomplish some of those goals and maybe be positioned to either stay or go do some other things. So about a year and a half in, I was like, yeah, I just felt, I want to be honest, Matt. I felt like I was able to get lazy in that role because once you establish, like once your brand is established, right? Like once people, once you have so many followers on Twitter or, you know, like you don't have to work as hard and that's, that's not me. And so I looked at the fact that I was writing one article a week. I was doing a couple podcasts a week. That's just not me. I want to be writing every day. I want to be right. It's not everybody listening. He's like, this guy is crazy. But you know, I made a name for myself in this industry by just working my tail off. And I looked around and it was like, I felt like I had made it to the peak of the mountain there. And so I was like, I'm 37. I was 36 at the time that I made this decision and thought, man, I hope I still have a long time left in this industry. And I felt like to do that. I needed to diversify. I needed to get back to writing more often. I needed to be in charge of my own brand a little bit more and be able to do the things that I want to do, you know, to podcast as often as I want to, to write as often as I wanted to, to do things like this with you guys. And so I have a ton of admiration for the people who started Bleacher Report, the people who are running it still, but I really just felt like I had done everything I could do there. And 10 years, the very long time in sports media to work somewhere and it was bittersweet. It was like a divorce, you know, of, and it's still weird, you know, people still tag me in the stuff and like, you know, where's Matt at? Or, you know, they'll ask me where, what my co, old coworkers are doing it. It's like, guys, I don't know. I don't, we don't talk anymore. So it's, it's been, it's been weird, but it's also been really energizing. It's been rejuvenating. It's nice to have to work hard. So it's been fun. That's awesome to hear. Yes. That is a long time to be at one place in this biz, but, you know, it does feel weird. And when you, you had tweeted out, hard to say, this is my last, my last mock draft of Bleach Report. And I'm going, what's going on? What's happening? Right. I think a lot of people were like, and, you know, you're not contracts go, there's only so much you can talk about. And there's, you know, dead line, you know, there's days where you can say things. And so I think a lot of people were like, I think a lot of people thought I was quitting, you know, like getting out of the business altogether and I had to be like, wait, like, wait, I'm not, I'm not going anywhere. I'm just, I'll just be, I'm not, well, I'm going somewhere different. I'm not jumping out of it. Yeah. I mean, I just, because I mean, so many people lived and died with your content, love your content. And, you know, I know I do and I know a lot of people who do. And so, yeah, I guess there is that, but it's like, Matt Miller's going to go somewhere, someone's hiring them or something because it's Matt Miller. Well, I'm glad you have that faith in me. It's been terrifying. So that's, I'm sure it's going to be great. And we'll get into all the cool things you're doing. But at the end of the day, it's, it's all really good for football fans. It's all really good for people who, you know, this is like the season of hope. Right. Yes. In a lot of ways, you're like Santa Claus because I'm not, I'm serious because everybody feels good about their team right now. And, and then, you know, free agency is right here, you know, six weeks away and then the draft and, you know, it's like Christmas. And then you've got guys like you saying, this is what your team's going to do and this is how you're going to get better. This is what they need. It's like if there was a person who predicted what you were going to get for Christmas, you know, where little kids could go to their website, like, what am I getting for Christmas? It is a lot like that. And I think that, you know, the favorite part of my job, of course, like mock drafts drive this industry. My favorite part is being able to talk to fans about who the players are because, you know, there, there are a lot of die hard draft fans out there who know as much about the players as I do, honestly. But then there's a, I think a larger collection that don't, you know, they're casual fans or they're, you know, they might be a big college football fan, but they don't look at those players through the prism of how do they project to the next level. So my favorite part is, you know, really January one until May one. When you get to talk to those Atlanta Falcons fans who, you know, maybe they don't watch a lot of football outside of the SEC and they want to know about the players who are a good fit at number four overall. And how can you, you know, get this team back into a Super Bowl? And so that's the fun part is starting to talk about those players that the fans might not have heard of. And, and also there's, I mean, there's a huge section of NFL fans. This shocks me that don't watch a lot of college football. And so they, they started a clean slate and want to know, hey, who are these guys? Who should we be looking at? Yeah, it starts right now for him, right? It used to be you'd buy the magazines, sport and in all the draft guides and that kind of thing. And then you start kind of educating yourself on these guys or they just go through the mocks, right? Well, you know, these are the, these is what the experts are saying. These are the, these are the 32 guys I need to 32, 42, whatever it is, you know, because most mocks are first round. So now you're seeing, you know, full seven round mocks like that you're doing. And people, what one thing I want you to talk about here for a second, it's just, I don't think people realize the amount of time and research that you put into it. It's not like you're just watching some YouTube highlights here or, or, you know what I mean? You're actually, you're, you're watching the games, you're taking notes, you're going to the senior bowl, you're going to bowl games. You're, you're watching the velocity of these guys on the sidelines. You're, you know, when they're throwing balls and you're, you're sizing them up and you're kind of watching their body language. And I mean, you know, all they have to do is just go to your YouTube channel or listen to your mic up or and we'll get into all that stuff. But how, just talk about the process of just the amount of time you put into your mock drafts, for example. Yeah. I mean, it's a full-time job. I've, you know, is the biggest thing. And I really try to model what I do after how a team would do it. You know, that was, that was my dream growing up. I wanted to be, I wanted to be a general manager. You know, that was, that was, I was obsessed with it. So even as a, you know, a young child, I was, I wanted to learn how they did their job. And so I read every book I could find about Bill Walsh and Mike Holmgren. And then that becomes Bill Belichick and Sean Payton. And, you know, the, the Ted Thompson or the Ron Wolf, excuse me, you know, dynasties that he's built. So just trying to learn how those guys do the job and then advance that, you know, through connections. Like you said, it's, this year was different because the senior bowl was the only time I watched college football in person this year. But it is so much of traveling every other weekend was pretty normal for me until the pandemic hit to watch players in person, also to interact with, you know, readers and listeners. But then you, you know, a huge part of this, it is, you know, it's, it's getting, whether, you know, being on the road and having someone else drive for a couple hours so you can sit in the back seat with your iPad and a notepad. I always have like a million of them beside me. Like I, right here, there's always a couple. And so that's a huge, that's honestly the biggest part of my job is watching film on top of that. In this industry, you have to have connections, I think, to hit a certain level of credibility. And so the other part of that is, you know, keeping up, building those relationships, it's making the connections and then keeping them going because they, they truly are a lot of times it's a friendship. Other times it's almost an information sharing type relationship. So you have to keep those connections up. And as people change jobs, you got to keep track of that, you know, okay, you might have a guy who was, you know, you got a connection to the Falcons, they change everybody. Okay, now that guy's maybe with the Browns. So you got to try to find a new in with the Falcons. And it's, you're constantly trying to, you know, build that Rolodex basically. Then there's the, you know, multimedia side of it that you mentioned. It's writing, it's podcasting. I do a local radio show where we talk national sports for two hours a day. Trying to get my tone to the YouTube waters a little bit more tweeting, Instagramming. It's, it truly is. And it's, it's awesome. It's the best job in the world. It is a lot of work. And it all goes back to that, you know, that foundation of like, I will write 300 scouting reports by myself this year. And so watching film on 500 players, essentially because, you know, in the past, I've sat at a desk on draft weekend. And I don't know yet what it's going to look like this year for me, that those three days in April. But, you know, normally I would be sitting there and if a player is picked, you have to be able to speak intelligently about them for 60 to 90 seconds. What do they do well? Will they not do well? Is there anything in the background we have to know? Is there anything injury related? We have to know. Oh, and they've just been drafted by a team. How do they fit there? So it's there's really a lot that goes into that so that you feel prepared to speak on anyone at any time, basically. Unbelievable. I believe it, though. You know, and I'm sitting here thinking about, you know, I spend four and a half hours a week. I'm starting to feel really bad about myself just putting together a one round mock and basically it's like, I'll watch a little bit here. I'll read a little bit here. I'll see, you know, I'm like, you know, there's like a plethora of different mock drafts that come out too. And I'm like, yeah, there's this guy thinking, you know what I mean? And so and then you're trying to gauge, you know, what you know about the team and what they what you think they really need. And compared to like, you know, the talking heads out there that are saying, you know, the Falcons are going to do X, Y and Z. And it's it's really, really, it's it's a lot of fun. And I'm sure a lot of people are listening to you right now going, man, this sounds like a dream job. It is, too. It really is. Don't let me don't like how tired I look today. Change the fact. It really, really is a dream job. Well, let's take all that knowledge and you said you you can speak intelligently, 16 and 90 seconds on prospects. Let's tap into your brain. But first, let's talk about the the moves that the Falcons have made. You know, they've brought in Terry Fontenot, who spent his entire career in New Orleans. And then Arthur Smith, who's been, you know, through a number of head coaching changes, but has been in Tennessee. Two guys have really kind of come up through those programs. And what was your first reaction when you think of that pairing and you think of Arthur Smith and what he did like with Ryan Tannehill in that offense and Derek Henry became Derek Henry. You know, we all know what he studied was in Alabama. But then and then you also mix that into that philosophy that Fontenot is going to bring, you know, being under Mickey Loomis and, you know, people like, you know, he's been influenced by Ozzie Newsome and that kind of thing. So your impressions and what you think of that marriage. Yeah, I think it's a home run. And I think this was kind of a controversial opinion. I actually thought Arthur Smith was the best head coaching candidate available in this cycle. And I know it's a little bit of a hot take because Eric Biennium is a great, great candidate. And I think Brian Gables, a really good candidate. I did not at the time know Urban Meyer was going to be available. So that that changed a little bit. But right. So of the people who were available, I thought, you know, like the things I've heard about Arthur Smith, the job he's done in Tennessee, the ability to build a versatile offense, you know, he's not beholden to one scheme, one type of personnel. We've seen that in Tennessee, where they really change things. Once Ryan Tannehill became the starting quarterback, that I loved that about him. And, you know, knowing enough people who know him, who speak so highly of what he's been able to accomplish at such a young age and the ability to coach every position on offense, I think is a huge part of it. Because too often we get guys who, OK, you're a quarterback coach, you're coaching quarterbacks and you can't coach the rest of the offense. And I think with Arthur, what you love about it is he's run and pass game. It's not and not to, you know, speak ill of anyone else in the NFL who might be heavy on run or pass. I think that balance is super important for whomever was going to hire him. I think in Atlanta, it works really, really well because you have a established, very good quarterback and Matt Ryan, and you have pieces in the past game where if the run game could be approved through the offseason, you have to love the match up there. As far as Terry Fontenot goes, I like this move for a couple reasons. Number one, you heard a rival. So I love when you can do that, when you can take a division rivals, like when you can take big brothers, one of their weapons, that's what you want to do every chance you get. But I think also someone who not only has a pro and college getting back around, but somebody has a playing background as well. You know, go to college to lane. That is that I love that because I think too often with these GM hires in the past several years, teams have gotten a little bit cute. It's like, oh, let's hire a cat guy. OK, well, who's going to scout for you or let's hire someone from TV. OK, well, like TV and real scouting are very, very different. You know, a lot of times you have a producer and you're helping you out when you're on TV. You don't have that when you're sitting in a war room. And so I think, you know, kind of ignoring some of the hype and some of the noise, they went and just grabbed somebody who knows how to evaluate and has been doing it. Like you said, under Mickey Loomis, you know, with connection to what they've built down there. You know, Jeff Ireland being such a great scout as well. Like you've learned from some of the best and throwing the influence of Sean Payton and just seeing how they run their organization that has been so successful, you know, the last 15 years, maybe a little bit more at this point. I think that's a huge part of it because you not only do you want someone who can scout, you want someone who can, you know, establish and maintain culture. And, you know, you guys have an owner down there who's been great at that. But I think now, you know, with with Thomas Dimitrov there and what they had, you know, maybe he got a little bit stale. And so now you're injecting in some of what a 40 year old general manager who brings some excitement to the table. I think that's a very good thing. Well, I'm sure Falcons fans are going to love hearing that from you. Well, those two men are going to have to make some tough decisions coming up. Every team has tough decisions when it comes to the cap, right? But, you know, we the Falcons have their challenges there and they've got some big contracts. There's been a ton of speculation, you know, about Matt Ryan's future and, you know, even Julio Jones and Arthur and Blank, who you just referenced, you know, yesterday said that he'd be shocked if they did anything with Matt. And, you know, just I have said in the mailbag I do every morning, it's just it makes no financial sense to to move on from Matt. And Matt hasn't been the issue here. Matt has been playing at a really, really high level. Matt's been thrown. I think he's, you know, eclipsed 4,000 yards 10 years now. It's he's very productive and they've had some other issues. But it's so easy, as you know, to just point the finger at, you know, the most important position on the team. Yeah. So, you know, just what are your general just general thoughts? There is the team kind of heads into frequency. Yeah, I'm with you. I think, you know, my only thing with Matt Ryan would be, you know, he's getting a little bit older. But what does that even mean in the NFL anymore? You know, I mean, there's this guy in Tampa Bay who's more three and still looks pretty good. I don't know if the name anymore on this podcast, right? Drew Brees planned for a long time. And so with Matt Ryan, it's like, okay, he's 35, but you play in the Southeast number one. It's like, weather is not a concern. You play in a dome number two, which is gorgeous, by the way. And you have weapons and you have a team that's invested in the offensive line through multiple first round draft picks. So I look at it and say, like, I'm with you. I don't think Matt Ryan is issue at all. And I would, I would be more prone to let's try to fix what's around him instead of let's throw the baby out of the bathwater here. And I think, you know, at number four overall, I know there's a lot of conversation about you don't expect to be drafting this high very often. So maybe you should get the quarterback of the future. And I think that is the only reason that, you know, when I'm doing a mock draft, that's the only reason I entertain a quarterback at four because the depth of this year's class, there's four really good ones. And the fact that, OK, let's maybe this is, you know, an Aaron Roger situation where you got to guys get a little bit older. Let's we're in an odd position where there's value. Maybe you go ahead and draft the next guy. But, you know, if a quarterback is drafted at four, it's not because Matt Ryan's not a good quarterback. And if a quarterback is drafted at four, I would, you know, gather to say they're going to sit on the bench for a couple of years and try to learn. So I think that's the other side of this conversation in a class with three excellent wide receivers, one just dominant tight end prospect, two very good offensive tackles. Yeah, I mean, it's would you rather support Matt Ryan for four years or draft of, you know, potential replacement who's going to ride the bench for a couple of years and that, you know, they're having that conversation in Green Bay right now to be trained up to get a guy. And then the quarterback you already had is going to win an MVP award. Doesn't look that great on paper right now. So I think that the Falcons will be, you know, they're going to talk about Green Bay when this decision comes up of, well, look what happened there. You know, you know, it looks like a wasted pick at this point. There's the offseason maneuvering with the quarterbacks. It's been unlike any offseason I've seen. We just started. We're still the Super Bowls yet to be played and you've got there's, you know, the Jared Goff, Matt Stafford deal, then there's the chatter coming out of Philadelphia rumors about Carson Wentz's future. You know, there's, you know, obviously Deshaun Watson. If, you know, Matthew Stafford can command that hall, what does Deshaun Watson command? I mean, there's so many questions now. So that's, I guess, you know, in Matt Ryan isn't the issue here. But like you said, do you kind of have that, do you take the best player available? And let me ask you this, since you are the draft expert here, you know, I think at one point you had six first round grades on quarterbacks. You had Kyle Trask up there. Yeah. Where are you now with the quarterbacks? And at number four, let's get right into it. Let's get right into the mock and let's get right into the Falcons here. What, you know, being at number four, it's a very attractive position. You have a lot of teams now. You have Carolina maybe looking, Detroit's taking care of theirs. You know, what does Philadelphia do? They go all the line DB, you know, receiver. I mean, how do you think this plays out right now, aside from the obvious one? Trevor Lawrence at number one. Yeah, I know he's going first. Yeah. Right. Yeah, he's going first. He's really, really good. I think the there are dominoes that have to fall to figure out exactly what's going to happen right now. I know that that's not the answer everyone wants, but, you know, sitting here early February for the Super Bowl, it's what happens at number two because the New York Jets have three options. They can keep Sam Darnold and draft someone to help him. They can keep Sam Darnold and trade the number two pick or they can use the number two pick to draft a quarterback and trade Sam Darnold. So we really have to get what the Jets are going to do. And you're the big exacter, right? Yeah, right. And and connected to that is what's going to happen with Deshaun Watson. Now, you know, that's a whole another gigantic question mark. But, you know, the Jets have been very connected to Deshaun Watson. Never whether he wants to go there or not with his no trade clauses, a separate, a separate conversation altogether. But the Jets are the big domino because they could take a quarterback and then you have Miami at three. And they, they seem, similarly, don't need a quarterback. Think a wide receiver comes off the board there and then you guys sitting at four. So, you know, you could be looking at QB three or wide receiver two tight end one on the board and they're all very good values. Now, as far as the quarterback grades, I have four with a true round one grade. As you mentioned, I was at one point throwing six in the first round just because there are so many teams that need one. So Trevor Lawrence is a unicorn. He's great. We can move on. Zach Wilson at BYU, Justin Fields at Ohio State, Tray Lansing, North Dakota State, I think are all tremendous prospects in a year without a Trevor Lawrence. I think we would be talking about each of them as worthy of a number one overall selection, you know, even compare them to a guy like, like Kyler Murray coming out. I like them more than I liked Kyler Murray, to be quite honest. And last year was a little different because Joe Burrow had had the best year a college quarterback has ever had and that kind of changed some things. But these four quarterbacks are all really, really talented to where, you know, if ownership in this new regime says, let's get a guy behind Matt Ryan and Justin Fields is sitting there and you have an opportunity to grab a quarterback who has the arm to make every throw. He's a very, very good athlete. He's a great leader. He's very intelligent. He just needs a little bit more coaching. He needs rounded out a little bit more. And that's a dream scenario for a guy who you look at Justin Herbert and what he did for the Chargers this year, Justin Fields, like arguably has more raw talent, you know? And so it's OK if you could have that guy and he just hangs out for a year and two and learns. That's a pretty good spot to be in as well. If I'm wrong, Matt, but didn't Justin Herbert. I mean, he'd been talked about his first round, first round, first round. And it just felt like the chatter leading up to the draft that he kind of was slipping a little bit for some reason. And yeah, that happens. You almost get prospect fatigue where, you know, and I'll be honest, this happened to me, you know, for two years, I said, this guy's going to be QB one, this guy's going to be QB one. And then you start to you start to overthink like, well, he doesn't get off his first read very often or, you know, they really don't let him run a whole lot there. I wonder if he can do it and you start to almost create questions because you've seen a player for so long. And that's where I think front offices have a great advantage because you can have another guy in the room being like, you're crazy. He's been good for years. Let's not overthink this, you know, where he's just really good. So I do think, you know, there was a little prospect fatigue. And then, you know, the rise of Joe Burrow definitely changed some things too. Zach Wilson, you look at his body of work. He's, you know, people are saying, wow, he's really, you know, moving up the board. But when you look at what he's done for three years now, he's pretty impressive. And you talk about how quick he processes things. And he's got the, he checks the boxes physically, you know, and he, he's, you know, we had 33 touchdowns and three picks and two of them were tipped balls. And one was a Hail Mary. I mean, I guess the big knock on him is what? The competition? Yeah, that's about it. I don't, he's not going to be as big as he's listed. I think that's, you know, he's probably going to be 6-1 and not 6-3. But I don't even know if we care about that anymore. You know, like, is that as big of a deal as he used to, right? You know, Drew Brees did okay at six foot. So I think it was Zach, you know, the only question will be level of competition and say, you know, he did struggle a little bit against Coastal Carolina. So you'll want to, you know, you'll want to check that box. My thing with like a Tray Lance at North Dakota State, Zach Wilson at BYU, right, everyone will say to you, level of competition. And I always fire back, well, what about his supporting cast? Because his supporting cast wasn't as good. So when you say, OK, well, he wasn't playing SEC defenses. Well, I'm playing with SEC receivers either. So you have to have the context, right? You got to have those things have to work together. Whereas Mac Jones at Alabama, no one played a tougher schedule in the quarterback this year, but he did that with, you know, a first round receiver and Heisman Trophy winner Devonte Smith early in the year had Jalen Waddle. And last year he had four first round wide receivers and an offensive line full of NFLers. So which would you rather have a guy who's had to carry a program and maybe not play a super tough schedule or a guy who's been surrounded by great talent and played a tough schedule? There's there's no right answer. That's what makes this job so hard is, OK, I've seen Tray Lance and Zach Wilson win ball games by themselves. I love that trait in them, but I've never seen them do it against Clemson or Ohio State or Alabama. So that there is like a catch 22 to all these prospects. So a lot's going to change. We know that a lot's going to change in free agency. A lot's going to change. You know, as some of these quarterbacks may or may not be moved. There's going to be stories that come out just like recently, the story that was, you know, about Micah Parsons. And I think that's actually an older story that's kind of taken on legs again. If you, you know, I don't know what the GM of the Jets is going to do. It sounds like, you know, they may Sam Darnold was not his pick, correct. So let's just say that they, they, you know what? They say, let's, let's, let's, you know, let Sam Darnold can have a shot somewhere else and they move on and they take a quarterback. And then Tua, they either give him a receiver or a lineman. What do you think? Who do you think is the best player on your big board? Who is who would be number four in that instance? If the Falcons went best player available, the best player available would be one of the offensive linemen. The kid from Oregon or Slater from Northwestern. Right. Penny, Sylvain, Oregon or Rishan Slater from Northwestern. Now, I think Falcons fans would probably start throwing things at me if they took another offensive tackle in the first round. So so it becomes more of like a who's the best player at a position of need and depending on what Miami did, you know, which wide receiver that is, it would be most likely Jamar Chase or Kyle Pitts, the Titan slash wide receiver. I don't even know what the list you really go with me, though. I mean, you know, I always like to tell fans, you know, the trailblazers, right, went for Michael George. They went with me. I mean, I think you have in this conversation with somebody this morning, actually, of when you're drafting in the top. I mean, really, if you're drafted in the top five, you should take the best player available because you're passing up on a great prospect, right? If you're a top five player, you're a great prospect. So do you want to pass up on a great player to fill a need? That's like a what a 33 percent chance they hit in the first round. So if I was drafted in the top five, maybe the top 10, you got to ignore need. You know, you're going to be drafting in what 36 and round two. You get need there, you know, or filled needs with free agency. That's that, you know, I've heard Bill Belichick said before, you know, we use free agency to fill needs, the draft, we're taking good players. So, you know, that's I know salary caps a little bit of an issue right now. But, you know, that's that's one of the keys is OK. If you're four, who's the best player? Because the number four overall player in a draft should be an all pro. And so if you get that right, then would you have an all pro? Or would you rather check that box, you know, of whatever that might be? You think that's Sue or Slater? Yeah, in that scenario, what would be and or or maybe, you know, this is where you get into things like do you trade back, you know, in that situation? But, you know, Sue and Slater, whether, you know, they're both left tackles, in my opinion. But, you know, could they both be all pros at guard? Yeah, they could be. But then you you get into a lot of questions off of this. You know, that's a very expensive offensive line. You know, another lineman top five money is will be very expensive at some point. So there's a lot of dynamics that go into play. And I think the Falcons are a unique team because at least, in my opinion, there's not one clear cut. Oh, my God, we have to fill it need. And even if there were, let's say an edge rusher, it's like, we got to get an edge rusher. You got to get an edge rusher. Well, there's not one that you would draft it for. Just there's not. There's no Chase Young this year. There's no Nick Bosa. The top edge rusher on my board was my next question 15. Number 15 overall. And that's a quitty pay for Michigan. I'm Michigan. OK. Yeah. You have him higher than the Rousseau kid. But they're neck and neck. It's the edge class this year is interesting because, like I said, I, you know, 15 is pay 16 is Rousseau. And then I want to say, like 20 is Jalen Phillips from Miami. There's a lot of guys grouped together mid first round. And I think, you know, I have a mock draft that's coming out next week. They come off the board together in the 20s. It's just like you get to the Titans and these guys just start flying off the board. So, you know, but a four hasn't gigantic reach to take an edge rusher. So it's again, you want to, I think in a perfect road, you try to fill your needs through three agency. You don't think any corners. You don't think Sir Tan or Farley? I don't. I really don't. OK. No, I mean, Farley, like Farley, if we'd had a combine, he probably could have run well enough and people would be like, oh, OK, like there we go. That's, you know, that's a Jeff Acuta type player. But him opting out this year and then no combine is a long time in between seeing this guy play football. So I would be surprised if either player. We don't see many corners go top five either. That's a, you know, I know Jeff Acuta went, you know, three last year, but historically, corners don't go very early. Kind of had a rough year, but they have a lot of other issues too. Detroit. Yes, I can say that. I don't know if you can. It's Detroit. Let me just. OK, so Matt Rines in the last three years, forty two, forty eight, forty one. That's how many times he's been sacked. It's a lot. You know, some of that can be covered. Some of that can be the quarterback, but that's a lot of sacks. So even though Falcons fans may not like that pick, but if you're getting an all pro and he's in play 10 years and you can keep Matt Ryan upright, at least if he's here, you know, another year, two years, three years, it's not a bad pick. Right. And I think we can look at teams that hasn't resulted in a Super Bowl, but you know what Dallas did by building their offensive line. I think, you know, in Kansas City, they have a number one overall pick and Eric Fisher and they have a very high price free agent and Mitchell Schwartz. They're both hurt right now, but, you know, when they were healthy, that's one of the best offensive bookends in football. So, you know, the New Orleans Saints, they've invested through free agency a little bit, but mostly through the draft and building their offensive line. So it it would be, you know, I think two years after drafting Caleb McGarry, it might surprise people. But if you're just going best player available, it would be one of those offensive linemen. All right. Well, let's talk about some of your drafts. Have you ever nailed, I mean, what's the closest that you've ever come in all the mock drafts? Have you ever gone back and just kind of graded yourself and just said, okay, this one, I was, I had 28 right. What's been the best that you've done? And then has there ever been like a prospect where you just kind of stood on the mountain top and you said, oh my gosh, this guy is going to be an all pro this and that. And what are they doing? And it was a whiff. Oh, that's definitely a lot of those. I think it's on the mock draft thing. I will go back mostly just to see mock drafts are what you hear, right? Mock drafts are predictions. You take all the information and you predict. So I will go back and see like who lied to me, like who just straight up lied to me and used me and led me astray. So I will go back and do that. As far as like, like grading them, like report card style, I don't do that. I know there's some places that do. Last year, I think I did pretty well because it was somewhat predictable. So I don't want to give myself a lot of credit. But I think last year, you know, I think I had Tua and Herbert flipped. And I think I had Derek Brecht as Simmons flipped. But I think otherwise in the top 20, it was pretty, pretty close. So, but don't hold me to that. That standard is impossible. It's like March madness. No one's brackets. Perfect. Right. Now, as far as guys that I've, you know, jumped up on the table and said, they're going to be all pros. It's usually the opposite. Actually, it's usually the other way around where you are like, this guy is not good. He's going to be a bum. Derek Henry is the most famous one right now. So I think of a guy who I watched at Alabama and just thought this is not, this is not what the NFL is going to the NFL at that time. You know, it was all the smaller guys, speed plays. Let's get outside the tackle box. You got to be able to catch. And just, you know, I didn't see someone saying, we're going to go back to like 1995 and just run the ball down your throat. You know, and like it's in hindsight, it's so predictable of defenses are getting smaller. People are in nickel coverage, 70% of the time. Let's just run the ball down their throats at these 220 pound linebackers. You were feeling pretty good about Henry there for a little while, right? Oh, the first year and a half, I was like, I'm right. You guys don't know what you're talking about. And then it was like, oh man. Yeah. And you know, Mike Drabel and Arthur Smith should have known. Yeah, like when Drabel got hired, he was like, great, this is going to be smashed from football and I'm going to be wrong. So Derek Henry was one that I was, oh, just gigantic whiff. You know, it was like, man, this guy sent me a short yardage back. I want to play fullback. But still though, no, Derek Henry is great. I think he's the best running back in football in the last two years. I will, every time I watched him, I'm like, how do people not even try to tackle him, which is easy for me to say at home when he's not running at me. But Derek Henry's ability to run away from defenses is the most confusing thing in the world to me because he's like, he is fast, but he's not, he's not that fast, right? But he's, he's phenomenal for sure. So I know your last mock for the Falcons, you had Micah Parsons going up there. Do you think he falls? I do. Like you said, there's a story out there of, you know, some hazing issues at Penn State, some, you know, immaturity. I think that's, like you said, it's an old story. This is not new information. I have not heard a team yet say like, hey, we're going to, there's going to drop him out of the first round. It's nothing like that. But also teams haven't interviewed him yet because of, because of COVID. And so I think that will be something that we learned a little bit later. I think he's still drafted in the top 20, but as far as being a top five pick, probably not anymore. Okay. And if you had to just kind of, what do you think the chances are the Falcons at this point? I'm just putting you on the spot here because it's fun. Take your quarterback. So I will, I'll tell you, I, like I said, I have a seven round mock draft coming out next week. I do not have the Falcons taking a quarterback. February 11th, right? February 11th, seven rounds, no quarterback in round one for the Falcons. Well, let's merge, let's merge that final thought. I want to just get your take on what you think the Falcons future is going to shape up. Like, you know, the fans here, it's been three non-playoff years, seven and nine, seven and nine, four wins since the Super Bowl. You know, Dan Quinn, you know, was beloved here. It just didn't work out. And so now they've got this new regime who really, you know, Terry's saying all the right things. He's like, you know what, I'm not afraid to draft strength on strength. And Arthur's saying, you know what, we're going to be accountable. Everyone's accountable, but you know what, we're going to adapt to what we have. And so, and I'm going to put guys in a position. He's going to be a play caller too, but he's going to put guys in a position that he believes gives them the best chance to succeed. They're going to be adapted. There's no, and then you got Dean peas, the defensive coordinator who, you know, he made a great impression as first presser. And he, he basically just said, look at, you know, we're going to be multiple upfront and simple on the back end. And we don't, when people ask you for three, three, four, he says, yep. So, you know, Baltimore philosophy hybrid. Yeah. That's where he came from Baltimore at one point. Yeah. So what, what do you think they ultimately do? And what do you think that, you know, what, what, what's your feeling? I know you said it's a home run hire, but what do you think this team looks like moving forward? Yeah. I think the biggest thing I would expect offensively for them to take some of the pressure off Matt, you know, I think that's a big reason that Arthur was hired was Matt, Ryan does not need developed, but you need a scheme that takes pressure off him. And like you said, those getting sacked 40 plus times can happen. So whether that's more play action, quicker route combinations, more power run, I would, that's what I'm expecting more of just the Tennessee office, you know, is just get the ball out quickly. Brian Tannehill has not turned the ball over a lot there because there's a lot of throws that are not gimme throws, but they're allowing him to quickly find his read, get the ball out. And they're what I would consider low risk type of throws. And so I look for that. And again, the run game is huge here. So the, and that should help, you know, the offensive line, but I think that every offensive line, it's happier when they move the ball forward instead of, instead of going backwards. So I look at that. I do think like you've said, when I look at what Terry font no brings to this team is again, the pro and college scouting experience, but you know, being part of an organization that they haven't missed very much in New Orleans when it comes to draft picks and they've done that by forecasting, you know, they're sometimes drafting two to three years ahead, but they've hit on that, you know, go back to the 2017 draft class is one of the greatest ever because their ability to say, and then 2017 is one of the greatest draft classes ever. And they didn't get Patrick Mahomes. I missed him by one pick. Think about that. So it's still the one of the greatest. So I think just there, the style of player that they identify. And then we've seen you in other years where they identify guy Marcus Davenport. Okay, let's go get him. So they can be aggressive if need be, but I think they stack their board exceptionally well. And so I think just that strategy, you know, you're going from a little bit of a different group, you know, from Dementroff being more of a Bill Belichick disciple and that line of thinking to now you've got this Sean Payton, you know, Mickey Loomis type front office is going to be run here. So I think you'll see a big difference there now. I know, you know, if I were ever interviewed for a job, you got to walk in there and say it's, this is how many years it's going to take to be competitive. And I think for Atlanta, the key is because you have Matt Ryan and Julio Jones, you should be competitive this year. You have to be competitive year one. How long will it take to make this team a competitor? Because the salary cap, I mean, what year two, year three. And then the question is how much longer does Matt want to play? So I think the first question that you got to check off the box is, is asking Matt, how long do you want to play? Are you trying to play until you're 40 or longer? That seems to be the benchmark these days because if, if he's, you know, he's been hit, like you said, 120 times the past three years, he's been sacked. If that's taken as toll and he's starting to think about, you know, I'm getting a little older, want to do some other things, then you have to take the quarterback. That's the thing with Matt Ryan's there. Yeah. He's, he's, he's been healthy. I mean, he's the one little thing what two years ago. Yeah. I mean, he's missed what three games. Yeah. So, you know, he's remarkable. He's been really durable. Right. Absolutely. But I do think the question is if he's, if there's a doubt or excuse me, if there's a chance he could retire in the next four years, you have to take the quarterback. And my reasoning behind that would be with Matt, with Matt Ryan is your quarterback. You're not going to be drafting the top five again. Right. I mean, it's just, he's too good. And I think this staff is too good. So if he's out over the course of somebody's rookie contract, then, then I would pull the trigger on a quarterback there. But as I said, I don't have them doing that. Yeah. So let's segue into your February 11th and your, your budding empire here. So, I mean, you've got the NFL draft scout. Tell us, just go through it and just tell us, because I know you've got this product. You've got, you know, you've got your YouTube channel. What are draft next get when they subscribe and what are you giving them? Yeah. Trying to give them everything to be honest. Like you said, the draft scout is already up. You can go there today. There's some pieces that I've been able to put up as previews, but it fully launches February 11th with a seven round mock draft. Followed very quickly by a top 300 big board. And then my scouting notebook column will be coming back, which is all the like news and rumors that I hear from around the league, as well as just, you know, just a few more shots on, on the off season. So that'll all be launching February 11th. But right now people are getting, you know, we're doing virtual happy hours, scouting clinics. We did a live mock draft the other night where 32 general managers got to run their team. Right. So a falcons fan got to come on the clock at four. Okay. You just got to make the pick. Right. Yeah. So, uh, they make the pick where there were trades. I mean, this thing was crazy, but you know, there's a clock. They had three minutes to make their move. And so it was a great time. I'm looking forward to the next one. But as you said, in this day and age, you have to diversify. So you can't just write obviously. So there's the articles and everything that will live on the draftscout.com. I do a radio show every day from two to four, which people can stream anywhere in the world. It's called mic'd up based in Joplin, Missouri. And so that's just my chance like be a baseball fan, you know, how many, how many, how many mock drafts and how many pieces like how many pieces you put in putting up, you know, give or take a day or a week. Yeah. So the goal on the written side is three articles a week. And then a radio show every day, two podcasts a week, Monday morning, Friday morning. It's called two guys are growing a podcast. And it's, it's NFL NFL draft college football with a little bit of, you know, humor and tailgating and things like that on the side. Where can they find all this math? The easiest way to find everything is just go to Twitter and follow me at NFL draft scale. There's a link in the bio. You click it and it'll show. Okay. Here's a link to the website. Here's a link to the radio show. Here's a link to the YouTube, the podcast, everything because like you said, it's, you know, it's not, I don't just work one place anymore where you could go to Bleach Report and hope to find everything that I was doing. I will say this is much easier because even my friends and family would be like, I'd drop a mock draft and be like, where's your mock draft? Like I was in the Bleach Report app. We'd be like, where? I have no idea where. Now anytime I write an article, if you're a subscriber, it goes right to your email inbox. So as soon as I hit publish, you don't have to like the whole article goes to your inbox. You don't have to like click a link. You open the email, boom, there's the article. Deliver it right to your phone. So try to simplify it. Yeah. I love that. That's smart, man. This is, this is good stuff. How's it, how's it going so far? You got a lot of people signing up or what? Yeah, I've been pretty transparent about it. We've got around 9,000 people signed up. Not all 9,000 are paying, of course. I'm not making that kind of money, guys. Settle down, but 9,000 people have signed up to get the, you know, the articles that are free and keep updated on what's happening. So spread the word because I've been doing giveaways like crazy too. Like giving away hoodies like the one I'm wearing, giving away signed helmets, Madden copies. Like I want this to be fun. I want to incentivize because like I said, I don't, I don't think charged people seven bucks a month just to read my work is worth it. I'm not that good of a writer. Let's be honest. So I want to have fun with it. I want it to be a community thing. I mean, if you think I am, that's great. I appreciate that. But no, I want it, I want it to be fun. I do. I want it to be a community. I have a love hate relationship with Twitter. So more the more I can get off Twitter to talk to draft bands, they're going to do that. So we actually started with discord server. So there's like 700 people in this discord server all day talking about the draft and you know, we have rules, no politics, no religion, no trolling, you know, we're having fun with it. I love it. Well, I'm going to have to dive into some of the stuff and get my hands on some, some merch. I love that hoodie, by the way. Yeah, they've been popular so far. Count me up for signing up. I'm going to do that right after this show. I am a big fan of yours as, as you know, and you know, I think eventually, you know, you're going to put Mel Kuiper and Todd McShane business, hopefully. So what? No, I'm just kidding. I feel okay joining them. You know, that's, here's that Mel is my icon. He's the reason I have a job. You know, he started this industry. So he's, I actually never met him though. So really? Yeah. Like, you know, I've met McShane a couple of times. Super, super great guy, Daniel Jeremiah. Yeah. You know, like I consider them, you know, guys I look up to and like it's cool that they've given me their phone number. So when I meet Mel Kuiper, I'll probably faint. That's a fan me. You know, he's still got, he's still got the, the pompadour going out, right? Oh, she's got it right here. Well, Matt, hey, I really appreciate you coming on. And I want to do it again as we get closer to the draft. And I would definitely love to have you come on to just talk about, you know, everything you're doing, how's it going, but also just get your reactions to what the Falcons ultimately end up doing and for each and the draft. And as this thing kind of progresses and builds, this roster comes together. It's always fun talking to people like you that actually know what they're talking about. And I really, really appreciate it. You've been great. And I wish you the best of luck with the NFL draft scout too. Hopefully people sign up for that. I appreciate it. And yeah, I'm, I'm happy to come on anytime. I actually find myself a lot more free time and my own boss. So if you hit me up like, Hey, want to do a podcast? Yeah, sure. Sounds great. Awesome. Matt, thanks so much. Have a great weekend. You too. Thank you guys.