ALL IN: Atlanta Falcons’ BOLD Trade for James Pearce BACKFIRES | How do they FIX It?

ALL IN: Atlanta Falcons’ BOLD Trade for James Pearce BACKFIRES | How do they FIX It?

Despite the improvements made by the defense, this Falcons allend gamble this year may cost the front office their jobs. Is a total rebuild inevitable. >> You are [music] Locked on Falcons, your daily Atlanta Falcons podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast [music] Network, your team every day. Welcome back everyone to another illustrious episode of the Locked on Falcons podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network in the galaxy. I’m your humble host Aaron Freeman. Been covering the Atlanta Falcons for almost two decades, formerly at falfans.com. RIP. Still going strong on this lustrious Locked on Falcons podcast, your daily Atlanta Falcons podcast. And today’s episode, we’re talking about the Falcons allin bet. trading that future first round pick of course uh for James Pierce and you know how it’s gone wrong and who’s going to be tasked with the recovery rebuild. We’ll talk about the steps the defense has taken with James Pierce and others. Uh but do we need to see more? The looming quarterback quandry surrounding their need for a bridge quarterback and Michael Pennix’s future all with Charles McDonald of Yahoo Sports in the Football 301 podcast. A long-suffering Falcon fan just like you and I. And today’s lockdown Falcons is also brought to you by FanDuel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fan.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. So, let’s jump into that conversation with Charles McDonald of Yahoo Sports right now. Welcome back to another episode of the Locked on Falcons podcast. I am joined by Yahoo Sports Football 301 podcast co-host Charles McDonald. And yes, as I always do, when Charles comes back on this podcast, I claim all credit for his success uh be because of his start here on the VIN, the Falans podcast way way back in 2015 talking about Vasley versus Shane Ray versus Dante Fowler. >> I got gray hair now. If you’re watching this, I got big old gray hair. >> Yeah, I got one. People comment on it a bunch. I got like a couple growing in. Uh the Falcons have aged us. >> Hell yeah. Hell yeah they have. >> You know, but uh we’re talking about the future of the Falcons as you know this season did not go the way that they expected it. We’ll talk about that a little bit later when it comes to the whole James Pierce trade because we talked with Charles back in May about some of the concerns about their draft hall and liking the players and but being concerned about the Falcons maybe being a little bit too overconfident that this season was going to turn out a certain way and that confidence has kind of blown up in their face and ultimately it could result in people getting fired at the end of the season. And so Charles, that’s the sort of the will they won’t they of will they bring back Raheem Morris as head coach, Terry Fontineau as GM. And you know, we’ll see how that plays out over the next three games. But I just want to ask you in a world where they do decide to run it back with those guys. Can is there a path where you could see it working out next year in their favor? >> Oh man. Uh probably not. I mean, [laughter] just gonna keep it real. Um, well, I mean, because I I I’ve I’m I’m not on Twitter anymore, so like the only time and Elon made it really difficult to like if someone sends me a tweet, he made it difficult like if you’re not logged in, you can’t really see anything. So, I like my Twitter use and looking at it, it’s almost zero. So, I’ve been looking at a lot like Reddit and Blue Sky stuff and comments on other websites and I’ve been surprised at how many people are like kind of cool with the idea of at least running it back from a Terry Fondo standpoint. Um, bro, this is five years. Like five years of this. Uh, and it’s not like they’re they’re even going to win more games than they have in the past. This has been, you know, seven, eight win team every single year for five years. I don’t I I don’t really understand the defense of him coming back. And I I understand that. Um I understand being excited about like what Walker and Pierce have done this year, especially like like this is where I’m willing to be forgiving for some fans because especially within the context of the Falcons. I mean, the fact that they’re going they’re going to hit 50 sacks this year is a goddamn miracle. Um because we we’ve watched recent seasons where they failed to hit 20, you know, so I understand like why you’d be excited about that. But hey, they’re still not winning these games. And I think I think one of the biggest problems, especially with with the defense. And I guess it’s kind of like it’s kind of like some of the the the the 2010s teams that they had without the great quarterback play from Matt Ryan where you’re you’re really topheavy and you’re good players are really good, but once you get past like that wave, it falls off quickly. Um, I mean, for them to still be in the same spot where they it’s been five years, they haven’t made like a real investment at at CB2, uh, that’s still a problem mark for them. Even though like D Alfred has improved, uh, the interior is still pretty weak. Um, like the Colts the Colts game to me is the like the textbook case why like you need to clean house because you still had the game where you sacked Daniel Jones seven times and at no point did it really feel like they could stop the Colts offense because they ran for 300 yards. Um, and if you’re going to get Bulldogs off the field, hopefully that’s the easiest way to play football. We’re not going to let you run rush rush the passer. We’re just going to get after your 240 pound edge rushers and blow them off the ball. Um, so they still got work to do. It’s uh it’s been a step in the right direction. I’ll give him that. But you can’t come back from this because this was your all-in season. Like this is where the assets are. This is where the cases is. This is where the draft picks are. They’re on this team and you’re five and nine. No, you you can’t come back from that. So, I think they need to clean house. Um, next year >> man, next year’s because I [clears throat] the the the tough part is I think you have to know like this team is probably going to be worse next year because they don’t have the first round pick. They don’t have great cap assets and they still haven’t dealt with the Kurt Cousin situation. So I to be honest with you, I I stopped watching games after Pennix got hurt because I was like, what am I here for? There’s no there’s no pick. There’s no quarterback. There’s no cap space. I I I didn’t watch the game actually until last Thursday when uh our friend Alex Durk, he came over to watch uh that Bucks win. So that was fun. But man, start you you’ve got to clean house and let whoever comes in next year just assess the roster with fresh eyes. They really need to do that. I mean, if you think about it, you’re still kind of running the extension of the Dan Quinn regime because Raheem and Jeff were here last time they were there. So, it’s it’s frustrating and I’m trying not to be like too doomer about it, but boy, you better get that 2027 first round pick right or else I might be 40 before we have a a winning season again. [laughter] >> Yeah. Uh, you know, I I I hear you on that, Charles. It’s like there’s a path where it’s like, okay, maybe they could switch up the coaching staff maybe with Raheem and, you know, bring in an adviser for Zack Robinson that teach him how to run a better version of the offense. Obviously, you build off of the defensive success that Jeffrey has. You know, we’ll probably touch upon that a little bit later. Like, you know, Jeff Ober to me has coached his off this season in terms of getting this group to being basically a league average defense uh given some of the weaknesses they have on that side of the ball. And I I will own that in the sense of I did not have that type of optimism for that type of defensive turnaround going into the season and certainly question that higher. And so you’re you’re kind of hoping that you can do something similar to the offense next year, but like there’s nothing that they’ve given you so far that makes you feel any sort of confidence that they can pull that off. And you know, you talked about it sort of being the all-in year where like I remember this time last year when everybody was basically clamoring for Terry Fontine to get fired after four losing seasons. And I was like, look, I want to give Terry one last chance to see if he can dig himself out of the hole. and he kind of dug himself deeper into the hole, you know, it’s like the only way out is down. And it’s like I don’t think that’s how it works, Terry. And and so like at this point in time, I think you have to get a clean slate. But I think you mentioned it where if you bring in a new regime, you can’t hold them to this, well, you got to win with what Terry and and Raheem and and to a lesser extent Arthur Smith built. you kind of have to give those people the runway to kind of if they need to blow it up, you know, potentially blow it up uh in in certain ways because there’s there just seems to be so much work to do with the quarterback position. You’re going to have to probably rebuild your offensive line. You’re going to have to have so many >> offensive skill players uh in the future because, you know, it’s it’s basically Bejian and Drake and then I don’t know after that point who else are you going to really tie yourself to? And then even though the defense has again exceeded expectations, there’s still a lot of pieces that you got to add to that side of the ball. And so you’re not really looking at another year where it’s just like, okay, well, we just add this one thing that’s going to push us over the hump, you know? Yeah. >> What how they’ve operated for the last three to five plus years. >> So, let’s keep the conversation going with Charles McDonald of Yahoo Sports discussing how good this defense is right now. And even though they still have a ways to go, they’re off to a good start. And we’ll continue that here on today’s Locked On Falcons. Today’s episode is brought to you by Rocket Money. 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Yeah, I I look, this is going to be really uh popular and I’m sure that people are not going to like what I’m about to say, but you need I think you need to be prepared for the defense to get worse next year from where they are. Um because [sighs and gasps] this is very triggering. They’re Vic Beasley kind of. They are kind of Vic Beasley on defense as far as the their their sacks go. They’re actually just a league I receive in terms of pressure rate. uh getting 35 uh you know getting pressure according PFF about 38% of opposing drop backs 15th in the league by far number one in pressure to sack rate which is what Vic Beasley was doing back in 2016 where you know wasn’t getting like all that much pressure but when he did get pressure he was getting home uh they’re also first uh in uh they’re also first in uh sack fumbles with six third in sack rate at 10%. So, like the fact that you’re only getting pressure in the league average rate, but you’re getting that many sacks suggest you still need to like keep improving and add like serious pieces to that defensive line because if you kind of stay stagnant there, now you’re just putting a lot on guys who, you know, they were getting pressure at average rate and to expect that to kind of repeat year-over-year is uh not not really something that happens as we saw ourselves with with Big Beasley. Um, also that game against the Vikings from week two, it was so bad for the Vikings, like it’s still like pulling up the Falcons defensive stats even, you know, four months later. So, if you just go back and like pull their whole season and just pull out that week two game, uh, where DJ McCarthy, you know, to me, I thought he was dead. Looked a little bit better the last two weeks, but just whole season without week two. 24th in points per drive, 24th in turnovers, 26th in three and out a three and down three andout rate, 27th uh in you know rushing defense, 25th in overall success rate on on offense. So it’s still not really a good defense, you know, and you you can see like they’ve had moments where they give up a lot of points this year. So this was this was the fear, right? Like okay, you you you trade you make the favor for James Pierce and you know he’s had a pretty good rookie year. I I still have questions about like what’s next for him because this a lot of bad tackles that we’re being up on, but at least he’s beating the bad ones, which is something they weren’t doing. So, it is an improvement, but now you’re you’re looking at sending like a top 10 pick to the Rams most likely. You could really use that. You could really really use that right now. Like maybe on a quarterback. And I’ve also seen people say, well, you know, and this is just hope or you don’t watch college football, but the idea that there’s no defensive end that the Falcons could have picked in 2026 that’s better than James Pierce. I don’t think that that’s true. Honestly, Ruben Bane’s pretty good. Kelby Faulk’s really good. Those guys are NFL ready bodies. Um, but not having that first round pick, it kind of, especially at this point in like their roster building uh, uh, journey is huge because that’s the cheap asset that they need that they won’t be able to get. Uh, so yeah, I don’t know. 2026, I would just put like Bejon just fake an injury, bro. Or Arthur Blank like just say we’re, you know, Bejon towards Achilles in the offseason and he’s going to be hiding out in the Bahamas until, you know, we get the 2027 first round pick. uh which will I’m gonna guess here on do what? December 16, 2025. I’m gonna guess that that 2027 first round pick is in the top three. >> Yeah, >> we’ll see. We’ll see. I I’ve been joking with people that, you know, they need to sign someone like Brian Robertson Jr. and give him like 300 carries just so that we can get Bejan healthy through the 2026 season. Yes. When we need him in 2027. >> Sign a crash dummy. The sign of crash dummy. I’m looking forward to that two yards in a cloud of dust run game with Brian Robinson Jr. or Cam Acres or whoever it is. Just anybody who could just eat carries uh because we do not need uh Bejan to deal with a Bejian injury because next year, you know, the team is going to be bad and they’re just going to basically just force feed him the rock 400 times or whatever uh and whatnot. But um you mentioned the James Pierce trade again going back listening to that episode we did back in May uh earlier today just to kind of re refresh the memory. And you were you you liked James Pierce as a prospect. You didn’t like how what the Falcons gave up. That was the general trend of the draft. Like you like the Hall of Players. you didn’t like how the Falcons overpaid to get that because you spoke on the delusion or the hubris or whatever you want to call it with the Falcons basically believing that like this is all we need to get over the hump and as you stated we we sit here five and nine and you know there feels like there’s a lot of work to be done but you know when you look back at that trade you look back at this draft class again like you know we we’ve been pretty down on the Falcons Let’s let’s try to be positive about >> this defense and Jaylen Walker, you know, playing really really good football until like the quad injury or whatever the injury the other soft tiss the fifth soft tissue injury he’s had this season sort of slowed him down the last couple of weeks, but you’re still seeing flashes of brilliance from him. Obviously, James Pierce has been on a tear these last couple of weeks, and I really like the growth that he’s shown and development as a pass rusher. So, it does feel like even though some of these numbers may be a little Beasleyesque in terms of the team overall, it does feel like he’s at least on a trajectory early on in his career that you’ll like. Obviously, Xavier Watts has been a playmaker for them and a really solid piece. >> Billy Bowman gave him uh something before his Achilles injury, but you know, that’s going to potentially derail his return in 2027. Um, you know, I liked what I saw from Kobe Bryant, even though he he was getting cooked by Mike Evans this past Thursday night. Um, you know, there there’s something there with this defensive group that, you know, you’re seeing Doris come on strong. Ruk Auroro >> is doing all right. Like, [laughter] you know, he’s not going to live up to that draft pick, but >> he’s an NFL player, so he’s Yeah, that’s a good way of putting it. He’s not going to live up to that draft pick, but, you know, he’s he’s a contributor. Um, and so, you know, we’ll see what happens with Brayland Trice and whatnot, but like you you have some solid pieces to a defense and it’s like, you know, as the Falcons figure out whatever they do on offense, you do feel good about, you know, if you can continue to add to this defense for the next couple of years, like this this is going to be my big beef, Charles, because it’s like the Falcons will take a step forward and like, oh, we solved it. And then not address it anymore and they just ignore it for two years. And it’s like if you just keep plugging away at this defense, I really do think for once here as Falcon fans, >> we might actually have a good defense. >> Yeah. >> In in the near future. >> Yeah. I like everything I say, like I said before, is more in the context of like that’s why you don’t make that trade because you’re just not ready to make you’re just not ready to make that trade. But like the pieces that they have like it it’s the most promising the defense has been this is this is sad. what like 20 20 years maybe I don’t know like when Patrick Kernney was here and those boys like [laughter] the Abraham defense that was just John and like you know Brent Grimes every once in a while you get into crazy interceptions but like those weren’t actually good defense they’re bend don’t break this has the potential to be good my my my criticism of the Falcons this year like as far as their their strategy was like because like I said I liked all four players like in a vacuum I don’t like I think where they took James Pierce is the right range. I mean, you know, someone’s playing about half the snaps can be a pass specialist and you’ll see what happens in the future. That’s a good starting point. It was just the price for it. And also, I thought that they way overestimated like their their the spine of their defense. like you can’t give up as many rushing yards or be as weak as against the run as they were and then add you know two undersized front seven players and two safeties even though those guys are good players and expect like things to actually change for you because you know like like I said the Cole’s game yeah Daniel Jones had a tough time but ultimately they could just turn around in the second half and just rip off six seven eight yard chunks with Jonathan Taylor and you know no team is ever going to deviate from that strategy that they can just turn around hand the ball off and get six yards at a time. It’s it’s it’s like the most risk-free way to play football that every single coach in the world would love to play. So, you’re still getting teams from easy out. Um but you’re like, you’re right, the floor for this defense is is is high, man. Like you just but you got to keep plugging away at it. You got to keep adding secondary talent, keep adding interior talent. um and hope that whoever is running this defense next year has like I guess a good grasp on what their weaknesses are because they’re still not the most stout unit, but they can they can really get after you, which is something they haven’t had in a really long time. So, I understand why people are excited. I’m just like, damn. I I just hope that this doesn’t kind of fizzle out before they can continue adding resources to it. and and and quite frankly like next year um you need to nail like every single move that you make uh because you’re working with so few resources. I’m looking at their uh you know their cap table for next year on spot track. They got you know projected to be 24th in cap space with roughly $11 million and you’ll be able to you know mess around with some of that but you know Kurt Cousins is not going to be you know the cheapest guy to move on from. uh still got some other big contracts. So, your free agent your free agent signing probably is going to be a little limited. Again, you don’t have that first round pick. So, every move you make, there’s like an accentuated purpose to it, which uh doesn’t doesn’t really feel good. You know, there’s no wiggle room for error. Uh or else, you know, we’re going to be having like Shador Arch Manning debates next December. [laughter] >> Yeah. You know, this is the normal point where I’ll just pile on Terry Font, but I’m just going to move on. I’m gonna be the better person, Charles. And I’m gonna move on and talk about the Falcons offense. >> So, we’re gonna continue picking Charles’s brain on Michael Pennix’s performance this season, whether or not the Falcons should continue to run it back with him in 2026, or do they need to start positioning themselves to pivot towards acquiring a new franchise quarterback uh beginning in 2027? And we’ll do that to wrap up today’s lockdown Falcons. Now, today’s episode is also brought to you by FanDuel. Since NFL Sundays move so fast, you know, you can feel like one big play completely changes the game, and FanDuel is going to be the place where you can place live bets to stay in the action every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment because FanDuel’s going to give you those live updates. As a receiver gets hot and the live spreads and money lines adjust, the player props go up and down. You can bet the next thing that you think is going to happen. Who’s going to score the next touchdown? What’s going to be the next driver? So, it’s all there for you at FanDuel. And if you want to bet this upcoming Falcons Cardinals game, you can find those odds as well. The Falcons remain road favorites, two and a half points on the road against the Arizona Cardinals in week 16. So, go check it out by visiting FanDuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. FanDuel, the game moves fast and so can you. You look at Michael Pennix’s season, he didn’t quite live up to the hype as often is the case with the first year starting quarterback. You know, there’s so much hype with these guys. It was an up and down first year as a starter. Then obviously you have the injury and you know I I know one of the things we talked about in that May episode was you talked about how sort of the Falcons were clearing the runway for Michael Penn to to go through whatever his issues were going to be this upcoming season and now he’s he’s dealing with that ACL injury. We’ll see what the timeline is for him to come back but you know it’s not looking super optimistic that he’ll be the starter week one. So, you got to bring in a bridge guy. But the question I want to ask you is, do you just bring in like a Tyrod Taylor type of guy, low-end sort of competent uh starter slashh high-end backup uh for cheap hopefully uh to counter the Kirk Cousins situation? And and do you just give 2020 is 2026 still a runway season for Michael Penn to come off of that ACL injury or is there you know for for me I just kind of feel like it >> oh boy >> you know you kind of need to position yourself to be able to get a quarterback in 2027 if if Penn doesn’t have the bounce back that you want to have and those issue I I feel like those ideas of like let’s clear the floor for Michael Penn but also I I don’t know if you can balance that. I do a you >> I don’t think you can clear the floor for him. I mean, he’s gonna have to come and compete because the truth is he wasn’t very good this year. I think what’s unfortunate is the the game where he got hurt against Carolina that was his best game of the season where where again I thought it was it was starting to come together and then he gets hurt and and and you at this point you just have to deal with the truth of matter. This is his third ACL tear. What his fifth season ending in injury in like the last seven years. I mean, realistically, I think you have to put yourself if like whoever’s running the team next year, you have to put yourselves in their shoes. Would you risk like your livelihood for someone who hasn’t proven in any capacity that they can stay on the field outside of that uh you know that magical Washington season? Um, and when he was on the field, like it was real up and down. Like you would have like what what was so frustrating to me was it it was never like game it was never like within the course of the game. It was either like good game or bad game. Good game or bad game. And the bad games, man. Like in that Colts game, I cut up I didn’t I didn’t really post anywhere because the longer the more I went through it, it was just kind of sad. like I thought like 15 throws that probably could have been made that just sailed nowhere close to anyone that ultimately like that’s just not acceptable for an NFL quarterback. And I I definitely think that there’s there’s room for Zach Robinson to improve as a play caller for sure. Um, but two things. One, stop blaming the OC when there’s like no pressure wide open throws that get airme. How is that an OC problem that everyone else is doing their job except for one player on the field at that point? And it’s not a big deal to call it out. I mean, these guys, the owners, they won the wage war. Like, they beat the union to submission. You can just go get a new one. Normally, if you’re a cap healthy team, unlike the Falcon, you can just go get another one. Just draft another one. And if I was the Vikings and they lose out, I would just draft like transfer Mendoza or Dante Moore, you’re going to be in the top 10 anyway. just draft another one. The the the Patriots have showed us it doesn’t matter. The Cardinals show us it really doesn’t matter. The Jessup shows it doesn’t matter. Just get another one. Uh but unfortunately, you know, they don’t have a first round pick. So, like the idea that anyone can say with any certainty like what he’s going to look like next year, I think is crazy, which is why you should get, you know, some backup or get a real competition option because the fact that you don’t know means that you need to prepare. So, I don’t know what you can do. what you said. Tyrod Taylor, man, that that was that would that would be a lot more exciting like eight years ago. Um, [laughter] >> see, Tyrod is the perfect blend of like competent but like not good to the point where we’re gonna be picking the top five if Tyrod starter for the season. >> And look, I’ I’ve watched some Tyrod this season for the Jets. >> Yeah, I think next season that could be the one where it’s like, “Nope, time to call it, buddy. Time to call it. time to call it. You you you gifted us plan I’ll part of the plan. Uh and and I also think if you’re if you’re looking at panics just from this standpoint like he was like you you saw and this is extreme you saw you you saw with Philip Rivers this weekend basically the only thing that made him a viable like product or a viable option for them to move the ball was he has just played so much football that they just ran at like a a a cleaner operation level than they had with um you know with Daniel Jones in recent weeks were Riley Leonard. I mean, he just knows he knows a lot about the game. So, even when the balls are wobbling out there, they’re coming out like on time in a way where you can like kind of move the ball in the best defense in the league because, you know, athletically he’s diminished from where he was five years ago. Um, and I think you should just expect someone with this much damage to their knees to be athletically limited from where they have been in the past, which is kind of a scary thought, you know, because I know it said 444 on that 40 yard dash, but I think we’ve seen enough in game at the NFL level to know he is absolutely not a 44 guy running the ball and doesn’t really seem to want to run the ball, which I don’t really care about as much as if he can be more accurate. But the point is, if he’s if he’s going to be a diminished athletic project product, then he has to be like mentally and uh he has to be mentally sharper and a lot more accurate than he was last year, which is also kind of hard to do when you’re coming off an injury. So, it sucks to say, but this this this could be over already. Um, I just don’t know how you can have any confidence or any sense that he’s going to end up being like what you thought he was going to be just given all the the injuries and then uh I guess you’re kind of fishing for bottom of the barrel, you know, talent, I guess. I mean, if if if you want to get um if you want to get like some uh some fanfare and some intrigue and what’s probably going to be a lost year, I I I by as the weeks go, I find it hard to believe that Shador Sanders will be on the Browns roster next year given the fact that they still have to Deshun Watson is contractually locked into a spot. You know, Dylan Gabriel’s the more I know Dylan Gabri’s not playing right now, but they did spend a lot more money on him and then he’s going to be a first round pick. Shoot. Shador Atlanta. That would be explosive. It would make me want to vomit, but you would get, you know, you get some intrigue and you still probably get that top three pick you’re going for in 2027. So, I don’t know. It It’s bleak. Like, I don’t I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Next year looks really bleak. It looks grim. You got to fire everyone. I don’t know what you can do about the quarterback situation. Um, and I’m just hoping that whoever it kick in 2027 is kind of like a Matt Ryan experience where you’re just right right back off to the races, right? That you’re good immediately, you’re competent, you’re back to the playoff team because I I I see what these other fan bases are arguing about. You know, we just talked about like Shador Sanders versus Dylan Gabriel. Like you guys are arguing about this. I mean, the answer is neither. But I don’t I don’t want to get into those realms where we’re we’re arguing about is is a quarterback who lost to the Titans or is a quarterback like Dylan Gabri for two yards a pass I think the future of this franchise because it’s no and I don’t want that here. I got spoiled quarterback life. You got 20 years of Vic and Ryan and I need some semblance of that back. I mean shoot even Arthur Smith like the 2022 season with Mariota was pretty fun and also a SA Smith defenders looking pretty good right now. That’s another top 10 offense for Ry Boy in terms of points per drive, yards per drive. Hey, maybe he should have been given another chance. Maybe he had Arthur Smith and Jeffrey and don’t let him touch the quarterback decisions. Some let somebody else make the decisions. Not Terry either. Maybe me. We could have been somewhere. We could have been somewhere. [laughter] >> Well, Charles, when you you dip into Arthur Smith uh you know, revisionist history or whatever you want to call it defense, that’s where we’re going to end the show. Dude, the offensive line just died randomly for a whole year with this and then the same O line coach that came back were good again that 2023 season. It It was bad for us. It was bad for us. But ultimately, you know, he he picked Ritter and Mariota and all those losers. So that that’s on him, too. But I’m like, damn, if if they just didn’t let him pick the quarterback, I wonder where they would be. [laughter] >> That’s where we’re ending it, man. >> That’s how sad this is, though. That’s how sad this is. But don’t don’t watch any Falcons game in 2026. Just red zone it. Red zone it and hope that Bejon like suffers an 18week high ankle sprain. Uh and then we’re back to the races in 2027 with Archie Manny’s grandson playing for the Falcons. And it’s going to be hilarious. We’re going to get there. But we just got to grit through this and and just keep keep remembering guys. This is year five, Terry. You’re five. You don’t have to support this. They haven’t won anything. They’re just it’s it’s so crazy because they are almost in the same spot that they were when they got here. You have no cap space. At least it should. They had a first round pick then they use use on Kyle Picks who they need to resign by the way if they can figure that out because I cannot imagine how bad this offense is if you put in like just a league average tight end into where he’s playing. Like the fact that people are are are down on him this year is crazy to me because I know he’s had some frustrating drops, but guys, go back and watch some of those targets that he was getting from Pennix. It’s some Superman. He was pulling down him and Drake. You to lose him and not be able to replace him would be a huge loss. So, I’m I’m I’m a little nervous because uh they took some big hats this year. It failed really poorly. You’re giving your first round pick to the Rams. that week 17 Monday night game is going to be an all-time Falcon moment because the Rams could lock in NFC West and a top 10 pick in the same game. Uh, [laughter] and people are like, “Oh, why don’t they move it?” Because it’s funny. Like, they’re not going to move that. That’s hilarious. But people love the Falcons now. I like laughing at the Falcons now, but they need to get it right after this year. This is bad. >> Okay. Okay. Well, you know, Charles, it sounds like you’re you’re not a big enough believer in Oscar Delp saving the Falcons uh tight end room, but >> I I love him. I I wish he played an offense out there throwing ball more. Uh he would be a great compliment with Kyle Pittz next year. Okay. With with Kyle Pittz [laughter] who they need to resign. >> I want all Georgia players. No Florida players in the tight end room. All Georgia. >> I think I fear Jaylen Walker being good is going to make that worse for us, but no dogs. [laughter] >> Okay, Charles, appreciate you sharing your insights uh in here. I’m sure the the the comments are going to go crazy for this one like they did last time. >> But uh you know, let the people know what you’re working on, some of the stuff, where they can find your stuff. If they want to yell at you or praise you for, you know, say truth to power. If you want to yell at me, uh, call me a sellout, say I’m not standing with my people, and people have been doing for the past month because somehow like the idea that a guy who made a fake school and put a bunch of black kids in debt and also is best also boys with Donald Trump is like the opinion of blackness. I guess I’m I I guess I can’t be black anymore since I said is not playing well. I don’t don’t quite understand what’s going on there. So, if you want to yell me about that, you can uh uh you can go to Football301. We’re on YouTube, Spotify, wherever you find us, making a whole lot of fan bases mad. And we have gotten a lot of apologies. I will say on the back end of the season say about from a lot of fan base saying, “Oh, you know, we’re being a little bit too emotional.” And yeah, you were because guess what? There’s 32 teams only like four of them are good. So the chances you’re going to be happy at the end of the day is more likely than not. But yeah, come check us out. Football 31 where we get your podcast. >> So guys, that’s going to be it. Thank you for all of you for checking out Lockdown Falcons. Continue to check us out on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Check out Charles on Football 301 wherever on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast. And tomorrow will be a crossover Thursday with locked on Cardinals host Alex Clansancy to preview this week 16 match up between the Falcons and Cardinals. And also check out the Everydayer Club since we’re in the season of giving. Give yourself or a friend the gift of the Everydayer Club and adree version of the show. Exclusive access to a locked on discord channel, locked on merch store, exclusive access to locked on sports today, the locked on national show. You can all find that information at lockedonfalcons.supcast.com or in the link in description below. Continue to check out Locked On Falcons. Check out Locked On to get the scoop on the rest of the NFL’s big stories around the league. It’s all part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

Atlanta Falcons’ playoff hopes collapse after their all-in gamble backfires, raising urgent questions about the future of Raheem Morris, Terry Fontenot, and the entire front office. Has Atlanta’s high-stakes trade for James Pearce mortgaged the team’s future—and is a total rebuild now inevitable?

Host Aaron Freeman and guest Charles McDonald (@YahooSports) break down why the Falcons’ improved defense—highlighted by Jalon Walker and James Pearce—still isn’t enough to offset the roster’s glaring weaknesses and failed asset management. The discussion spotlights Michael Penix’s rocky 2025season, the looming quarterback quandary, and whether Atlanta should brace for a bleak 2026 while targeting a franchise quarterback in 2027. Insightful analysis covers the team’s salary cap crunch, the consequences of trading away their first-round pick, and what it will take to finally build a winning foundation in Atlanta. Can the Falcons avoid another lost season, or is a clean sweep the only way forward?

#atlantafalcons #nfl #jamespearce #jalonwalker #terryfontenot #raheemmorris #michaelpenixjr

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