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