D. Orlando Ledbetter, Atlanta Journal-Constitution Falcons Reporter

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In stores now. Hey, D-Bet, how you doing, man? Hey, Jay, I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on the show today. Absolutely.

Anytime, anytime. Anytime we get an Atlanta brother and all, we are absolutely gonna do it. Kirk Cousins, no shock that he's here with the Falcons, given what we have heard over the past week.

What were your initial thoughts when we found out that this was actually gonna go down? Yeah, you know, we kind of got wins last week, and then I had to wait till that official tempering period to get it on the record from his agent. But yeah, was able to, you know, see how he'll fit in the offense. Kevin O'Connell came from the Rams. Raheem brought all the offensive guys with him from the Rams.

So there's no learning curve for him. And there's some weapons around him to perhaps do some damage more than the 7 and 10 they've been putting up over the last three seasons. Well, D-Bet, when you think about Kirk Cousins, and he's obviously a hell of an upgrade given what they had last year, what do you think the ceiling is for this Falcons group with Kirk Cousins at the helm? Probably the NFC South and maybe still in the game like the Bucks did last year.

You know, they got hot late. You know, no championship level teams are in this division. There are no championship level quarterbacks. But, you know, maybe you can overtake Tampa Bay, which is important the last three years. Maybe you could beat Derek Carter now. Not get 48 points put on you like in the last game. And you should still be ahead of Bryce Young and the Panthers.

So you're in the pack now. You got a chance to get to the playoffs as a division winner. But, yeah, you're not ready to pick on the 49ers and some of the heavyweights. Maybe not even Detroit in the NFC yet.

D'Orlando Ledbetter is here with us. The JR Sportbreeze show on CBS Sports Radio covers the Falcons for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. You talked about the NFC South. It looks to me that Tampa is probably their probably the best competition. What are your thoughts surrounding also the Saints and then also taking a look up north at the Panthers? Yeah, the Bucks probably, you know, they've wanted to last three years and put it together with their defense and kept Winfield and kept Evans. Now, the Saints, they're going to have to make some moves down there. Coach Allen has moved some people around on the offensive side of the ball.

And he's got to get something that works a little bit better with Derek Carr down there. Their defense is solid but not spectacular. So they're going to have to try to improve that through the draft. So, yeah, everybody's going to come up in this division. The Panthers just traded their best player, the best one left, Brian Burns. You know, they've gotten rid of McCaffrey, Burns, and everybody else.

Derek Brown might be the best one left there now. So, yeah, they're rebuilding up in Charlotte. But everybody else has kind of got their guns pointed at each other here in the South to try to see who's going to be the last one standing.

Well, D, let me ask you this. Specifically, when it comes down to the Falcons, we know that they're not in the upper echelon when it comes to the NFC. They should be playoff contenders. What are some other spots that they need to take care of here in this offseason? Well, they've got to get some wide receivers.

They only have one in Drake, London. And Rahim and Jack Morrison have run a lot of 11 personnel. So the three receivers that they have are free agents and probably won't be resigned.

Max Hollins, Scottie Miller, and Van Jamerson. So you need to get some receivers. They're in a good spot at 8 to maybe get a doozy or neighbors or, you know, wait till later and exploit the wide receiver depth in the draft. Need a right tackle maybe long term? And on the defensive side of the ball, you could also use that top pick to get an edge rusher and prove the stagnant pass rush. Oh, man, they haven't had a pass rusher consistently since, what, John Abraham?

How long we got to go back? Yeah, that's about right. But we've got to forget Vic Beasley had 15.5 during the Super Bowl year. And then when Brian Cox left, Vic Beasley didn't want to arrest the quarterback anymore.

Yeah, yeah. I don't I don't know what the hell happened there. He kind of disappeared off the face of the earth. D. Orlando led better here with us on CBS Sports Radio. One deal that did not take place that was bandied about as an option besides Kirk Cousins is Justin Fields. Was that ever realistic here for the Falcons ever? No, it was at one point, you know, they were going to reassess it because they could have took Justin Fields.

They didn't. They passed on him and took out Pitt. And so it was going to be up to the new coach to reassess and decide if they were going to, you know, revisit Justin Fields. And when Rahim came in, it was talking about quarterbacks who could process, who could spread the ball around, who could be the trigger man. Those were all the things that, you know, Justin has been shown he's been able to do yet. So, yeah, he was not really going to be in the picture, but he was temporarily there. So that's why the Falcons moved on to the traditional quarterback and gave Kirk Cousins a whole lot of money today.

Well, D, we know that Justin Fields is from here in the area. And any insight as to what might happen for him next? It doesn't look like things are too hot for him right now. Yeah, you know, the redder still could be a possibility, but, you know, then there'll be some fence mending with Luke Getze if that's the case. You know, that's where we at right now with Justin until there's another shoe drop to drop.

Do you keep them? You know, that's another option for the Bears. But yeah, the market kind of dried up, you know, with the dominoes starting to fall on Sunday with Baker Mayfield, the Mac Jones trade, and then Uncle Russ going to Pittsburgh. And, you know, all that was left was Justin and Kirk Cousins. So he's got the best spot left and we'll see if everything works out for him here, you know, in the, you know, leading up into free agency.

D'Orlando Ledbetter is here with us from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. When you think about the landscape and the moves that have taken place today, just Saquon Barkley moving and Gardner Minshew and just going to the Raiders, we got a ton of moves. Is there any move in particular that really caught your eye outside of what's taking place here in Atlanta? Yeah, Wilkinson going to the Raiders. That's a big move that needs some help from Max Crozy up there. I like the Josh Jacobs to Green Bay move, you know. NFC North, you got to run the ball at some point.

You know, it's going to be snow on the ground. So I really like that, you know, and they had Aaron Jones, but I think Josh got a little bit more power to him. So that'll be good for Love and the Packers at quarterback. Those are some of the moves that have jumped off the board of me here early in free agency. Well, listen, we know you got some busy times heading towards the draft and I don't want to blink and say, boom, we're going to be in training camp. But I don't know if Falcons are going to keep you busy, D. What are your thoughts, I guess, as an overall on them bringing back Rahim Morris?

Yeah, I thought that was a good deal for them. You know, he put in his time and I've seen it up close from here in Atlanta. And even when he was in Tampa, you know, hung with him and Coach Tomlin at the combine. They were, you know, plotting and figuring out how to get him back into the mix. He attached himself to some of the best coaches in the league and he should have learned a lot from the Shanahans, Tom McVeigh, John Gruden, John and Jay Gruden. And, you know, at 47, he comes back in not guessing on what he thinks is going to work. He knows what's going to work.

And so, yeah, you'd like to see everybody get a second chance and he's certainly getting one. So a lot of folks expecting him to hit the ground running here in Atlanta. What we've heard, and this is the last question for you, D. We've heard people kind of yes and no the addition of Kirk Cousins. From people that you've spoken to, whether it be fans and radio here on 92-9, what's the consensus really on this addition to Kirk Cousins?

Yeah, I checked on my way because we got a little poll out there too. It's 45%, you know, pro 20, 20, you know, 26 or so kind of like, no, this is horrible. And then five, you know, then the rest another 30 about, hey, you know, this bad move cost a lot of money. So, you know, in Georgia down south, you got to be over 50% to not have a run off. Oh, yeah, we we know about we know about that.

Well, what concerns could there possibly be besides his injuries and his age? Is that it? Like, yeah. Yeah, 30, 36.

There'll be 36 by August. And he's got a ruptured Achilles. Medicine is a lot better now than the old days. And then it's really it's a two year deal. It's a stopgap deal. A lot of people wanted to see them building for the long term in the future. And they still may do that in the draft. Get another quarterback in here for him to mentor while he's at the controls. But yeah, folks want to see them building something that's going to last, not just win the NFC star for a year. And then you got, you know, back in the same boat in a couple of years trying to develop a quarterback. OK, well, we'll see what happens.

We know at least for this upcoming year, they should be better if he's on the field. D'Orlando led better. Where can people follow you and keep up with all your great work? Well, thank you. Follow me at D'Orlando AJC on Twitter slash X and on our Falcons page on Facebook.

It's Atlanta Falcons news now. Well, absolutely. Hey, you got all these awards. Do you have any any more room for your sports right of the year awards? You got more room? Yeah, I got. Yeah, that that.

Yeah, we got a little bit more room. I would keep on pushing here and get a couple more to go with that one. Beautiful, beautiful. I'll talk to you soon. Do you appreciate you taking the time to hop on? Sure. No problem, JR.

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