Conn

These are the types of things you would expect to read about a poised, computer-brained statue of a pocket passer with limited athleticism. Not even sure I’ve read a single “highlight” from OTA’s about Daniels’ running ability (obviously there’s no real pressure so that’s not surprising, just saying that he’s impressing without using a major tool in his toolbox). It’s rare that a player is the whole package…it’s extremely encouraging to read these validations of people’s insistence that he was reading defenses at an NFL level already and going through his progressions at an elite level in college. Those things are hard to verify “on tape” for the layman so it’s pretty much best case scenario that our guy who can run a 4.4 or whatever is seemingly operating much more like a veteran than a rookie as a passer. That’s the dream.

Condolences on your family’s loss, man

I’m guessing there’s a ton of admin work being done behind the scenes to wrangle dozens of other alumni into syncing their availability to be there for this big event. Lots of scheduling work to be done before they can just announce what game it’s going to be, probably

One under-acknowledged issue with this fanbase is that right alongside an understandable slide in attention and attendance, and a rise in apathy, has been an undeniable rot in the overall communal intelligence of the fanbase. Many people are so used to the whiplash of tricking themselves into Snyder’s latest half-assed, surface-level attempt at “fixing things”, and then turning on it when they can no longer cope, that their ability to truly reason (in a football sense) is just broken. You have pockets of what I’d call educated, intelligent discussion and well-founded understanding of the league and how good organizations win…here on ES being one imo (and keeping this place this way has been hard fought). But overall I’m sorry to say, we have a dumb fanbase. Part of it is the outrage-focused, clickbait journalism that bad organizations foster in their followings. It’s a poor time for media everywhere across the world in general, but that’s exacerbated when you’re talking about the type of content these writers (and tweeters) feel they need to churn out to get the angry clicks of a disillusioned fanbase. Outside of small communities like this where imo the flame of good discussion and debate never fully dimmed, this fanbase has been declining in football IQ and common sense for ages. That should start to turn around now, eventually. But your average twitter/facebook/radio listener type fan is an absolute moron. Maybe the entire league is like that but it seems particularly bad for this team.

Quinn said one of his errors with the Falcons was calling the defensive plays instead of delegating and focusing on the team and organization as a whole. He brought Whitt here specifically to run the D and call the plays, and Whitt is considered more than ready for it from everything I’ve read. Because of the stagnation of defensive coaching trees in comparison to offensive coaching trees (because offensive coaches get hired as HC’s so much more frequently, everyone moves up the ladder more frequently, and offensive staffs turn over more quickly) he’s way behind where he’d be with the same pedigree on the offensive side of the ball. We’ll see if they’re correct, but Quinn and Whitt both clearly believe he should’ve been a defensive playcaller years ago and that he’s ready to call a defense at least as well as Quinn can—and both seem to believe he could be on a HC track eventually as well. His introductory press conference sold me that he has the personality and understanding of culture, we’ll see about the rest. So on that front, I’m not worried about Quinn not calling the plays. I think he’s got the right man and the right assistants on that side of the ball to supplement their experience. Hell, they seem to have a bit of a chip on their shoulder about it.

EB sucked horrendously and many of us saw it very very early on and laid out many many reasons why he sucked. If there’s even 1% of you still in defiance about this then you’re still in the wrong on it lol. Kyler is the only “franchise QB” in league history with a contract where the team protected itself by sneaking in a clause requiring a certain number of hours of tape studying on his own time because he was considered such a risk in the work ethic category, until it was leaked (probably by his agent). I’m meant to believe the communication issues in that gameday offense were due to the famously workaholic playcaller and not the QB who needed the national media to bully his team into removing the work ethic clause in his contract? Nah. There’s a lot of questions rightly being asked about Kliff Kingsbury in here. We’ll see if he can grow into a great schemer and playcaller. The chances have to be higher with all the HC stuff he hated off his plate…but most importantly, this time around he has an experienced staff attracted by and built by Dan Quinn…not built by Kliff Kingsbury. He’s got a lot of help and a massive safety net of experience in his staff, which also has (mostly) a proven talent for player development. So all that right there gives Kliff a better shot than he’s had anywhere else. He can just pour those copious amounts of work hours into designing his offense and gameplanning. Like Chip Kelly, it seems to be where he’s most comfortable. I still think the questions are warranted, but honestly if Daniels is the real deal then that’s going to cover up a lot of sins. Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers each covered for some of the worst, most vanilla playcallers in the history of the modern NFL. A stud QB gives you a lot of rope as an offensive mind. The ceiling if Kliff isn’t a joke is sky high.

Great work to you @CommanderInTheRye and to our dedicated goon-lassoing mods. Excellent poll, and I for one appreciate the effort that went into it. I’m very pleased with the direction of this franchise even if I’d have maybe made different minor decisions in the draft, moment to moment. Side note, Maye wasn’t listed under “most likely to bust”, he’d have been my choice even though he was my guy for us before the draft. This may seem counterintuitive but it’s because I thought he had potentially the highest (non-Williams) ceiling but the lowest floor, and I trusted us to develop him intelligently. I don’t trust the Patriots to do that, and I think I even underestimated exactly how much work he needs in the first place. So he would have been my vote, even though I still really like him. In the absence of Maye as an option, I went with Nix. I think his skill-set fits Payton but I think he’s the least talented QB to go in the 1st (and he was overdrafted, at that). And I really want Payton to fail, so this is a wishful thinking vote in the absence of my main choice. Amazing job, great poll, would fill out again. (while I did love The Office during my formative collegiate years, and it has an emotional element you don’t get from Seinfeld, I chose Seinfeld because I loved that first and I respect legacy. I’m not a savage. If it was available I may have chosen Curb Your Enthusiasm however, so consider my Seinfeld vote both a real legitimate vote but also a proxy vote for Larry David’s real magnum opus in Curb—imo of course).

Why are you being defiant when everyone knew and was telling you that all NFL teams have 3 preseason games lol. It’s okay to be wrong because the websites you checked were wrong, no biggie. Why be indignant when the people correcting you were correct!

That would be sick. Except regular person sized.

I voted 7-10 in the poll, which I consider to be extremely optimistic. But if people think there’s a chance for a Stroud/Texans like surprise surge…this is the sort of schedule you’d need to pull it off. So I won’t rule it out. Depends on a lot of factors, but most of all it depends on Daniels being ahead of schedule and our defense immediately transforming into a top-12 unit. I won’t rule it out. It’s not a daunting schedule or arrangement of games/travel. Still unlikely of course.

Jamin Davis’ fit in this defense is still up in the air, sure. I think it’s probably good, and he’ll rush the passer some and be productive if he’s healthy. But people seem to be forgetting that the main reason we didn’t pick up Davis’ 5th year option actually boils down to two things other than his production on the field: 1. The guy showed he’s a ****ing moron who needs to grow up. Might still have jail time on the table unless I missed an update? But either way showed a very clear lack of good judgement. Not a guy you want to invest dollars in right away when you’re trying to build a culture—not without it being earned. Not at his level of production. 2. Top LB salaries are insane due to so many EDGE players technically being linebackers. That’s not an attractive 5th year option unless the guy is a stud, which is why using a 1st round pick on an offball linebacker in the first place is not a super efficient decision. You lose the advantage of the worthwhile 5th year option unless the guy’s a total stud.

He has had that ability, I’m just assuming that the constant injuries and age are probably slowing him down. He was always best playing over the middle in a big slot role even if he could also dominate on the outside in his prime.

I would welcome the slant merchant on an incentive-laden contract but he’s best at this point as a big slot and we’ve got some in-house candidates to play a lot of snaps there. He’d most likely spend the majority of the season on IR but he’s excellent in traffic over the middle which can help a young QB. And his ego has reduced in size over the last few disappointing seasons, so you no longer have to worry about the ballhog mentality

lol I had assumed that those were the harnesses that hold the equipment that the medical + analytics departments get their biotracking data from, no? So it’s just a matter of whether the players wear them visibly or not

Interesting. Martavis has generally been more of a headache than a talent, but he’s a long, tall deep threat who can stretch the field. Arguably what we need. Hasn’t recorded a catch in almost six years. 32 years old. I’m tempted to think this is a favor for an agent that will pay off in some other way. Teams workout scrubs all the time, the names only ever make the media when they’re recognizable like Martavis. Same happened when someone gave Jamarcus Russell a workout after his career ended. These things don’t usually lead to anything and sometimes there’s a dozen guys at a time working out, with just the “big names” known.

Plus Jeff Driskel

Rodgers is going to run out with the flag again and his other Achilles is going to instantly snap

🤷‍♂️ @RWJ wanted us to draft Hartman in the late rounds so I assume he’s thrilled to get him as an UDFA. I don’t think it’s random, it’s more a ****tail of what’s available + how Peters and the QB-oriented coaches feel about his tangibles/intangibles + how attractive a destination we are (or aren’t) for an UDFA We were paying well and we’re arguably a great landing spot for a long-term developmental backup QB. Probably depends on whether he has starting aspersions (aka how realistic is he about his most likely future in this league as a backup QB). The fact he signed here tells me he knows he’s likely a career backup. Or maybe he just loved Quinn and new regime stability. Who knows.

The other thing to remember is that Ekeler is going to be the honorary 7th or 8th guy in the WR room (except, on the field a ton), for all intents and purposes. The passing game is going to flow through the TE’s and RB’s in a big way

I think it’s possible we keep a 7th WR but I would expect a lot of 2TE sets, as well as Sinnott being used all over (eventually). I think if we go with 6 it’s possible we’re a little overloaded on slot guys, yeah. I bet the hope will be that McCaffrey has the ability to play outside eventually.

Definitely a low profile signing but he’s a guy who can eat slot targets if necessary (hopefully only due to injury). I only know who he is because I play in deeper PPR dynasty FF leagues and he was owned everywhere his first few years with the Falcons as a sleeper. I actually would have bet his best season was more than 40 catches but nope. Like I said, replacement level but serviceable. Definitely not a household name.

Zaccheus Olamide. 26. Decent replacement level slot guy with a high water mark of 40/550/3 for the Falcons two years ago. Nothing special and more of a possession compiler but he’s a pro. The kind of guy you make a guy like McCaffrey beat out on his way up.

Same. Good list. With Crowder and Zaccheus both being established veteran slots (to differing degrees), if McCaffrey starts getting snaps with the starters we’ll know we have a real gem on our hands.

Saw a clip of McConkey (who I wanted badly in the 2nd), and while I do think he can be a really good WR, man did he look absolutely tiny next to other NFL players. McCaffrey is definitely a ceiling pick

You can tell he’s not NFL caliber on account of the fact that he hasn’t tallied an NFL reception since 2019, and hasn’t been on an NFL roster since 2022. He’s 27 now, and never got a look from anyone in the NFL other than us (in the 6th round) his entire career. He now plays non-NFL football. He’s not even an NFL WR5 or he’d be one right now, on a vet min contract. He’s not even camp fodder.