3 Teams With Great First Rounds (Hour 2)

T-Mobile has invested billions to light up America's largest 5G network from big cities to small towns, including right here in yours. And great coverage is just the beginning. Right now, families and small businesses can save up to 20% versus AT&T and Verizon when they switch.

Visit your local T-Mobile store today. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue. And guess what? Now you can call them on your auto insurance, too, with the name your price tool from Progressive.

It works just the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates.

Price and coverage match limited by state law. All right, football fans, the NFL draft is almost here and the free Odyssey app brings you the latest coverage from the biggest sports radio stations across the country. Which players will help your team the most? Who will make a draft day trade? Will they be ready for week one? The local conversations about the team you love. All streaming free right here on the Odyssey app.

A U D A C Y. Download it today. I'll give you my thoughts on what the Patriots did coming up in a moment. I will also tell you one quarterback who's already under a tremendous amount of pressure next season with what his team did last night. And no, it's not Kirk Cousins.

We'll eliminate him. Kirk Cousins, though, is under a lot of pressure, but that's some pressure I would like to have. I know I got $100 million guaranteed. Sure, my team drafted a quarterback with the eighth overall pick, so I probably won't see all four years of that contract.

It will probably only be two years, but I know I'm gonna bare minimum get 100 million out of the 160 million regardless of what happens. But when I take a look at that kind of scenario, I'll just ask you this question before I give you some winners from last night. Did the Falcons owe it to Kirk Cousins to really, like, give him a heads up? Like, they just called him when they were making the pick, and he felt like he was blindsided by it. Now, with who his agent is and Kirk Cousins not being a youngster in this league and being a veteran, if let's just say they got wind a day or two before that this team was gonna draft Michael Pennix Jr., I don't think Kirk Cousins plays dirty, but would his agent have played a little bit dirty where you start leaking that out? Oh, Falcons interested in Michael Pennix Jr. to maybe get one of those other teams to try to trade up to, I don't know, maybe like seven or six to try to usurp the Falcons in their quest to go get Michael Pennix Jr. so Kirk Cousins can actually see the entirety of that four-year contract in Atlanta. Like, Samter, do you believe, let me get your reaction on the pick by the Falcons for Michael Pennix Jr., but also, do you think that the Falcons had to go, like, out of their way instead of just make, like, a last-second phone call to notify Kirk Cousins that, hey, they were going to end up taking a quarterback last night with the overall pick?

No, I don't think so. Okay, and how about the initial reaction to Michael Pennix Jr. going at eight? I mean, I get why Kirk feels that way, but it's, you're a big boy, you're getting paid big-boy money, it's a big-boy league, you know, it's unfortunate, I feel for him, you know, maybe he wishes he went to the Raiders or somebody else instead, but he's getting paid big-time money, I don't feel a lot of sympathy for him. At the end of the day, this is what the NFL is, it's a surprise pick, Kirk will just have to do, kind of like what Terry Fontenot said, just be so good that we can't play Pennix, and if that's the case, then they're going to win games, they're going to go to the playoffs, and they're going to keep them around longer than they probably want to.

So, I've had no read on you with this situation, because last night, I thought at first, like, you were on board with it, and then as the night did go on, it sounded like you were basically saying, alright, this is stupid, and now it seems like you're understanding of what they did. So, what is your opinion, I'm asking, on where you're at, like, you were making that pick at eight, knowing that this was an option, what would you have done? I'm definitely not doing what the Falcons did, but- Okay, so you're out on what they did. I'm not out on what they did, I just wouldn't have done it, however, as we heard from Arthur Blank, I understand this idea, like, having a quarterback for a year or two does a team no good.

Sure. In order to build- Unless you win a Super Bowl, which I don't think the Falcons are. Sure, but even, like, look at the Rams, right, they won their Super Bowl, awesome.

Yeah. But, Stafford's going to be gone, they really haven't done much. Who cares, you won a Super Bowl. Yeah, but they won the Super Bowl, so I guess the question is, do you want that one fleeting moment?

Yes. Or do you want ten or twelve years of excellence, right, do you want, like- But, am I getting a Super Bowl, like, you say excellence, if you say excellence ten or twelve years and I get a Super Bowl, obviously I'd rather have the ten or twelve years of excellence with a Super Bowl, but if I just have ten or twelve years where I'm consistently in the mix, as, let's say, a division winner, going to a few NFC title games, maybe a Super Bowl appearance, I don't want that, I want to win the Super Bowl. So, even if I win a Super Bowl, and I make a deal with the devil, and then I suck for the next decade, yeah, I'm more than fine with that. I mean, and maybe a Super Bowl, but when I say, like, ten, twelve years of excellence, I mean, like, I mean, think about, like, the Peyton Manning cult, right, they won a title, sure, but they were great for, like, thirteen straight years, and then they fell short a lot. The Cowboys, winning twelve games every year and then falling short on the plate, would you rather have that, where you're just winning twelve games year after year after year, ten games, winning divisions- Well, it's two different scenarios, because you say the Colts, the Colts won a Super Bowl. I'm using that as a general idea, Super Bowl or not, just the idea of ten, twelve years of really good, great, even football, maybe it culminates in a Super Bowl, maybe it doesn't, but at the end of the day, it's just really good winning football for an extended period of time. Compared to, what, two years of winning a Super Bowl? Two years where, like, you're contending maybe winning a Super Bowl for, like, two years of, like, excellent football, which I don't even think that Kirk is going to give him that anyway, but do you want what the Rams did, like, one or two years of really good football, or twelve years of, like, excellent football that may or may not end up in a title? Without a doubt, like, I know that you're now, like, a Chiefs fan, so you're used to winning, but if you were a Jets fan, and I said to you, would you rather have ten to twelve years where you don't win a Super Bowl, but you're consistently there, you're contending, or you win a Super Bowl, and then you miss the playoffs, then you make the playoffs, and now who knows what they're going to look like in three, four years? Without a doubt, I'm taking the Super Bowl. If I could get my hands on a Super Bowl trophy, and I don't care what happens after that, I'm not running the chance of, oh, I could be really good, like, I could be the Bills, right, I could be right there, but then I don't get over the hump.

I'm taking the Super Bowl when it's guaranteed, and when it's signed, sealed, and delivered to me, ten times out of ten. I don't even think that's, like, Stu, let me ask you this, you're a Raiders fan, right, Stu in his lifetime, his team has been to the Super Bowl once. Yes.

And then after that, for the most part, you have been an unmitigated disaster. Two playoff appearances, oh, and two, since the Super Bowl. Is that right? Yes. So the year where Carr got hurt. Yes, and then the year Carr, second to last year, where they lost to the Bengals. Oh, the Bengals. Yes. That's right, where he threw the pick. Two games, I've gone two games, and one was with a third string quarterback. So let me ask you this, would you rather, Stu, I think I know the answer.

Yeah, I think you know the answer. I have a blue fitting grin on my face when I say this. Would you rather have a Super Bowl and then be terrible for a decade, which the Rams aren't even going to be terrible for a decade, but let's just say that's the case. You win a Super Bowl, then you're terrible for a decade, or have a ten to twelve year run where you have the quarterback, you're right there, twelve, thirteen wins a year, division title after division title, but it's not guaranteed that you win a Super Bowl.

It's like 50-50. Yeah, give me the Super Bowl. I don't care what happens after that.

Yeah, okay. So the Falcons, I don't think, this is why I can't do this conversation with the Falcons, because I don't think the Falcons are winning a Super Bowl with Kirk Cousins. I think with Kirk Cousins, the most they're doing is getting to an NFC championship game if everything goes right. But I thought they needed to improve the roster a little bit more, and I know the draft's not over yet, but you had the eighth overall pick in a draft where no defensive player did go yet, and you still had, who I thought was the second best wide receiver in this draft class, Enron Medunze available, and you could have got one of those guys to go actually try and go for it in an NFC that doesn't have much certainty and doesn't have much clarity.

That, to me, is why I'm out on this decision. But I also think what the Falcons are trying to sell you last night isn't reality. The Falcons are talking about sitting in Michael Penix for four or five years. He turns 24 next month, alright, in like a few weeks. Kirk Cousins is playing two years, two, in Atlanta, and then it's going to be Michael Penix Jr. time. So I like Michael Penix Jr.

I think Michael Penix Jr. could be a good pro. If Kirk Cousins was not there, then this would have been a good draft pick, but he is there. And that's what makes me question this pick.

And I would say two things, like Sampthor threw out a good point. Would Kirk Cousins have still signed in Atlanta if he knew this was going to be the case? I don't know if he is. Like, if I know how this played out last night, let's look at the Raiders, for example. They have Michael Mayer now. They have Brock Bowers. You have, at the wide receiver position, Devonta Adams and Jacoby Myers. Stu, who the heck is your running back for this year? Is it Zach Moss? It is going to be Zamir White.

Oh, Zamir White, okay. So, you have question at the running back. But, like Kirk Cousins going there, they could be a playoff team.

I'm not saying there are a lot to be a playoff team because the AFC is such a log jam. But at least you would have been the guy for the duration of that contract. You go to a place like Atlanta, yeah, you get your money. Which I think a lot of people will have no sympathy for him, which I understand.

But you didn't even get to settle into your house before your house was already put on the market and someone's already trying to buy your house. And that, to me, is the part where I do feel bad for Kirk Cousins. I know it's easy to say, oh, he has $100 million guaranteed. That's fine, yeah, I would like to be Kirk Cousins.

But I can still feel bad for him. And I asked this to Mike Renner and he said, no, I think this would absolutely be a yes. If we had to inject Terry Fontenot with true serum today, and I said to Terry Fontenot, would you still, if I told you at eight you could have got Michael Penix Jr., would you still have signed Kirk Cousins? If he says yes, I'm just not buying that.

I'm not buying that whatsoever. Alrighty, here's what I love from the draft last night. You know, the Bears, I know it's an easy take, but out of the first round, just because you have the number one overall pick doesn't always mean you win the draft. But what the Bears did last night in securing Caleb Williams and then just saying, hey, at nine, we got stuff on offense, we got DJ Moore, you know, we got Keenan Allen. They didn't just say, oh, we'll take a defensive player just for the sake of taking a defensive player because number off the board. Then they said, we're going to take the best player available.

And at the time, the best player available was Roma Dunze. I love what the Bears did. And I said this to Mike and I'll say it again. If the Bears can't contend in the NFC with the foundation that they've built, if they can't in five years from now, if we're talking about Caleb Williams as being a bust. And we're saying he stinks.

Another guy that we hyped up that didn't live up to what the noise was about him. Then the Bears are just never going to get it right. You look at what they've done the last few years and you look as a quarterback, what you're walking into here.

This is magnificent. And usually quarterbacks go to die or have their career ruined when you are a member of the Chicago Bears. So I love what the Bears did last night.

I will also give credit to two other teams that were able to double dip. The best player in this draft is Marvin Harrison Jr. Cardinals get him. But then later on, the Cardinals need to just keep on taking talented guys because their roster is pretty bare. Like Kyler Murray in the NFC. You could be a good quarterback and win in the AFC.

You've got to be great. And I believe Kyler Murray could still be good. So you get him a legit number one weapon in Marvin Harrison Jr. And then you bolster your defense with a defensive mind to head coach and Jonathan Gannon. And you get Darius Robinson out of Missouri, the edge rusher. Love what the Arizona Cardinals did.

And then the Minnesota Vikings. I understand J.J. McCarthy is polarizing. I understand people saying, oh, why did they trade up from 11 to 10? They didn't need to do that. Blah, blah, blah.

Forget about that. Once you had the four quarterbacks go off the board. And I didn't think Pentax was in play for them. But once May stood at three and stayed at three with the Patriots, you had to get J.J. McCarthy and they ended up getting him. And now McCarthy walks into a place with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and also Aaron Jones. I think J.J. McCarthy can be good in Minnesota. And then you're able to go get Dallas Turner at 17.

Hello, Dallas Turner. I thought was going to be a top 10 pick in this draft. I thought he was going to be the first defensive player off the board. So that's a heck of a value pick for for the Minnesota Vikings.

And Mike Renner said, I agree with them. You put him in that draft class Dallas Turner, where you had Trayvon Walker, Aiden Hutchison and Kayvon Thibodeau. I wonder how many guys he would have gone in front. Like I thought Hutchinson should have been the number one overall pick in this draft.

I think that Trayvon Walker is not as good as Dallas Turner. Thibodeau, that's a tough one because I was a big fan of Thibodeau coming out of Oregon. So those are three teams.

I love what they did. The Vikings, the Bears and the Cardinals. Now, let's get to my team.

It's crazy how much now I have warmed up to what the Patriots ended up doing. May the force be with Drake Mack. But I don't know when he should see the field.

And that is dependent on what they do in the next few hours. There are rumors of my BFF in Debo Samuel, which I will reconcile with Debo Samuel if he's a member of the Patriots. There are rumors of Brandon Ayew. That's who I want. That they could get traded for the 34th overall pick.

Go get the established guy. But if not, whether it's Mitchell or McConkie or whoever the wide receiver is. If you're keeping the second pick in the second round, you've got to take a wide receiver. You've got to surround this quarterback with some young talent or some established talent. And if it's young, unestablished talent, like taking a receiver with the 34th overall pick, I'm not rushing to play Drake May in year one.

I'm waiting until November. But if they get a Debo, if they get an Ayew, that could expedite the process of getting Drake May on the field. I'm a little bit more confident in this regime so far of Elliott Wolf and Gerard Mayo, because it's clear Jonathan Kraft didn't make this decision, number one. And number two, they tried to get Calver Ridley.

They failed, but at least they tried. Belichick would have never done that. And that's on Ante Belichick.

You guys know me. I love Belichick. And very appreciative of what he did, obviously. I'd be the biggest idiot in the world if I wasn't. And then you take a glance at now trying for Debo or Ayew.

You've got to get one of these guys. And if it's not this year, then you drafted 34 and then you go get a big time playmaker in the next offseason. And then finally, I think there's a ton of pressure on Trevor Lawrence this year. Year one, disaster. Blame it on Urban Meyer.

Year two, took a big step. And then year three was dealing with an injury and regressed. But this offseason, yes, they lost Calvin Ridley, but they were able to add in Gabe Davis. You already have Christian Kirk. You have a solid tight end in Evan Ingram. And now you draft Brian Thomas Jr., the wide receiver out of LSU. And you have Travis A.T.N., who's a do-it-all running back. There's no reason why the Jaguars don't get back to being a double digit win team this year. Jacksonville's got to get it right. And Trevor Lawrence has to show why he is a franchise-altering type of player.

An enormous amount of pressure on Trevor Lawrence this year. Let me take one quick phone call before we get to Brian Finneran on the other side. Let's go to Anthony and Myrtle Beach. He's next up on the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. Ant, what's happening? What's happening, Zach? Doing great. What do you got for me?

You spit a lot out at me and I kind of lost my train of thought and I agree with a lot of what you said. I think Chicago definitely are all in. Jerry should take notes.

That's how you do it as all in. I think Atlanta drafting that quarterback. That might be a trade proposal down the line as some sort of, you know, get the wide receiver they need like you spoke of. I honestly think the Giants made a big mistake. They got a great wide receiver there, Malik. But who's throwing them the ball?

Danny Jones? Come on. That was a waste. Complete waste.

I don't think it's a waste. And thanks for the phone call, Anthony. And here's why. If you don't love a quarterback, you just don't take a quarterback. You know, if they don't love J.J. McCarthy and that was smoke, you don't take J.J. McCarthy. I think J.J. McCarthy would have been bad with the Giants. If you don't love Michael Penix Jr., then you don't take a quarterback. They didn't love a quarterback outside of Drake May, so they then took who they thought was the next best player available, and that's Malik Nabors. The Giants, they got to build this thing up.

They got talent on defense, but they don't have a lot of talent on the offensive side of the ball. And I don't think the Falcons then try to trade Michael Penix Jr. If anything, you try to trade Kirk Cousins, but there's such a big dead cap hit that you can't even start to contemplate that until it gets to about $25 million when that comes your way two years from now. Got to play this year. Got to play next year. We'll see if Penix ends up getting on the field, but it's tough to get out of that Kirk Cousins contract until you start to get into after year two of Kirk Cousins in the ATL.

All right, we'll take a time out. Former Falcons wide receiver now does a talk show in the Atlanta area. Brian Finneran will join us next. All right, football fans. The NFL draft is almost here, and the free Odyssey app brings you the latest coverage from the biggest sports radio stations across the country. Which players will help your team the most? Who will make a draft day trade?

Will they be ready for week one? The local conversations about the team you love. All streaming free right here on the Odyssey app.

A U D A C U I. Download it today. It's time to ask the pros. Were you the listener gets asked us a question. It's brought to you by O'Reilly Auto Parts. Simply tweet your questions at I N F Sports Net or at Zach Gelb using the hashtag. Ask the pros be listening later in the show. We might answer your question.

Think. O'Reilly Auto Parts, where your car care needs get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. O'Reilly Auto Parts. We know that the Falcons have become the biggest story of the draft with their controversial draft pick of Michael Pennix Jr. When you already just signed Kirk Cousins, and he has $100 million guaranteed in a four year contract, Let's welcome in a former Falcons wide receiver and Brian Finneran is kind enough to take a few minutes with us today Brian Appreciate the time as always how you been? Good. How you doing? Well, I'm doing fantastic.

Thanks so much for coming on Let me Get a little peel behind the curtain here. You're watching the draft last night You see the Falcons make the eighth overall pick it shocks everyone and Michael Pennix jr. Your first thought was what?

What? What the hell just happened baffled confused curious as to what their plan is and Slightly disgusted tell you the truth. I was I was blown away by that decision to do that You just set it up perfectly you're going for agency and good guy like Kirk Cousins I don't know what they told Kirk Cousins the plan was going to be but I could probably guarantee they didn't say that it's exactly number eight at your same position so they had to call Kirk during the Time they had to make the pick to inform. That's what they were doing Apparently Kirk was blown away and stunned by the decision and I just don't know what the team is doing Especially at the quarterback position what their plan is the last six years five or six years if you could give Terry Fontenot a do-over Do you think he would not have signed Kirk Cousins if he knew he was gonna take Michael Pennix jr. At eight. I Would hope so. I mean, I don't know what general manager makes a move like that and then draft a guy at number eight That's not going to touch the field for two years I mean, that's the hope right and I think he said at one point in that presser Afterwards that I stayed up for for some godforsaken reason at 1215 in the morning He talked about four or five years Kirk still our quarterback, you know, but four years That means we're making the playoffs are doing good things and you know, Penny doesn't have to play. I'm like, holy crack There's no way that's the real thing.

They want to do here. So do over Yeah, this doesn't happen again If he has a do over you, you know You're gonna get panic today Don't pick up Kirk Cousins spend a lot of that free agency money on guys on defensive ends that are free agents wide receivers that are free agents and you go load up and try to improve this defense in this Football team as a whole and that's the thing like I could understand this and I like Michael Pennix jr I could understand it if he wasn't ready and he was like 21. Okay, I could get that He turns 24 in a few weeks.

It's like to me. This dude is NFL ready I'm almost at a point Brian where it's crazy how this changes in one night I don't even want to see Kirk Cousins play for the Falcons I just want to rock and roll for the next decade see what Michael Pennix jr. Could do right now. I Got no problem with Michael Pennix jr.

Zero. I think he's a I think he's a stud you can like to hear Nick Saban and Bill Bell to talk about that guy last night during the different draft channels glowingly For sure, but now you got a quarterback not as a competition But you got a super uncomfortable situation where you got a hundred million dollar guarantee guy That's gonna be there for a minimum of two years Hope he was probably hoping to be there more moving his family to Atlanta where his wife's from I mean, what is his wife and in-laws thinking about this now? And what's he thinking about after they just did this and I guarantee you when they were courting and tampering with Kirk Cousins allegedly tampering They sure as hell didn't tell him at eight We're gonna take a quarterback because I'm not sure what it came if that was the case talking to Brian Finner right now Yeah, like how much of an issue from the player side in the locker room does that become and I know Kirk is is a professional But you thought you were getting something and we see the writing on the wall I know Fontenot could say four or five years and I know some fans will say oh, I got a hundred million dollars guaranteed So tell him to shut up, but there is a business there is a personal side to this But I'm Kirk Cousins.

You've got to know that two years from now. You're gonna be gone Like I don't think he makes it to year three in Atlanta Right. No, the writing's on the wall now and it's a shame and Bring Kirk Cousins in here for one reason that's the win football game It's a guy who's done nothing but throwing for 4,500 yards 30 touchdowns. He had awful defenses up there in Minnesota for the most part Like ranked 26 28 25th ranked defenses We had to outscore everybody Everybody wants to talk about how Kirk can't win a big one dude is putting out like 27 points a game still not winning games Because they couldn't stop anybody.

So I just don't know it's like the idea is to win now like Now what's what's the goal? You had a chance at number eight and I tell you this Zach I'm keeping receipts for every one of the guys that went after Michael Pennix jr. It's not his fault I'm looking at all three of the defensive ends. I'm looking at two of the corner backs I'm looking at Rome a duncey and Maybe even throwing a couple of the tackles that look like freaking Mon stars when they started showing their highlights up there I got I haven't watched the entire draft in years because I just get tired of it after the Falcons go I watched the entire thing to see who went after Michael Pennix and who we could have had instead Watch their highlights and watch them shine if if a couple of those guys become all pros or rookie of the year I mean this could be one of the worst decisions a draft and a GM and an organization made in a long time So I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt Brian Finneran.

I'm with you I would have taken Roma doing say once you sign Kirk. I'm not drafting a quarterback Especially even though I like Michael Pennix jr. When he's about to turn 24 But it did Brady kind of mess up us as fans like all of our thinkings about this because now you draft a quarterback You expect them to be there for 20 years like if Michael Pennix jr It doesn't get on the field until two three years from now and then still gives you seven or eight years Like you take that right like seven or eight great years Yeah, of course you do cuz that means you got you'd hopefully have two or three or four with two legit Maybe three with Kirk and then there's a couple post-season runs and then it takes over for six or seven or eight years And he'll be 35 by that time And hopefully you have some nice success, but I don't know it's not what what what Tom Brady did is not Sustainable. It's not even a real thing. It's a total joke.

Really. It was amazing that he was able to pull that crap off And and again do the things he's done Not only in New England, but to go to Tampa and turn that whole culture around as well as was as special as it gets So that's not the norm What happens when order that quarterbacks get old they tear Achilles that's Kirk Cousins and Aaron Rodgers It just happens you're asking your old ass body to do too much stuff and it can't do it What do you think you get out of Kirk Cousins this year cuz fair or not, you know You talk about coming back from an Achilles There's physical and then there's also a mental recovery that happens once you get back on the field You know, he plays a bad game or two. It's just natural when you have an NFL ready quarterback He just drafted at eight that fans are gonna want to say who cares about the contract.

Let's give Michael Pennock jr. Chance yeah, and you're still here in Atlanta and where the situation kind of like this not only when Chris Chandler was my quarterback when I first got to Atlanta and then Bring in Michael Vick and people in the crowd are wearing Michael Victor's he's in Christina's you're starting quarterback And you start getting a bit of a divide not only in the stadium But a little bit in the locker room and media wise and this and that and you know You just hope that kind of stuff doesn't take place again. Even Matt Ryan had a tough time taking over Michael Vick So it's a dynamic kind of interesting city where some of the stuff comes into play, you know I don't want it to just want to see football players go out and play But yeah, you make a great point exactly something goes bad has a couple bad games or bad picks There's gonna be some rumblings going on from the stands and media and everybody else But with that said I think Kirk Cousins is a consummate professional. I think he's gonna be ready to rock and roll I think this might drive him even more to have a successful season and make everybody around him better So that's what I said before this whole thing draft yesterday took place Kirk Cousins makes Kyle Pitts better just like Matt Ryan made Kyle Pitts a Pro Bowlers rookie here And you make the John Robinson better.

He makes London better. He's gonna make Darnell Mooney better So I think he has a successful season. I think he stays healthy and the Falcons Hopefully do something in the next seven picks to address the defensive hole that they have because there's plenty of them So everyone talks about this Green Bay Packers model now Jordan love was 21 When they selected him and it ended up working moving on from Rogers and it looks like it's working with what love was able To do but I talked to Arthur Blank at the Super Bowl and he told me on the air He goes that's the ideal way to do it You get an interim guy and then you eventually find the long-term guy When you hear people say all the Falcons are just basically taking a play out of the Packers playbook.

What's your response to that? Ridiculous, not not even close Packers were Winning double-digit games going to the postseason and the nice pieces. I think they regret doing that Anyway with love that was when Roger started bitching about not having receiving weapons and weapons on offense and you know He's a quarterback just gonna sit on the sidelines. So I don't think that's a real thing If you're gonna do that, why not do and Matt Ryan? Ultimate Pro is sitting on your team and you got the fourth overall pick and Justin Fields staring in the face if you're gonna do It do it then Don't do it now when he spent a hundred million dollars guaranteed in A hundred and eighty over four years with Kirk Cousins and pick and I got an eighth overall pick that could have been any one Of those guys we were talking about earlier defensive end Cornerback the receiver. That's a stud out of Washington And now there's now we got number eight picks and sit on the sidelines.

So you look at this offseason, right? They tried to get Belichick and then I guess they were talked out of it That's kind of way that I understand it, you know, you bring in Kirk Cousins. There was some excitement now It seems like a cluster with Michael Pennix jr. Where's kind of your confidence moving forward with this football team after the last few months has played out It's tough.

It's tough. I was excited about the Bill Belichick coming in here. I know it's kind of against the grain and and different but the dude is Probably one of the two or three best head coaches in the history the NFL who's gonna change The culture of the franchise which I think needed a new direction Now listen Raheem Morris can do that and the head coach of the Falcons could absolutely pull that out himself But it's a different vibe with Raheem, but Bill you knew there was no nonsense you were gonna have a plan and I'm not sure what the Falcons plan is right now, that's the biggest thing I think for the fan base and And the guys trying to figure out what's going on.

I don't know what the plan is I mean are we trying to win now with Kirk because if we are you should have used it that number eight pick and every other pick to help your team win today and Tomorrow and in September and it just doesn't feel that way right now. So frustration little Bewilderment and baffled and confused more than anything right now Do you think Arthur Blank was out of the loop? Last night because we all saw that video of him and Terry Fontenot But then I give you the the comment that he said to me on my show as well Like you're the owner of the football team He's hands-on like he had to know that was gonna be the pick But like it didn't just happen a few hours before the draft where they told them that's what they were gonna do, right? I Don't know.

I don't know part of me wishes I was in there to watch it like a fly on the wall and the other part which is I wasn't because I Would be too close to the situation and I wouldn't be able to vent like I do With you and on my show down in Atlanta. So I think he has to be aware But what's happening? Why did they call Kirk Cousins? Before if they knew this is what was gonna happen a calm during the 10-minute window to have Could make the pick so maybe afraid it was gonna leak out to try to prevent it from happening on his camp Yeah, sure.

There's there's a bunch of reasons. I'm sure you're probably right, but Arthur's involved Arthur knows what's going on 81 years old and that's the other kind of puzzling things that guy wants to win tomorrow and now is Now we have to maybe wait a little bit longer. He's Brian Finneran, you know, I usually talk to you It's a very like upbeat conversation. I think you need ice cream today on this Friday I'm going I was doing an interview early.

I'm I got a What is it? It's a like a welcome party going on tonight for a wedding. I'm going out to tomorrow I got a rehearsal dinner myself. Yeah rehearsal dinner deal. I'm worried I'm gonna drink my sorrows away this thing so I got to be careful and pace myself You know what? I have done that before I think you just your munch here Maybe you go a little like cobbler with some ice cream and you just go for the sweets. I Like it.

I can pull that off. You know, you roll something up and then you just a munch That's what I would say Brian Finneran There he is Brian Finneran joining us does a great job 680 the fan former Falcons wide receiver that was depressing That was really depressing He's livid and he's right because they're trying to get the best of both worlds are trying to win now But they're not ready to win now and they made a move to secure the future Man, I'm sitting there. I'm listening to him.

I thought he's gonna cry during that Take a time out. This is that Gelb show on the infinity sports network. We'll do a news brief next update time first Here's the act man. Rich act Oh Time for your daily news brief we get you caught up on the rumors reports and Reconnaissance from the day in sports one of these new Cinnabon pull apart is here to satisfy your sweet morning cravings Maybe Brian Finneran could use one of those get your day off to a sweet start with a Cinnabon pull apart only at participating Us Wendy's this weekend's race is at Dover for the worth 400 Kyle Larson will look to increase his lead over Martin Truex jr. At the top of the point standing Larson has one career win and seven top fives at Dover.

Alrighty news brief time Let's get to it. So Kyle Pitts was on bleacher report live. We had Mike Renner on who was on that earlier He was hosting along with Adam Lefkoe and yet Micah Parsons and CJ Stroud in studio for the entirety of the first round And this was Kyle Pitts instant reaction when the pick was in that the Falcons are going Michael Pennick shoot Kyle I have something for you my man The pick is in and with the eighth pick in the draft the Atlanta Falcons are taking quarterback Michael Pennick's out of Washington Wow That's a slinger right there man, you know, I think this is great for him to learn from such a professional like Kurt It's great to see him and I can't wait to get him into building that because this is this is a good one I like this one. Yeah, are you shocked? Are you as shocked as I am?

I'm very shocked I'm not gonna lie. Like you said I did think we're going defense. I'm not gonna lie but that definitely kind of just change up the dynamic I Give credit to Kyle Pitts Cuz that's a tough spot. You're reacting live to the pick. You think it's probably a layup? Okay, they go wide receiver or they go defense and then it's like holy crap I gotta say the right thing here and then when Lefkoe goes you got to be surprised like yeah, of course, I'm surprised It's a good job there by Kyle Pitts.

Here's Tom Pella Sarah the NFL Network reporter He was on Good Morning Football on the Falcons picking Michael Pennick's jr. At eight. I've seen the comparisons to Green Bay and taking Jordan love. This was a relationship that we already knew was probably not gonna end Well with Kirk Cousins, this isn't a relationship. They've gone south.

This is cheating on your wife on the honeymoon Just got there and the other thing too. I don't compare the Rogers and Kirk Cousins thing Rogers was already there He was established like Tom Pella Sarah said and Aaron Rodgers is a great quarterback Kirk Cousins just good. He's very good so there's no attachment from the fan base and Also, Jordan love is 21 when they drafted him Now Michael Pennick jr.

Turns 24 in a few weeks Crazy crazy and that's the crazy part. I like Michael Pennick jr I would have loved if Michael Pennick jr. Was to pick if they didn't have Kirk Cousins Nick Saban I thought it was really good a lot last night on TV here He was with Scott van Pelt on ESPN talking about Jayden Daniels the one thing that he does Well that people don't maybe give him enough credit for he has improved Dramatically as a passer in the last two years and probably since he was at Arizona State So this guy can throw the deep ball And if there's anything he probably needs to do a little better the game's gonna speed up on him a little bit He's gonna have to get the ball out a little quicker Maybe at times but the thing I like about him is he steps up in the pocket so many of these College quarterbacks drift they drift into the rush so they create more problems for themselves than really and helping themselves So he steps up in the pocket and if it's open he's taken off You're going to have to defend this guy like Lamar Jackson because he is fast now The only thing about that is is he's gonna have to work on his size and strength a little bit So he has the durability to be able to play that way but when this guy takes off He can actually outrun angles on defense like nobody's business. So This guy is Randall Cunningham type of runner, but a really really good passer don't underestimate this guy as a passer He's accurate. He can throw the long ball. I think he's got a good feel for the passing game He gets the ball in the right place at the right time For those draft shows to have Saban and Belichick on you can't place a value on that Just because of their comprehensive knowledge and two of the greatest coaches ever That was just an awesome You know minute plus that you just heard from Nick Saban had to go up against Jade and Daniels quite a few times in Alabama going up against LSU Here is Jerrod Mayo will Drake may start right away for the New England Patriots I don't think many rookies are ready to just jump in and play and look at the end of the day Our philosophy is the best players will play and you know coming in as a rookie Hopefully he's a sponge a lot of good players in that locker room and look Jacoby.

He understands like he's a mentor He's very smart. It has great leadership skills and hopefully Drake can learn something from him as well But I would say like we're gonna compete all spring We're gonna compete during training camp and the best the best player will start We're not sitting here saying that Drake is our starting quarterback. I think he understands that I Don't think Drake may is starting week one.

I I got to see what they do in the next 24 hours. They go get Deebo or I you that could expedite the timeline They're just taking a wide receiver 34th overall I Would say that bare minimum the first eight weeks of the season you're seeing Drake may on the bench But that's like the conflicting things. You've heard recently It's Drake Mays not NFL ready. Then you hear some people say oh, that's a little bit of an overhyped narrative He's actually closer than what you think Let's go to Tom Curran He reveals on NBC Sports Boston that the Patriots actually inquired about trading for Justin Herbert JJ McCarthy has been talked up by Jim Harbaugh Ceaselessly throughout this draft process the Patriots.

I have a good authority said you know what? Why don't you just call the Chargers and see if they'll trade straight up? We'll take Justin Herbert you guys can have JJ McCarthy and the Chargers said no, we're not gonna do that But that does indicate that the Patriots are more than willing to go out and spend the dough course It's if that's a really good nugget not smart you hear that Minnesota called you hear that the Patriots called the Chargers Because Jim Harbaugh is sitting there being the biggest advocate for JJ McCarthy But they were never trading Justin Herbert because of the contract they just gave him and also Justin Herbert's a pretty damn good quarterback Here is Jim Harbaugh speak about the devil himself on drafting Joe Ault at five and Joe Ault revealed to us the other day That he even have a top 30 visit with the Chargers and Stu texted me right away He goes so much for what Joe Ault had to say, but here's Harbaugh on drafting Ault at number five You're saying like you know what about what about a weapon? What about offense alignment?

We look at his weapons that group when we talk about attacking and what we talk about attacking on offense Offensive line is the tip of the spear. That's how you build your football team You build your football team with a great offensive line. You got Slater there now you have Joe Ault there I like the kid from BC from a few years ago on the interior part of that offensive line They're starting to build their football team in the trenches And yes You'll eventually go replace and get some skilled position players the key now no longer there and Mike Williams no longer there as well Let's go to Micah Parsons last you remember him being on the air with Adam Lefkoe and not being happy that the Eagles got Jalen Carter now he's upset that the Eagles got Quinon Mitchell out of Toledo Here is Micah Parsons on Bleacher Report live as the Eagles made their selection.

I'm honestly utterly disgusted on how lucky the Eagles are It's just like Christian. I do not know how he fell that far with this run of offensive tackles and quarterbacks That's the only thing that makes sense. I thought he was a top 15 top 12 talent. He just fell right into there He was your favorite player. He was definitely one of my more favorite players in this drive Like I said, he rose in every bar.

He hit every he checked every box. I mean, I think this is a terrific pick man I just I don't know how I'm gonna get so lucky. That's Sounds like every time Micah Parsons speaks he wants to be on the Philadelphia Eagles Here is Brian Thomas Jr's mother Sandra Thomas a very funny encounter with Laura Rutledge on ABC Sondra how far has this family come we came from Baton Rouge, Louisiana When you think about the journey that you've been on together, what does tonight mean to you? It means the world. It's amazing I'm so grateful to God so happy for him. We are so proud of him That's how far has the family come? Yeah, we drove from Baton Rouge Let's hear from the father Brian Thomas Sr. I don't get why they asked him to do this He asked him to do a little Duvall chant.

Here's once again Laura Rutledge. You guys want to put out a Duvall? That's what they say in Jacksonville like a really loud Duvall We're gonna have to work on that. So we're going to commercial break and we'll practice about Duvall. More NFL draft is on the way It's like Duvall So weird, I like Laura Rutledge, but that's weird. Hey, we had Brian Thomas on the other day I'd rather have talked to his parents if I'm being honest and finally here's Mike Floria pro football talk The Vikings wanted Malik neighbors At number five the Chargers when they took Joe all it passed on an opportunity to trade out of that spot The team that wanted to move up to that spot I'm told the Minnesota Vikings and not to take JJ McCarthy the Vikings I'm told we're trying to move up to number five to get Malik neighbors What does that tell you about the Vikings and Justin Jefferson? Wow now now If they don't pay Justin Jefferson, there's dumb and then there's really dumb Like you gotta pay Justin Jefferson that plan can't be let's go trade up for Malik neighbors you pair him with Addison especially when you have a quarterback to sell in a rookie deal and Then oh you eventually trade Justin Jefferson. That wouldn't make any sense I know they wouldn't got the quarterback if they drafted Malik neighbors. I don't know about that one. T-Mobile has invested billions to light up America's largest 5g network from big cities to small towns Including right here in yours and great coverage is just the beginning right now families and small businesses Businesses can save up to 20% versus AT&T and Verizon when they switch visit your local T-Mobile store today Plan Savings with three lines of T-Mobile essentials versus comparable available plans plan features and taxes and fees may vary You could spend the weekend doing the same old whatever or you could conquer the weekend in the all-new Hyundai Santa Fe Visit Hyundai usa.com for more details Hyundai. There's joy in every journey Baseball is back. Basketball is heating up and the NFL Draft is right around the corner Listen to the latest on the teams you love here on the Odyssey app the biggest sports radio stations in the country providing unrivaled local coverage of their teams all in one place exclusive interviews with players coaches and team executives streaming live and always available on demand stay in the know with your favorite teams right here on the Odyssey app