Atlanta Falcons Bet Future on Michael Penix and Young Pass Rush

Atlanta Falcons Bet Future on Michael Penix and Young Pass Rush

This is the year. Aaron Freeman of Locked on Falcons is going to tell us why the Atlanta Falcons have finally arrived. For the first time in over half a decade, the Falcons ready to take the South on today’s Peacock and Williamson. NFL analyst Brian Peacock and former NFL scout Matt Williamson bring you expert NFL analysis every day in less than 30 minutes. Get an inside look at the NFL on the field and in the front office with elite breakdowns to next level analysis and in-depth information only for the real NFL fans. This is Peacock and Williamson and it starts now. Welcome to the Peacock and Williamson NFL show. Brian Peacock alongside Matt Williamson as always with a very special guest today at BDP Peacock at Williamson NFL. Thanks everybody for making us your first listen on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. If you’re new to the program, welcome. Uh whether you are a regular because I know a lot of the every day still aren’t subscribed or brand new to the show. Please hit that subscribe button. Uh you can also do the notifications so you know when a new show goes live. And uh of course you can subscribe not only on YouTube but anywhere you listen to your podcast. And uh hit us up on Twitter or in the YouTube comments for this week’s mailbag episode. And if anything sparks you while we’re talking with Aaron about the uh NFC South and about the Atlanta Falcons, yeah, please do so. And uh just remember that um if you get mad at Aaron, you can yell at us about it and he’ll never know about it. So uh that that can happen as well, especially if there’s some Saints fans in the audience here, too. So uh Aaron, appreciate you stopping by. And I think the first thing we have to talk about when it comes to the Atlanta Falcons is where they’re at with their quarterback situation is their backup quarterback now in Kurt Cousins going to be a Falcon when the season starts. And what are the expectations for the young guy? And what did you see as a rookie from him and now going into year two for Michael Penn? Is he on his way to stardom in the NFL? Well, let’s get the Kurt Cousins conversation out of the way. I do think Kirk Cousins will be an Atlanta Falcon this up. I don’t think any team is trading for him and the Falcons have made a picture over the last several months that they have no intention of releasing him. Uh, and so basically unless a team comes calling at some point during the summer due to a devastating injury to their starting quarterback and that coaching staff has, you know, probably some familiarity with Kurt Cousins and or uh is feeling sort of desperate to win now and therefore willing to, you know, meet the Falcons trade demands, price demands, you know, terms of taking on a certain portion of Kirk Cousins remaining now 37 a half million 27.5 this year and 10 million next year. It’s all leading to signs that Kurt Cousins is is going nowhere. And so, uh, to me, that ship sailed once Cleveland signed Joe Flacco back in April where it was like that was the most likely destination if the Falcons were going to move on for Kurt Cousins and they seem to be out of it. And so, I don’t think there’s another team coming uh for Kurt Cousins. But, you know, we’re all talking about Michael Penn and so we’re really about, you know, pumping him up. uh in terms of what he can do for this offense this upcoming season. I think people are legitimately excited about it. We’ve se played this game the last couple of offseasons with the Atlanta Falcons where there’s a new starting quarterback in town and there’s a lot of optimism about what that new starting quarterback is going to be, but this year it’s going to be different, right? And so I think with Michael Penn because of the arm talent that he has, because that he showed a level of poise uh late in the season, being sort of thrust in into the fire and needing to have to try to win games for the Falcons to make it to the Super Bowl. I mean, I’m sorry, not the Super Bowl, the playoffs. I’m my brain is slow down. already thinking about the the visions of the future of where this Falcons offense is going to go with Michael Penn, but try to make the playoffs and he showed a level of poise and maturity uh beyond his years. And so I think there’s a lot of optimism on what this team can be with Michael Penn, particularly given the hope that this offense is going to be a lot more explosive with his big time arm, uh, you know, lining up in their center. What’s your thumbnail scouting report on him and how encouraged are you that he is the long-term answer for the next decade plus? I mean, he’s certainly aggressive and he can short throw the football. Yeah, I think you know the the arm strength and the ability to push the ball vertically jumps off the the film. I think there have been some issues a little bit with some scattershot accuracy and some touch issues on certain throws. And I think that’s going to be the biggest area of improvement for him, particularly when it comes to some of the underneath stuff because we’ve seen in this league these last couple of years, defenses have gotten a lot better at trying to limit explosive plays and won’t just let you just throw the ball down the field, although folks like Josh Allen really challenge that uh quite a bit. And we’ll see if Michael Penn can do that as well. So, I think that’s going to be the biggest area of improvement. I think defenses are going to want to try to force him to dink and dunk and really sort of see, you know, how efficient uh a passer he can be. I thought, you know, coming out of college, I was my main concern with him beyond sort of those accuracy um issues were uh his ability to deal with pressure and his ability to be creative uh in extending plays outside the pocket. And while I don’t think he’s great in that regard, I thought in the three games he showed last year that he was much better at that than I thought it was going to be. thought that was going to be sort of potentially the Achilles heel where you have this big strong arm quarterback that really when he’s dealing with pressure can’t really do things off structure and get to those the right answers that you need young quarterbacks to be able to get to often with their legs and being able to extend plays because they don’t have all the reps to just win, you know, mentally and whatnot like the Tom Bradys and the Pton Mendings and the Matt Ryans can once they get, you know, decades into the NFL. But
and I know he ran really well in the 40, but he doesn’t play like a great athlete.
Yeah. Yeah. He he ran like a sub4 640. You you’ll hear some people say he ran a 4440, but um he’s he can run well in a straight line, but yeah, he’s not going to be a guy that’s just going to be like, “Hey, just go out there and run around and make a play.” If you need him to go pick up five yards on a third and five, like, he can do that. But if you need him to just basically go gash a team for 15 or 20 yards like a Jaden Daniels, like a Lamar Jackson, like any of these more talented running quarterbacks, I mean, Baker Mayfield’s probably uh a little bit more depth getting those types of yardage and runs uh than Michael Penn is. I I think that’s kind of the level I expect him to be as a scrambler and playmaker is a sort of Baker Mayfield type of uh runner and that. And so I think that’s an area that is I think better than I thought it was, but at the same time it’s not going to be something that I think is the strength it is. I’m looking statistically at the the Falcons from 2024 and it’s really interesting to me that Kirk Cousins because I think a lot of people, you know, thought Kirk Cousins played pretty bad or not really to his level last year. And uh I’m looking at Kirk Cousins numbers. You know, the Falcons were an eight- n team last year. They were seven and seven in Kirk Cousins starts. They were one and two in in the three starts for Michael Penn. Um, but I look at the interceptions is really what what sticks out to me. And Kurt Cousins threw 16 interceptions to 18 touchdowns, but then Pennix threw three touchdowns, three interceptions. So, both quarterbacks threw a lot of interceptions. Then you look at like success rate and yards per attempt and uh, you know, QBR, they were very similar. And that immediately makes me think, okay, well, were there some growing pains? not only new quarterback, you got a rookie, you got a veteran coming in, but Zack Robinson was a first time offensive coordinator in the NFL as well coming over from the Rams with Raheem Morris. So, what is the early returns on just the entire Zack Robinson offense if you take the quarterback out of it?
BP, real quick, I did some homework on this and I’m sure Aeron’s on top of it, but I thought Cousins might end up in Pittsburgh. So, I really diagnosed his season heavily and they started the season coincidentally against the Steelers and he looked bad to me early in the season coming off his injury,
but he got injured in week 10 from what I remember, Aaron, against the Saints and from that point on he was horrific, but really from like week two to week 10, he was really really good and nobody seemed to notice.
Yeah, there was especially a a six-w weekek stretch during the month that we called Kirktober.
Okay. Remember Kirk Tober? That was really hot in the locked on DMs, too. We were trying to work up a better name for that. But, uh, Kirk Tober was so bad that it just stuck right away.
Yeah. So, you know, that’s when Kirk was playing his best football. And I I thought you’re you’re right, Matt, like it was a little bit of a slow start, a slow sort of ramp up over that first month of September. Uh and then he seemed to hit his stride uh particularly in that Bucks game, that Thursday night game in week five, uh where he threw for over 500 yards and set the I think the Falcons franchise record for most passing yards in a game. And you know, for the next month or so played, you know, pretty well. Not perfect by any means. Uh but then you know you had that injury in that week 10 game against the Saints and you know the injury is going to get the blame for it. But really like the the problems that Kirk Cousins suffered and I’m sure Matt you saw this when you watched the film was he was just making dumb decisions through forcing throws that he had no reason to force. You know I think he was pressing lack of ability to
Yeah. maybe he was feeling some of the pressure
from the injury and and Pennix breathing down his neck and feeling like he had to go out there and make a play.
Uh and when he tried to sort of play hero ball, it wound up making him the villain uh ultimately. And so I think when you look at the offense overall, it was a little, you know, I think in certain ways you can look at the offense and its performance and and praise it. I think in other ways you can look at it and be a little bit more critical. I thought one of the things that stood out to me watching the offense given the expectations with Zack Robinson coming from, you know, the Rams and Shawn McVey and Kurt Cousins’s history playing in very similar offenses under McVey in Washington, Kevin Okonnell in Minnesota, Gary Kubak and others uh in Minnesota as well was that there was going to be a heavy dose of play action passing in the Falcons offenses last year and there really wasn’t. They were at the bottom of the league in terms of the lowest amount of play action passing. Now, some of that may be owed to their concerns about Kirk Cousins’s mobility, uh, particularly with how reliant the Falcons were on their outside zone run scheme. They were the most outside zone, uh, centric running offense in the entire NFL. And, you know, the staple play action concept off of that outside zone is a bootleg and Kirk’s mobility prevented you from limiting that. But, that was one of the questions where it’s like, well, you’re probably not going to be able to do that stuff with Kirk Cousins, so maybe you should change the run scheme. and the Falcons were like, “Well, we’re just going to keep doing what’s worked for us for the better part of the last decade with the outside zone and, you know, Kirk figure it out.” Uh, and so you just never had this sort of match in terms of what Kirk has done for most of his career, what the Falcons were doing with the run scheme and the play action. And so you never saw that perfect marriage, but I thought the offense in spite of all that was able to perform for at least, you know, a large chunk of the first half of the season at a reasonably high level. More on that Falcons offense. Of course, some new pass rushers in town, which is key for this Falcons team success. And with that success, where is their place in the South next? This episode of Peacock and Williamson is brought to you by Monarch Money. Ever wish managing your money was a little bit easier? I know I have felt that way, and I’m sure you have. And with Monarch Money, it can feel and just flat out be a lot easier. Whether you’re growing your savings or planning a big purchase, maybe you’re a young family ready to buy your first home. I remember what it was like to try to get that all in line. And uh man, I wish I had something like Monarch Money to be my own personal CFO, giving full visibility and control over my finances. Monarch Money is more than a budgeting app. It’s a complete financial command center. You can track all your accounts, shared accounts included, making that situation smooth if you have shared accounts and getting your finances together with a partner. all your investments, all your spending in one place. So, in addition to managing your money, you’re also building wealth. And when it comes to spending, man, you ever been surprised you look at how fast things add up and maybe dining out so often and the coffee every single day and all that stuff adds up. So, attack it from both ends with Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money and use code locked on NFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchmoney.com code locked on NFL for half off your first year. We got to move on to other topics here, but just one more note on the quarterbacks. And when you think about team building, which Matt and I do a lot, and it’s it’s the number one reason why I think a lot of people listen to this show. We really geek out on team building and you know the scouting side of things and how teams come together. We talked at the beginning about Kirk Cousins and he’s sticking around and most likely and what his contract situation looks like. But I think if he told most GMs, most teams, and you know, they’re brand new was like, “Okay, you’re starting a new franchise here. All you got to do is pay pretty mediocre starting quarterback money and spend one first round pick and you got a quarterback and you got a backup, too. That’s not bad.” But I think when you see the Kurt Cousins signing and then everyone was so shocked about uh about the Michael Penn draft pick and we still don’t know if they have a you know a really good starting quarterback yet. But from that standpoint they didn’t spend a lot but I know it’s really hard for fan bases to go through this stuff and you know there will be a team Kirk I’m sure in the fan base and then there’s team Michael Pennix in the fan base and then there’s people that think one guy is great one guy’s terrible you got to get one guy out of town. What is the team doing? Fire the GM. What’s going on? It’s really hard when you have multiple quarterbacks. You’re trying to uh you’re trying to balance all of this and develop a quarterback, but in the end, I kind of like the strategy. Attack the heck out of the most important position in sports. So, how’s the fan base taking it? And what is your thoughts on the team building so far and where they’ve gotten to with Penn and and Cousins now in year two?
Well, I think Brian, you nailed it. The fan base is all over the place, right? It depends on what corner of the fan base. You know, you’ll find people that are like this. these were the worst decisions ever made in the history of sports. And there you’ll have people that say these are the greatest decisions made in the history of sports and every uh opinion in between. But I I think in general because you know adding Kirk Cousins wasn’t necessarily that popular to begin with because of the concerns coming off the Achilles injury because of you know his age. Um, you know, I think probably people view veer look at that a little bit more negatively in terms of the Falcons wasted all this money, especially when you factor in that the Falcons the last two off seasons, not only the offseason when they signed Kirk Cousins and this past offseason weren’t necessarily big spenders in free agency and a lot of that was owed to the fact that they were paying so much money to Kirk Cousins. you can, you know, easily sort of think about the alternative scenario where you go for a cheaper quarterback like a Justin Fields, like the Steelers did and then all the money that you, you know, instead of giving that guy $100 million guaranteed like the Falcons did with Kurt Cousins, you know, only giving him a few million dollars guaranteed, uh, and, you know, using the difference to build up other areas of the roster. But I I do agree with you like the Falcons approach was just like we’re going to take two swings uh, at this quarterback situation. Kirk in the short term, Michael Pennix in the long term, and at least one of these should hit. And right now, you know, we know that the Kirk Cousins signing didn’t quite hit. So, all of our hopes are in the Michael Penn hitting. And if it does, then they’ll look a lot smarter, you know, in hindsight than, you know, maybe where a lot of people, myself included, were questioning the decision- making and the resource allocation when they made those initial uh double swings uh last offseason. So, I I look at this offensive line and definitely think it’s a strength of the team, but what’s the plan here at center? What am I missing at center here?
Well, the team is a lot more confident in Ryan Nel replacing Dolman than uh probably most people, myself included. It sounds like Matt, you’re in.
Coach me up on him. Yeah, I just don’t know much about him, right?
He uh he started, I think, 12 or so games over the last two seasons due to injuries to Drew Dolman. I think eight games last year he started and played the better part of a ninth game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
And you know that was also the stretch of of the season that we were talking about earlier where the Falcons offense was humming at its uh best. Uh and so I think you know whether you think that’s all due to the center play, but I think the perception at least in Atlanta the selling point is like hey this offense didn’t really skip a beat with Ryan Nel at the helm than it did at Drew Dolman. And if we’re going to pay a premium for Drew Dolman, you know, if we’re getting 75% the player in Ryan Nel for probably something less than 10% the price that the the Bears were paying Drew Dolman this off seasonason, that’s a bargain for us. Now, I think that makes sense. I think probably when you look at the pass protection between Dolman and Nel, you’re about the same. you have two sort of undersized athletic centers that are not necessarily guys that you want to put one-on-one against Derek Brown and Vea. So, not a whole lot of difference there. But the real difference was that Dolman was just a much more effective run blocker that this running game really was operating at its best late in the season uh after Dolman’s return after the by-week in week 12. Uh, and then you also look at some of the short yardage numbers. Like the Falcons were basically like the worst short yardage team for those eight games that News was started and they were like among the best short yardage teams in the NFL, if not the best uh when uh Dolman was starting. And so that’s going to be the real challenge. Is News going to bring the same juice in the run game that Dolman did the last couple of seasons? Uh, and that’s really where I think most of my skepticism is at is like, are you going from a plus plus starting center to a sort of replacement level? I think that’s the general perception, but I think the Falcons are a lot more confident that News is going to be able to make another leap this upcoming season.
Is that your biggest concern of the offensive starters? Other than that, looks pretty solid. Yeah. Yeah. I I’m trying to sit here and think is there another, you know, the other concern is like are you is Kyle Pittz going to be more involved in the offense? But
it’s not from a standpoint of, you know, Kyle Pittz’s talent level. But yeah, I think of the 11 starters, like the one question mark you have is that center spot with Ryan
Nel.
Speaking of trades, Kyle Pittz not going anywhere? Nope.
Okay.
Two two tight end trades in the last two days. Maybe maybe he kind of missed the boat, you know.
He’s not in Miami. They’re asking for a second round pick if I’m not mistaken. Right. So, at least they’re listening to offers.
Yeah. Second or third round pick. And because there are other tight ends available, it doesn’t seem like they’re getting those types of offers. And so, it’s really basically in the Falcons best interest that to get more out of Kyle Pittz in this final year as they try to make a playoff push. And I think uh lots of people will agree if you can get Kyle Pitts consistently involved in the offense, this offense’s ceiling is much higher. And again, going back to that six week stretch in the middle of the season when this offense was at its best, that was also the six weeks where Kyle Pittz was targeted more than he was the rest of the season. So, I don’t think those two things are a coincidence.
What’s been missing from him? I mean, I have my own theories. I mean, he’s he’s certainly big and fast and can run. I mean, we know understand why he’s a high pick, but what’s been missing?
Well, I think a lot of people focus on the route running. Uh, there have been probably too many instances. I don’t think some I think some people exaggerate a little bit, but where he’s not necessarily ran the cleanest routes or given up on routes, you know, a lot of that is, you know, he was asked last year to run a lot of clear out routes and so he wasn’t really in the progression and sometimes Kirk would decide, well, now you’re in the progression and I’m going to throw you the football. And those were the plays that Kyle Pittz was not necessarily uh running as hard in those situations. And I think a lot of it is, you know, he’s not as great at finding space when it comes to diagnosing zone. That’s something that he needs to do a better job and just being a more proficient route runner. I I think
with a little more physicality and aggression, tacking the football and just, you know, more a little more Mark Bavaro maybe, you know what I mean?
Go be a dude.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that that was the thing about Kyle Pittz, which was watching him in a Florida, he was really great at catching the ball away from his frame.
Yeah.
And made these highlight reel catches. And you still see that onehanded
behind the back catches. He’s done that in the NFL. He’s not necessarily, and he wasn’t in college, and this hasn’t changed in the NFL, a guy that where it’s just like you have a defender draped over you and you throw it up and he’s going to be the guy that comes down and gets the football. like that sort of contested catch ability is more Drake London and Kyle Pittz has just not been that guy and so you know most teams tight ends look at that guy as like I’m just going to throw it up you go get the football and Pitts has not been as reliable doing that. More with Aaron Freeman of locked on Falcons. We’ve got to get his prediction on the Falcons and if they will win the AFC South next. Where are you drafting Drake London and Bejian Robinson in your fantasy leagues? Bean what, 1800 all-purpose yards last year. Uh talking about guys that have climbed into stardom. You know, he was expected to do that. He has done that now. Is he Is he the one in in Aaron Freeman’s fantasy leagues? And uh Drake London kind of one of the more underrated careers. He’s 100 catches, 1771 yards, nine touchdowns. Not a lot of people talk about Drake London.
Yeah, I I I’m leaning towards maybe taking Bejan number one overall just because of the workload that Saquon Barkley and Dererick Henry had last year. Although betting against Derrick Henry and workload is probably a bad bet because he’s he’s consistently uh you know been the exception to the rule when it comes to a high workload. But when you’re looking at these guys that are getting you know 350 plus carries uh they usually take a step back the following year. And so those are the only two guys that I would probably say I would be theoretically willing to draft over Bjon Robinson. And if I feel like both of those guys are going to take a step back from their 1900 and 20,000 yard seasons, then Bejian had a, you know, close to 1500 yards. He basically put up Christian McCaffrey type numbers, but it just happened to be in the year where Derrick Henry and Squan Barkley put up even more ridiculous numbers. So I I do feel like there’s a legitimate chance that Bejian may be the best running back in the league by year’s end uh with the numbers that he’s able to put up. And then with Drake London, you know, I think there’s a legit case to to make that, you know, he should be one of the first five to seven wide receivers off the board. Um, based off of his consistency, particularly in like PPR leagues where had 100 catches last year, you know, I think the goal is maybe if we can see if we can push that to like 120 catches instead of,200 yards receiving. Can we push that to 1400 or 1500 yards receiving? Uh, I forgot how many touchdowns he had. Uh, but you know, this is the type of year where he might be able to get double- digit touchdowns as the team’s primary red zone threat and whatnot. And so Drake London may not be as sexy as some of the other top wide receivers, but he’s going to be a guy that’s going to get consistent production. So, the elephant in the room with this team has been like this for 20 years, pass rush, and they went all in to get two young guys. How confident are you that they can at least get league average pass rush? Well,
it hasn’t been my whole lifetime almost.
Yeah.
Or any of our lifetime, right? And
Matt, as you often like to remind folks on on Twitter, you know how terrible the Falcons pass rush has been year after year after year.
I correlated with how good the Steelers have been. I I I appreciate that. Every time you shoot that out, uh I feel like I’m being a dead horse being beaten. Um, I think because as as you often point out, because the Falcons have been dealing with this issue for multiple decades, um, I can’t have a high degree of confidence that this pass rush is going to be significantly better and go from the bottom of the league to middle of the pack. But I do feel like the pieces are there, that there is a path for them to do that. uh with James Pierce and Jaylen Walker added to the mix with the hopes that you’re going to get uh sort of a breakthrough season from Arnold W. Ketty in a contract year, you know, potentially going from six sacks leading the team last year to maybe eight, maybe even double digit sack season, which the Falcons haven’t had in a decade since Vick Beasley did it in 2016. Uh they add Leonard Floyd who seems to find a way these last five or six years to always hit eight or more sacks and he’s shooting for his own personal best of 11 or more. Uh, and then, you know, I think you’re hoping with, you know, a bounceback season from DTackles, veteran DTackles like David Onya and Morgan Fox. And it’s basically the idea that now the Falcons have five or six guys that can get you, you know, five to six or more sacks. And that combination, if that happens, is going to get you somewhere in the middle of the pack. And so, I think there is some optimism and confidence that we’ll see that for the Falcons. Again, as you often point out, Matt, like you can’t be super super confident when it comes to rushing the quarterback when the Atlanta Falcons are involved.
History is pretty strong. Yeah,
man. And, you know, I I talked about how I had no problems with the the double dipping at quarterback and I’ve talked about this with a lot of teams and you have a need, you know, attack it and and they did with as you laid out there with the edge rush position. brought in Leonard Floyd, the veteran, drafted Jaylen Walker, was at 15 overall. But then the other curious move is not only did they attack that with, you know, a veteran signing and a first round draft pick. Well, they attacked it with another first round pick and then traded extra to go get James Pierce. And so now you’re talking about a lot more resources even. And I know it’s really important. Um, but is James Pierce that good? He has to be a guy that they thought they might have to draft at 15 if Walker was gone and was maybe surprised he was still there late in the round and and made that move with the guys that everyone’s really familiar with in the front office in Los Angeles with the Rams to go up and get James Pierce. Um what did they need to to do that? Like could this be one of those moves where you look back and like man what are you guys doing trading all these assets for uh for a player that you know had had some red flags coming out of the draft? Yeah, I think it’s certainly a gamble that the Falcons are making on James Pierce, considering some of the things that were said and written about him and and some of the concerns with, you know, him being maybe a little bit more aloof and more of a loner uh than you ideally want. But it was very clear to me that the Falcons intended going into the draft that they were going to take James Pierce at 15. And so with Jaylen Walker sitting there on the board, um they were just like this is too good to pass up, but we still want to get our opportunity at taking a swing at James Pearson, when you look at new defensive coordinator Jeff Ori’s sort of scheme and sort of talking about the sort of the wide nine defense that him and Robert Salah employed in New York and you see the, you know, waves of pass rushers as they called it with some of their multiple first round picks like Germaine Johnson and Will McDonald and other players like Carl Lawson among others uh that they had there. I think the Falcons are taking the same approach. And I think when you look at that style of defense, playing a lot of wide n being able to accentuate a a speed rusher like James Pierce. I think he’s a great fit uh in this sort of scheme. It’s just going to be a question of whether, you know, the production on the field is going to match the potential that he has. But if if the Falcons did their homework on James Beers, they did a lot of work on James Beerus. They believe that he’s a competitive guy and a lot of the things that were said about him of being maybe a questionable teammate and being too much of a loner and all these various things um are, you know, misguided and whatnot. And so they believe in the players. So, and they were willing to uh use next year’s first round pick. They were able to get a third round pick back this year that they were able to use on a later draft pick and Xavier Watts. It’s not just simply, hey, we traded a future first round pick to get this one guy, but um you know, they’re kind of staking their claim on this is going to be our guy and there’s a lot of pressure to perform and especially if the Falcons overall as a team don’t perform. Uh and you know, we’re staring at a another top 10, top 12 sort of pick next year that the Falcons gave up for James Pearson. they don’t have, you know, I don’t know, eight sacks or whatever from their rookie pass rusher to attest to that, then I think a lot of people are going to be like, “Well, that was a terrible decision.” But obviously, if the Falcons are in the playoffs and picking in the 20s and James Pierce is productive, I don’t think anybody’s going to question it.
I did like the pick, by the way. Sorry, Matt. I did like the Watts pick. And again, it’s a theme with the Falcons. They doubled up after double um doubling up on edge rushers, doubled up on safeties in the draft, too. It seems like the Terry Fontino special is just takes two swings at a position and hopefully one of them will solve it. Aaron, lastly I have for you is like when we have team hosts on like yourself, I’d love to like bring up a player that you’ll know a ton about, Falcons fans will know a ton about, but maybe our national audience doesn’t. And to me that’s probably Kaden Ellis is one of the best players on the Falcons. It’s not a household name. Yes. Uh Kaden Ellis uh really became the Falcons pass rush last year. him and were the sort of the one-two punch with a a little sprinkling of Grady Jarrett uh last year. Uh and that was the only reason why the the numbers looked even in the numbers didn’t look good from the pass rush standpoint, but they would have been much much worse uh if not for Kate Nellis being arguably one of the best, you know, pass rushing linebackers in the NFL and sort of flies under the radar in large part due to the fact that he plays for the Atlanta Falcons and the team hasn’t been particularly successful, but he’s been a very productive middle linebacker sort of basically doing a lot of the same things that his teammate, former teammate Deario Davis did in New Orleans for many many years. He does a lot of those same things in Atlanta uh in addition to the pass rush and is a legit like threat as a pass rusher that if you go back and you watch the film from, you know, the last month of the season, offenses are basically, you know, sliding their protections to sort of have to deal with Kate Nellis and the Fles were able to use that uh to their advantage to get other guys freed up and whatnot. And so with him in addition to some of the edge rushers that they’ve added, uh, you know, that’s a big driving factor and why this pass rush might be competent. And another player I throw out there that it goes under the radar that, uh, is looking for, you know, some potential breakout is someone like Zack Harrison, who is their third round pick from a couple years ago. He’s really played well in the final month of each of his last two seasons. And the hope is that this new scheme, playing a little bit inside, outside, playing some DN, kicking inside to some DTackle on passing situations, you will see him be able to play as well as he does typically in December throughout the entire season. So, he’s another guy that is an upandcomer that I think people should keep their eyes on as someone that may be flying under the radar national. All right, Aaron, on the way out, uh, you have to stake your reputation on where the Atlanta Falcons will finish now in the AFC South. an 8-9 team last year, second in the South. This has not been a powerhouse division, but kind of slowly getting better kind of everywhere. Saints fans, cover your ears. I I don’t see things going well for for you this year. Uh but everybody else could be potentially better, including the Falcons. And for the Falcons, you can really start to to paint the picture. Matt and I talk a lot on this podcast about painting the picture of what a season could look like. And if you hit on that quarterback and you get a pass rush, a lot of there’s a lot of star players uh making plays on offense potentially for the Falcons and some pieces on defense. And you can start to talk about a team that not only could be really good, could win some playoff games. So, where do you see the Falcons in 2025?
Well, I’ve been burned the last couple of years by predicting the Falcons to win the division. Uh, and you know, now I’m a little bit hesitant to to go all in, even though I do think this year they probably should have on paper a better chance of doing so, uh, given some of the things that we’ve talked about today. Um, you know, I feel like they’re on the path to a winning record for the first time in seven years. Uh, whether that results in the playoff birth, we’ll have to sort of see. Uh, I still think the Bucks are the favorite in the South, as they should be, having won that division, what, five years in a row now or four years in a row, whatever it is. Uh, but I do feel like the Falcons, you know, have a shot at nine, maybe 10 wins, uh, and, uh, we’ll see if they can win the division andor get a wild card spot uh, this upcoming season. So, I feel like they’re on the path to doing that. But at this stage in the summer, I’m not quite as convinced as maybe other people of buying the hype. But once we get to training camp and, you know, we start to see Michael Penn throw that ball, you know, then I’ll start to get a lot more excited about the potential.
Oh, man. Tempered expectations for the Atlanta Falcons. I can’t wait for Mike Tober, to be honest with you. Uh coming up here in 2025, that is Aaron Freeman at Lockdown Falcons following daily doing his thing covering the Atlanta Falcons. Of course, get those mailbag questions into me and Matt at bdp peacock at Williamson NFL in the YouTube comments and subscribe while you’re there. Matt and I back tomorrow right here. Peacock and William.

Michael Penix leads the Atlanta Falcons into the 2025 season as fulltime starter along with the three first rounds draft picks spent on two rookie edge rushers. Will the gamble pay off? Aaron Freeman of Locked On Falcons sets expectations for the Falcons season.

Matt Williamson (former NFL and college scout) along with Brian Peacock (football analyst and radio personality) host this national daily NFL podcast. The Peacock & Williamson NFL Show has the most up to date news, analysis, trades, rumors, fantasy advice and NFL draft coverage!

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