Latest / Football Junkies podcast / Stack or Shed Ep.6 Falcons edition

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Stack or Shed Ep.6 Falcons edition · Football Junkies podcast

• 0:00
  Hey everybody, this is your GM, your back row
• 0:01
  dom, it's your GM who currently is not on the
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  team right now, but don't you worry about it,
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  Kale, here to bring you episode 6 of the Stack
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  and Shed series. Now in this series, we're covering
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  all 32 teams, so nobody is neglected, everybody
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  gets a turn, okay? Now in this series, we're
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  covering a few different topics, and those topics
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  include what went wrong, what do they need, Stack
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  or Shed, their draft picks, one move I would
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  do in their cap space. Now, in this episode,
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  we're covering the Falcons. So buckle up. It's
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  going to be a little bit crazy, but we're going
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  to get through it. So let's lock in. All right,
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  let's get into it. So what went wrong in the
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  Falcons season? And I would venture to say it
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  was a lack of quarterback stability. Going into
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  last season, we knew that Kirk Cousins had become
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  frustrated with the organization, and we also
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  knew that there was mounting pressure for Michael
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  Penix to start. Now, I don't believe that if
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  Kirk Cousins or Michael Penix became the week
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  one starter, that it would have changed the outcome
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  of the season. Because at the end of the day,
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  the Falcons are still far away from being contenders.
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  Now, according to NFL Pro, in the nine games
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  that Michael Penix started, He was 276 attempts
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  for 166 completions, 1 ,982 passing yards, nine
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  touchdowns, three interceptions, 7 .2 yards per
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  attempt, and a 60 .1 completion percentage. In
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  the 10 games that Kirk Cousins played, He was
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  269 attempts for 166 completions, 1 ,721 passing
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  yards, 10 touchdowns, 5 interceptions, 6 .4 yards
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  per attempt, a 61 .7 completion percentage. Now
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  ask yourself this. Do you believe that the Falcons
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  offense played better under Michael Penix or
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  Kirk Cousins? Somebody let me know under the
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  comments on our YouTube page at Football Junkies
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  Pod. Because, honestly speaking, neither one
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  of them played significantly better than the
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  other. Now, I know someone's rebuttal is, well,
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  Kurt Cobanks and Kyle Pitts was cooking the Buccaneers
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  defense on that Thursday night game. They were
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  dipping and dying all over the field, and the
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  Buccaneers defense didn't have the answer for
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  it. Kurt Cousins can do no wrong in my eyes.
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  Now, with that being said, what do the Falcons
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  need? And that is more patience from ownership.
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  Better decision making on building the roster
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  and stability at quarterback. Now I understand
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  that Arthur Blank wants to experience winning
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  football again. And I understand that he wants
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  to experience being in the Super Bowl again.
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  But he needs to be honest with himself. You still
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  have a question mark at quarterback. You still
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  need to figure out what you're going to do at
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  other positions on this team. And you need to
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  figure out if Kevin Stefanski is the guy. So
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  when you factor all these things in, you need
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  to be a little bit more patient. Now, am I saying
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  that Raheem Morris was going to be the answer
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  to all of their troubles? No. But I think Raheem
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  Morris showed enough towards the second half
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  of the season where you can say, you know what,
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  let's run it back one more time. And if you ran
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  it back one more time and you had the same outcome
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  that you just had this past season, then get
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  rid of him. But you can't just say, we want to
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  be competitive, we want to win a championship,
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  but you're continuing to fire head coaches in
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  less than three years. At some point, you have
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  to give these coaches a chance. This stuff takes
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  time, and it also doesn't help when you continue
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  to make dumb decisions when it comes to this
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  roster. And since we're talking about the roster,
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  let's talk about the former GM. How is it that
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  he was able to give a $100 million contract to
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  Kirk Cousins, who's coming off a torn Achilles,
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  draft Michael Penix with the eighth pick in that
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  draft class, and then retrade back into the first
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  round to draft James Pierce, who's no longer
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  going to be able to play in the league again?
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  Those are the type of decisions that push your
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  team back by years but you wouldn't know that
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  because all you're looking at is the play on
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  the field and not looking at the roster construction
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  the roster construction is just as important
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  as what you see on the field but you wouldn't
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  realize that because you're so focused on winning
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  and the way that you're going about trying to
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  win is the wrong way As I've said before in multiple
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  episodes, every single chance that I get, the
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  only way that you can truly be competitive and
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  win a championship is if you hit on your draft
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  picks and you have an infrastructure of success.
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  If you don't have those two things in play, you're
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  not going to be successful. I don't care what
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  receiver you have. I don't care what running
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  back you have. I don't care what offensive lineman
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  you have. It won't work. And that's been a problem
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  with the Falcons for a very long time. Now, stability
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  at quarterback is a little bit tricky, and here's
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  why. We all know that Michael Penix is still
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  recovering from injury, and we know he won't
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  be able to hit the field anytime soon. We also
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  know that Kirk Cousins is going to be released
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  at the start of the new league year, find a bridge
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  quarterback for the time being. Now, the question
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  is this. If you're the Falcons, even though you
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  don't have a lot of draft picks, do you at least
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  take a swing on someone like a Kay Klubnick,
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  a Garrett Nussmeyer, a Drew Aller? Because at
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  this point, you won't have an answer to this
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  problem until Michael Penix gets healthy and
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  you figure out what you're going to do at quarterback
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  long term. Now, with that being said, the question
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  we all need to ask ourselves is stack or shed?
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  And I would venture to say stack. And the reason
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  why I say this is because there's no need for
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  you to shred what you have right now. Instead,
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  you need to learn from your mistakes move forward,
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  and create a realistic plan on how you're going
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  to change things around. Now, if that means that
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  you have to trade away somebody, okay, fine,
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  do it. If it means that you have to cut somebody,
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  hey, oh, well, it's a business. And let's be
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  honest here. The Falcons are operating in a cycle
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  of insanity, hoping for a different outcome,
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  and it's not going to happen. Now, the only way
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  they can break out of this cycle is by admitting
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  that their current approach to the game of football
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  is outdated and unsuccessful. Now, when we look
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  at their draft picks, they have their second,
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  their third, their fourth, their sixth, and seventh.
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  Now, what I'm about to say is very controversial,
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  but just hear me out. I think the Falcons have
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  a chance to sneak into the first round. And the
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  reason why I say this because this draft class
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  doesn't have a lot of blue chip talent, right?
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  It is talented, but it doesn't have that type
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  of talent that we've seen in previous draft classes,
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  which means that a lot of teams are probably
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  going to trade down or just trade out of the
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  first round altogether. I believe that the second
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  and third round is the sweet spot in this draft
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  class. And I believe there's going to be a lot
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  of high quality players that everybody wants
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  that's going to be in those drafts. draft classes.
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  So if you're the Falcons, could you possibly
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  entertain the idea of maybe trading into the
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  first round? Now you may have to give up a player
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  or you may have to tap into the 27 draft stock,
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  but you're going to have to do something. However,
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  if you feel like the draft board is working in
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  your favor, then just stay put. But remember
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  this, when it's time for you to submit your pick.
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  Please, please, please, please, please make sure
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  you make the right pick. Do not do anything stupid
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  because I promise you, if you do something stupid,
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  you're going to lose the fan base, which I mean,
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  you've already lost the fan base right now. But
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  you know what? That's another story for another
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  day. All right. Now, the one move that I would
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  do is sign a veteran bridge quarterback, specifically
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  somebody that has worked with Kevin Stefanski.
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  Now, the first person that comes to mind is Joe
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  Flacco. But hear me out for a moment, and I know
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  this is going to contradict everything I just
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  said. What if you can try to smooth things out
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  with Kirk Cousins? Hear me out. If you're the
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  Falcons, if you're Kevin Stefanski, what would
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  it take for Kirk Cousins to stay with the Falcons?
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  Because I don't believe the relationship is just
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  burned all the way. I do believe you can work
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  through it. But the only way that you can work
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  through it is if you put everybody in the room
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  and you hash it out. I think if you run it back
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  with Kirk Cousins just one more year, I think
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  that's good enough. Because right now, outside
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  of Joe Flacco, there's no other good options
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  available. Are you going to pay 30 plus million
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  for Malik Willis? No. Are you going to trade
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  for Tua? No. Are you going to trade for Kyle
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  Murray? No. So then what are you going to do
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  at quarterback? Now, if you're Kirk Cousins,
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  you probably have a thousand and one reasons
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  on why you want to leave the Falcons. But just
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  here. me out. You had success with Kevin Stefanski.
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  You know that if you don't go to the Vikings,
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  you're not going to be successful anywhere else.
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  Even if it means you have to take a reduced salary.
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  Do it. Because at this point, if you go anywhere
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  else, they're going to treat you like a bridge
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  quarterback. No one is going to commit to you
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  long term. When we look at the Falcons cap situation,
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  they have 30 .6 million, which isn't bad, but
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  they can create more if they restructure some
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  deals, cut a few people, trade away some people,
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  you know, the same generic business stuff that
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  every single team does, right? Now, do I expect
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  the Falcons to be big players in free agency?
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  No. I think at best, they'll probably be really
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  active in that second and third wave free agency.
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  However, I do expect the Falcons to try to re
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  -sign some of their players, such as Drake London,
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  Kyle Pitts, and maybe some players on the defensive
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  side. But I'm going to end this episode here.
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• 8:49
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  G M kale, G M K a I L E. All right. G M K a I
• 10:22
  L E. You can follow me on Twitter at G M kale,
• 10:25
  G M K a I L E. All right. As always, I hope I
• 10:29
  gave you guys a fix that you guys need. I love
• 10:31
  you guys. I appreciate you guys so much. Thank
• 10:33
  you guys for listening to the best football.
• 10:35
  podcast that you can listen to on a week -to
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  -week, day -to -day basis. And this is your GM
• 10:40
  Kel signing out. Peace and love. Later, guys.