 What's up everybody and welcome to an off-season edition of the Falcons Final Whistle podcast. I'm Scott Baer along with Tori McElaney. Ashton Edmonds is on assignment in Las Vegas so this is going to be a two-person show and what will be the first of many off-season Falcons Final Whistles as we break down Falcons news as it comes in addition to major tentpole moments throughout the course of this off-season like the start of free agency where the Falcons have a little bit of money or maybe a wee bit. Yeah. A lot more than they've had. That's for nature. That's true. And then they're going to have the number eight overall pick and a number of quality opportunities to add talent. And we're going to talk to you at each stage through OTAs through minicamp on towards the regular season. This is the kickoff of the off-season off-season version of it. And Tori do we have some news to discuss or what that we do. There have been some changes on the defensive staff. Most notably the Falcons have a new coordinator after Dean Pease retired shortly after the season was over. The Falcons have poked poached. Let's just say poached Ryan Nielsen. I thought you were going to say poked. They poked him. I thought about it and then I couldn't get the word out. They have hired let's stick with the formal terms. They have hired Ryan Nielsen as their new defensive coordinator. They have also hired Jerry Gray who has a long history with Arthur Smith as their assistant head coach defense. We're going to talk about each one of these guys individually. I think a narrative that hasn't really been addressed yet is you put these two gentlemen together and I think you have a lot of good opportunities because you have Ryan Nielsen who is going to call plays and is going to be in charge of this defense as a first time coordinator. Another young aggressive energetic coach added to the staff and then you have Jerry Gray who I think is coached for 35 plus years and has been a coordinator twice and has been to the puppet show and seen this seen the strings and knows what it's like to call a defense. I think those two guys together are really going to help the Falcons as they transition after Dean Pease retirement. Yeah, I think it's these two hires have been really intriguing because I think it gives more information about what direction the Falcons want to go in in the post Dean Pease defense era in Atlanta. I agree with you about the Jerry Gray hire. I think that was a really important move for the Falcons and that's not anything against Ryan Nielsen at all. I think Ryan Nielsen is a very intriguing decision at defensive coordinator as well but what Jerry Gray can bring in terms of knowledge in terms of experience in terms especially with the secondary you think about Ryan Nielsen strength Ryan Nielsen strength as a coach as a play caller is a long that line of scrimmage you need someone that you trust in the secondary and who could you trust more than a guy with over 30 years of experience coaching defenses at this level. I just think that the pairing of these two guys together. I completely agree with you that it that pairing is just as important as who the defensive coordinator was going to be. Yeah, so let's let's get into this Ryan Nielsen hire first again he's 43 years old is from USC. I'm a UCLA UCLA alum. I won't hold out against them. I don't think maybe though get along with Drake London so well swimmingly but but Ryan Nielsen comes in. He if you didn't know his name and you had to search for it. Did you have some fun features to dive over the athletic in particular. Let's give credit where credits do Larry Holder wrote a fantastic story. Josh Kendall also chimed in with comments from Falcons head coach Arthur Smith and Tori wrote kind of a five things to know summation of if you don't know who Ryan Nielsen is. Here's this guy and what like what were some themes that you found Tori as you were writing the news story and writing all these follow-ups and kind of building for Falcons fans a greater and clearer picture of who their new defensive coordinator is. Yeah so something that really struck me in everything that I read about Ryan Nielsen is his role as a player developer which I thought is exactly what the Falcons need at this juncture and where they are. I loved reading especially I'm glad that you brought up Larry Holder's feature on Ryan Nielsen with the athletic I if you don't if you don't know anything about Ryan Nielsen I definitely recommend going and reading that story because that's where I really felt like I found the crux of who Ryan Nielsen is and I also think that Scott and I should say we have yet to talk to Ryan Nielsen. We haven't talked to him. We haven't met him yet that will come probably when the Falcons get back from Las Vegas which is where they are coaching the Shrine Bowl right now as we're recording this podcast. So there's still so much to learn about Ryan Nielsen in the direction that he wants to take the Falcons defense but the one quote that I really hung on to and it's a quote hold on let me pull it up because I wrote about it and because I pulled from Larry Holder's 2021 story on Ryan Nielsen his emergence it was he was talking to defensive lineman Carl Granderson and what Carl Granderson said this quote would it just speaks volumes to me he said he focuses in his big on technique and effort he coaches pretty hard he wants us to be big nasty D linemen so we can go out there and destroy people you have to have tough skin in order to play D line for the New Orleans Saints. That's the guy the Falcons got and I think that's exactly and we'll get into more of this I think later in the podcast but that is exactly what Arthur Smith likes you think about who Arthur Smith is finding big nasty linemen where it's like tough to play at the line of scrimmage for these coaches because you know how hard they're going to push you that is that's the crux of I think what the Falcons are trying to establish we look at what they did offensively in the run game this year they want to establish that run stopping men dirty nasty front along the defense line and they know that that has to be an area of improvement they talked about it ad nausium that they have got to get a push up front along the defense line. Yeah they in areas where they struggled the past rush obviously and past defense in general they went out and they got guys who are really good at creating those types of things and Ryan Nielsen has been very good about that so Tori let me just say this but Tori I've seen the Saints play and he runs a 4-3 how can he possibly be a fit here because if you look at how the I mean Cam Jordan is a freak of nature right he's a monster in the best way pounds right and he's just he's quick and athletic and complimenting Saints is not what we normally do on this podcast but credit where credits do here but and Trey Hendrickson who work with with Ryan niece with Ryan Nielsen as well is not a small individual and you think about Arthur Smith and Terry font no talking about the quote unquote hybrid model and hybrid model player did it give you pause that they went with a more quote unquote prototypical for three guy I mean Arthur Smith said on Monday I do laugh about the 4-3 or 3-4 thing you know and basically said if you watch base defense they obviously have five guys up at the line of scrimmage call it whatever you want you can call that guy on the end of the line and open side into Jack linebacker it doesn't matter what you call it but I do think he's right though that I mean even the Falcons last year some played like a sometimes they put like a 2-3 exactly and that was number you get to 11 you know right and that's kind of where I was when they made this hire and everybody's freaking out like oh my gosh we don't have the personnel to run what Ryan Nielsen wants to run it's like well if you look at what Dean Pease was running he was running literally anything and everything in terms of fronts you like what you said you sometimes saw Grady Jarrett standing up like I know that's not a defensive front but I'm just going to say like Grady Jarrett was standing up sometimes like and I really do think you saw them with a traditional 3-4 look you saw them with this traditional 4-3 look you saw them in a 4-2-5 I mean there were so many different things that they did anyways that I do think that it to say like oh Ryan Nielsen only runs a 4-3 well the best coordinators coordinate and plan for the players that they have and I think that goes back to the opportunities that the Falcons have with free agency they could go out and get guys who fit more towards what Ryan Nielsen has been running with the Saints I think just because they went out and got a guy who has a 4-3 baseline run stopping mentality like the Saints have had over the last seven years I think that that doesn't discount what the Falcons could bring in and do in Atlanta this offseason I think this defense is going to look very very differently because I think that they now have the resources and the money to pump into this defense and I think in terms of fronts like I completely agree with Arthur Smith and I think even talking to Dean P's in the many conversations we had with him over the two years that he was in Atlanta I think Ryan Nielsen would say the same things like fronts are flexible fronts are always changing I mean just because one thing works against one formation offensive formation doesn't mean that it's going to work with another one I mean this is all the game are there some talks all the time the games within the games well this is just another part of it and I don't think that Falcons fans should be absolutely freaking out to be like oh my God like we're turning into the Saints or whatever Ryan Nielsen is going to come in and do kind of what Ryan Nielsen wants to do we also have to think about like yes he was the co-demand of coordinator with the Saints but that who's calling plays on game Dylan Dennis Allen exactly so that also that what what does Ryan Nielsen want to do when he has the control of a defense I mean these are all questions that we're going to have the opportunity to answer so I'm not ready to be like oh my gosh we're completely getting away from what the Falcons have built the last two seasons no I actually think we're going to see more of it kind of come to clarity this between this offseason yeah and we are recording this on a Tuesday and you're right we haven't heard from Ryan Nielsen I'm sure that he's going to kind of brush off the notion of base defense one way or the other and I think that ultimately they can mold and shift because they talk about the hybrid model right well you needed some more heft upfront no matter what no matter who the coach was that's the thing is like you really did when we were looking at I think I was the one that wrote like the defensive line like positional review that we we did all the positional reviews throughout the month of January the Falcons need help in the interior defensive line however way you cut it like however way you look at it they were going to help because outside of Grady Jarrett to go on Graham got hurt Marlon Davidson wasn't on the isn't on the team anymore Anthony Rush isn't on the team anymore all of the guys that started out the 2022 training camp season the guys that you ended up with at the end so Timmy Horn and Jalen Dalton and Abdullah Anderson nothing against those guys at all but you knew how much interior defensive line was going to be a priority if not the number one priority going into free agency and the draft that doesn't change because a new offensive coordinator comes in here yeah and I mean these are still needs and the and the volume of talent that needs to join this defensive front especially with some maybe patchwork or some additions in the defensive backfield are also important despite the fact and I don't think that we have to say alright they're going away from what Dean P set up here I think a lot of the mentality and and a lot of the not accepting mediocrity and a lot of the performance on critical downs like that doesn't leave you as an individual and if you can get better as a front I think it just changes the entire dynamic so that's I think that's to recognize long winded way of saying let's not get hung up in the 433 fourness of it let's also not just rest on our laurels and say automatically everyone just if we're going to try to play it honestly here not everyone who fit exactly what Dean P's like to do and was a role player they may not have the same role that there is some natural transition here it's not just Dean P's that's gone it's it's it's Ted Mono Kino it's John Hoke you know area manual area manual so there will be some different philosophies there will be some new things coming into this defense and I think it'll be interesting to see who these other new hires are going to be how Ryan Nielsen calls plays we really don't have a good grasp of that and what can he do with that defensive front say what you I know Falcons fans don't like to compliment Saints Saints have a good defense and as you point out have for a long time and under Ryan Nielsen even as a position coach we're really good at getting pressure and I promise this won't be a long rantory but the thing that I like about what they do is they get pressure with for now you need talent right but if you can get pressure with for it changes everything and I think that that's where their ultimate goal is I asked Arthur Smith about that he says like that's the ideal scenario and if you can get pressure rushing for and you have and Ryan Nielsen has proven that he can do that with the right talent will go find the right talent and become that type of tough defense that you face in New Orleans over the last three or four seasons so I think all that is going to be fascinating and I think it's going to be really interesting once we hear from him right that we're dealing with this podcast we're we're talking a lot about what we've read and what we've learned by observing but we haven't really heard from him yet and then that's going to be a learning point and then we're going to learn some more when we see him engage with players and then the players reaction to it and then a little bit more after the preseason when he actually calls a play that's not generic and that's going to be interesting so this is a long learning process they interviewed a lot of good candidates and they were really sold on this guy which I think because we've we've talked about Jerry Gray already Tori so let's so let's skip to this next part which is your idea and your point here maybe about kind of why this was the guy and why Arthur Smith said specifically on Monday that he was a quote fit yeah so this is an idea that I had just when I was doing the research for the story that I wrote about like five things to learn about your new defensive coordinator and this was kind of the moment that really sparked in a story idea for me and it's one that I'm going to play around with and hopefully have a more in-depth piece for you guys to really read essentially and we can talk more about it later too but because I haven't talked to Ryan Nielsen I haven't talked to Arthur Smith about this hire so for me this is all just my opinion but my opinion is that the Falcons went with Ryan Nielsen because he strikes me as an Arthur Smith guy and here's what I say about that Arthur Smith is an offensive lineman he played offensive line at the University of North Carolina at the almost exact same time Ryan Nielsen is on the West Coast at USC playing defensive line and he did that at the college level then they both you know grow up and they become coordinators and go go through all of all of the coaching hoops and hurdles but the crux of who they are they are hard nose intense and they want dirty nasty linemen exactly kind of what that initial comment was from Carl Granderson I fully believe that that intensity that whole idea of winning the game and living and dying at the line of scrimmage is what sold Arthur Smith on Ryan Nielsen and what sold Ryan Nielsen on Arthur Smith because to me they're kind of cut from the same cloth they have kind of a similar thing at the line of scrimmage that makes them tick and for me I think that's really exciting because we saw in training camp and in the preseason how hard Arthur Smith pushes the offensive line particularly that specific position what we saw was an offensive line in 2022 that outplayed expectations and let's be honest did really well the run blocking of this unit they started out I think it was pro football focus which take that with the grain grain of salt as it is but they had them ranked it I think it was 30th as an offensive line before the season started they were a top five offensive line picked by the end of the season there was obvious growth at the at the line of scrimmage for this offensive line now you need that to translate to the defensive line and who better to do that than a guy who has a similar mentality and similar thought process to Arthur Smith so that's kind of just like where my mind is and kind of my hypothesis as to why they went with Ryan Nielsen in the first place I see from every all the research points that I've had I see a very serious and clear I don't know like picture of why Arthur Smith would like a guy like Ryan Nielsen and why he would think that he fits in Atlanta and you we heard so much of Terry font knowing Arthur Smith talk about they were referring to acquiring players and for agency and the draft they were talking about not just finding talent but finding fits why would that not apply to the coaching staff why would it's the exact same type of thing is that you need talented guys everyone that they brought in whether it was reported or not you have to be talented as a defensive mind or you're not going to get that higher or you're not going to get that interview but how do you sift through all of the schemes and all of the ideas and the imagination and the creativity without taking a look at what you're trying to find in your players do you want a good locker room environment you want guys that fit your ethos to borrow. Why would you not do that and then why would you not do that within the coaching staff those guys have been like 95 hours a week together so that's what I think we have support for your hypothesis Tory and it's something that I think when you look at this Jerry Gray addition to is that you've got a guy with history with Arthur Smith of prolonged history both in Washington going back to the mid 2000s and then again in Tennessee when Arthur was briefly on the defensive side of the ball technically working under Jerry Gray right there's got to be a good mutual respect there and not only does he have experience calling plays you talk about what Ryan Nielsen does well it's the front well Jerry Gray was a darn good defensive back in his own right and a pretty good defensive backs coach for a long time so you're starting to see the plan kind of come out and emerge here we still don't have the complete staff Ryan Nielsen is going to have a say in a lot of that and I think that's important and you would expect that Ryan Nielsen is going to have a say in the in the type of player that works for him that's how Falcon scouting works they go out and they interview the coaches and they say what do you like to do what it will like what like what traits do you like there's no disconnect on the staff so they're going to do that with Ryan Nielsen and they're going to go out find Terry a collection of players that fits what the schematics like to do and thinking long term back to what Terry said in his post season press conference was using the Ravens model not the Ravens defensive scheme as a model but using the fact that they continue to cycle in the type of player that that they like and that defense is good regardless of coordinator right that in an ideal world as a coaching staff the head coach remains stable and the GM remains stable and the assistance because you win like what we're seeing with D'Amico Ryan's and Vic Fangio out in San Francisco that those guys get head coaching jobs well then you got to bring somebody else and we have to sustain that level so that's the ultimate long term goal and I think that look everybody knows who Vic Fangio is everybody knows who Brian Flores is maybe fewer people know who Ryan Nielsen is but I think that you should be intrigued to learn more about this guy and that's what again we're going to develop here we don't have all the answers right now and we're not going to until we continue to get these additional points and Tory before we kind of wrap this thing up here and this is way way way way way way too early but I'm going to ask you the question anyway right that when you look at the success that the Saints defensive front had and then you and then you think oh okay Marcus Davenport is going to be on the market oh I'm going to mess up the pronunciation of his last name but David Onimata is going to be on the open market that's a defensive tackle that they need somebody in in those spots I'm not saying this is going to become Saints Northeast but I think that you have to try to take a look at in free agency look you want talent and good value sure yeah but if you have a guy who knows the system that that's at least attractive or it may raise him up on the list of possibilities wouldn't it I mean I would think so I mean you think about all the decisions that the Falcons have made even in coaching and in I mean we look back at the last two years of bringing in players and they bring in players that they have a history with they bring in that's true that they like they bring in players that have ran in their system before who they've worked with before so I don't think it's out of the question that these guys are on their radar at the exact same time though it's like where what where are you putting that value on those guys are you put it because they are I say older players I don't feel bad being like oh they're old at like 27 as I just turned 27 and I'm not old and so having an existential crack existence crisis but it's fine but with that being said it's like where exactly what you're saying like where are you putting the value in what you're wanting and trying to build and how long are you willing to wait to be competitors I mean the Falcons I think the I mean again this is really far in the distance I feel like I'm speaking this may be too soon to say this but don't the Falcons want to be playoff contenders in 2023 sure who do you want to go and get who you feel like can put you in the best spot to be that is it guy or is it guys who know your system know what you want have worked with you before who can go out there and execute what you want because they they know you is that the is that the guy that you want or do you want to develop guys do you want to kind of have these young guys be sponges and absorb and yeah you'll go through growing pains but you're ultimately getting kind of what you put into them yeah I mean that's that's the question right like that's the question that you you have to ask yourself if you're Falcon's decision makers yeah and we're not trying to offer answers or both predictions here we're just saying how the logic changes and how you know the Falcons are going to think about things as they continue to make decisions that the first two decisions have been made regarding the coaching staff they're obviously evaluating talent at the shrine bowl in Vegas and at the senior bowl in Mobile I think either way we've seen two decisions made we're going to see a lot more decisions made in terms of investment and asset use and the way that they flesh out the staff and all of those things are going to give us a little bit more of a clue into where they're going and what their priorities are and what they think and what we think their needs are I feel like on this podcast I've said 12,000 times that anything that any transaction made is worth more in telling you what the Falcons want or are going to do than any podium trip is just the way it is thousand percent yes that's not because Arthur and Terry are not insightful or forthcoming it's the fact of the matter that this is a competitive business and why would you give away what you're going to do when it's a competitive business so nonetheless I I just think that these are two intriguing hires off the top it'll be fascinating to heal from to hear from Ryan Nielsen when his inevitable press conference comes to be and to see how this defense develops the first die has been cast right and now what happens after that is going to be just as important and just as intriguing but we felt like with the first Falcons final whistle podcast now that we have that first whatever domino I don't know pick your analogy that we were finally able to kind of say okay here's a small sign of where they're going to go where are they going to go yeah and I mean we'll be there every step of the way we have a long off season ahead I mean and seriously I keep saying this over and over and over people probably are so tired of me saying it but like this off season is the crux of where the Falcons go under Terry and Arthur period like to me this the last two years have been building to this off season this off season I can't stress the import I can't stress enough the importance of this off season and I think expectations in the way that you look at the Falcons should change after this off season mine will I can tell you that right now and the good thing is is will be along for the ride wherever that ride takes you which is which is why it'll take us to Indy for the combine and pro days and everywhere else in between and and we and again Ashton Evans is out there working hard at the shrine bowl so keep an eye out for more articles on that we have a couple on Charles London and the importance of the senior bowl so we get your coverage from every step and that's why Falcons final whistle which was originally designed in many moons ago to be a post game podcast had just become the off season never stops podcast maybe we should change the name but anyway I'm Scott that's Tory appreciate the time and we will talk to you again really really soon