00:00In the quarterback room, all four made it.
00:03Penix, Tua, Jack Strand, Cooper Rush.
00:06What were the biggest surprises to you with the guys that stayed over the weekend?
00:11Were there any ones you did not expect to say that did?
00:15Yeah, I didn't expect J.D. Bertrand initially.
00:19I thought Josh Woods would beat him out based on,
00:22I thought Woods looked good in the preseason.
00:25Bertrand didn't play in the final game.
00:26I think he was a little bit banged up.
00:27And then on top of all of that, Josh Woods is such a good special teams player
00:33that I was surprised Bertrand beat him out.
00:34But Bertrand can also do the special teams stuff.
00:37And he does know the defense.
00:39And maybe he'll be better in this defense when he has to play behind a better
00:46defensive line with Mason Smith and Jervon Dexter.
00:50Well, the reason, and I'm with you, I didn't see J.D. Bertrand making it
00:54because I think that when you look at the skill set that Jeff Ulbrich likes to utilize
01:00at the linebacker spot, it's really not what J.D. Bertrand is built for.
01:03He's kind of in the mold more along the lines of like a Nate Landman
01:07who they let go, obviously.
01:08Exactly.
01:09And that's not to say he's not good.
01:10It's to say that maybe it doesn't fit the skill set that you want
01:13as far as the ranginess, the size, the ability to go sideline to sideline.
01:17And even that, I mean, he struggled mightily down the stretch on special teams last year.
01:22It's to a point where he was inactive at the end of the season
01:24because of his special teams play and them having the kicker turn
01:26against whoever it was towards the end of the season.
01:29Can't even remember.
01:31But I think that, I think I'll go back to the secondary.
01:34Malcolm DeWalt was one I didn't see coming.
01:37And I think that there's a number of reasons for that.
01:40First of all, look, he's had a strong training camp, a strong preseason.
01:43But when you talk about an undrafted free agent rookie, and let's just make the case
01:47that he made the team over Darnay Holmes because he did,
01:50that's the one I didn't have crossed off.
01:52Him and Jamie Robinson, you could have told me that would not be part of this.
01:56And I think those are a little bit surprising for me.
01:58That's a good one.
01:59That's a good one for me is Jamie Robinson.
02:01I was a little bit surprised he made it.
02:04The DeWalt one, he played really good, I felt, in that week one preseason game.
02:10And I don't feel like I saw, I don't feel like I paid attention to him, I guess,
02:18in the other two games, so I didn't see a lot.
02:21But the Darnay Holmes not being here is a little bit of a shocker.
02:26I would tell you that I think Natron Brooks making it over Darnay Holmes.
02:32Because, and I don't know, I don't know who got cut for who.
02:38I can tell you, I think Sidney, Bobby, Bobby, Billy Bowman being clearing
02:44probably made Darnay in their mind expendable.
02:47And then they clearly thought, hey, if they want him, which I think they will,
02:53they can get him to the practice squad and then elevate him week one.
02:58And if Billy Bowman's not ready, which Mike has said, I'm not going to take it
03:03and say it was mine, Mike has said he thinks it would be a tough ramp up.
03:05And I agree with him.
03:07I think it is.
03:08I think going from standing on the sidelines, just doing nothing, not even side work,
03:13like he was for most of training camp, to being ready to play week one,
03:18I wholeheartedly agree with you.
03:19That's a big ramp up for that injury.
03:21Do we know if he's eligible for short-term IR?
03:27Well, if he's not, since he cleared, if he cleared a physical.
03:32Did he get fully cleared?
03:33Yeah, that's how, yes, because that's how they, I think they could have put him
03:39on the IR right out of camp and he wouldn't have counted towards a 53.
03:43They could have said right out of camp, we're going to put him on the short-term IR,
03:47I believe, when you're setting the 53.
03:50Maybe I'm wrong on that.
03:51But they've, honest to God, changed the rules like nine times lately.
03:56Yeah.
03:57I don't know what the, I mean, because there's a number of these guys,
04:00I do wonder if they're short-term IR stints that are coming.
04:02Kyle Hinton's another one that I look at and, you know,
04:05has been dinged up since Indianapolis.
04:07So, I don't know, but to kind of bring Allie's question back to center here.
04:13Yeah, I mean, other than that, like as far as guys staying,
04:15I would say that those three or four guys right there at the top of the list,
04:19I think all the other ones you could have made an argument all along,
04:22but those were pretty big ones.
04:25How about the biggest surprise cut?
04:28I mean, Braylon Trice, I know I was crossing my fingers for him,
04:30but that one didn't work out.
04:33Yeah.
04:35I think a lot of people were surprised about Aziz, Ojolari.
04:41I was a little bit, Mike and I were texting yesterday,
04:43and he called it when they got Javon Dexter.
04:47He was like, yeah, this probably means Chris Williams is out.
04:49And I'm like, nah, man.
04:50They like Chris Williams.
04:51He's played well.
04:52He had a block kick the other night.
04:54And I was like, he'll make it.
04:55I was wrong there.
04:58Honestly, I would probably say Tyler Goodson.
05:00It's got to be Tyler Goodson.
05:02Because you just assumed they would carry three running backs,
05:05and there's no assumption that he was the best of the running backs
05:10this preseason that you saw.
05:12He was better than Bryan Robinson to me.
05:14The interesting thing is that I think if you hadn't paid close attention,
05:19you would say the Wanya Morris one was surprising.
05:21But anybody who's paid attention, it was not that surprising.
05:24Michael Jarrell has been that guy as a swing tackle the entire time,
05:27like without question.
05:29Michael Jarrell might be one of the biggest surprises in training camp
05:34when you look at the totality of his story in Atlanta.
05:38Drafted here, essentially, we all thought to take over that right tackle spot
05:43when Caleb went down.
05:45You know, I mean, they traded for him.
05:48Yeah, they traded for him.
05:48I mean, I don't know.
05:50Traded for him, and you're like, oh, this guy's going to be it.
05:52They wouldn't have wasted a pick if he wasn't going to come here and start.
05:55Yeah.
05:55And then he was inactive half the season, it felt like.
05:58And I thought he was fighting for a roster spot coming in this training camp,
06:04and he turned out to be, he somehow walked right in
06:09and elevated himself with his play to the swing tackle.
06:15Where do you think the hardest decision was on this roster
06:18for Kevin Stefanski and Ian Cunningham?
06:21Probably keeping four quarterbacks.
06:23Has to be right.
06:24Because I just don't know if that is going to stick.
06:27Jack, and they knew they couldn't let Jack Strand.
06:31What them keeping four tells me is they knew they couldn't cut
06:36any of the three that maybe they had thought about being on the bubble,
06:41which is Tua, Strand, and Rush, and get them on the practice squad.
06:46And I think they knew Strand wasn't going to make it,
06:48and they wanted Cooper Rush because of how these other guys have been injury prone.
06:54The Jack Strand thing, like you could have made the argument,
06:59and I've said all along that I think the guy has to be in the initial 53.
07:02That's the only way that they're going to go about the business.
07:04But I think that he was less at risk of being left off than Cooper Rush or Tua.
07:09I think you could have told me that there's three quarterbacks
07:11or even two on the active roster, and I would have said,
07:13okay, well, it's whoever and Jack Strand,
07:15or whoever and whoever and Jack Strand.
07:18And the fact that they kept Cooper Rush is, to me, that's the most interesting part.
07:22It's not the Jack Strand conversation.
07:23In fact, the Cooper Rush is part of that.
07:27Look, it is what it is.
07:28When you have two injury prone quarterbacks
07:30and you have a developmental guy that has all the skill set,
07:33you kind of have to attack week one in that way of like,
07:36yeah, we better have a backup plan for the backup plan.
07:40Well, with all the pomp and circumstance and the attention
07:43that Jack Strand had gotten over the last couple weeks,
07:46had that not happened, would he have been waived?
07:53I don't know.
07:54Maybe.
07:55But, I mean, it kind of goes hand in hand, right?
07:57He gets the pomp and circumstance because he played well.
07:59Yeah.
07:59And most people in the NFL, as far as the scouting departments,
08:02are going to notice that he played well.
08:03I think he's – I think – I guess maybe I'm in the minority.
08:06I think he's so much further from a finished product
08:09than people understand at this point.
08:11But the skill set is just unlimited when you look at what he's –
08:14you know, what he's capable of.
08:15Well, more than one thing can be true.
08:18He is far away from being a finished product.
08:22He's also – he also played well in the preseason.
08:26And after week one, he played well in the preseason.
08:29And, you know, that first preseason game was just –
08:34it was bad all the way around.
08:36And I didn't think he necessarily played well in that game.
08:38I thought he played well, really good against Andy.
08:41And he played better than I believe it will look in a box score
08:47on Friday night in Miami.
08:49And they didn't want to do much Friday night in Miami.
08:53They really did not want to do much once he got in the game.
08:56It was run the football.
08:57The interception wasn't on him.
08:59It was – should have been called.
09:01And it was popped up in the air.
09:03And it was a good play by Miami and give them credit.
09:05But to me, he played better.
09:08But he's not fully – Mike's right.
09:10He's not fully developed.
09:12He's not seeing everything.
09:13He's had moments where he should get the ball out or move out of the pocket.
09:17And then moments where he got out of the pocket and got the ball out
09:20when he could have held on to it.
09:21Like, there's progressions for him.
09:24And he's going to be able to learn.
09:25But he's clearly a smart dude with the NASA stuff.
09:28And he's clearly a guy they think can pick up and learn a lot
09:32by being on a roster.
09:33And then you see where he's at.
09:35Since this is the initial 53-man roster,
09:37where do you think changes could be coming?
09:39Well, I mentioned earlier that they've got to figure something out
09:42in the interior of the offensive line.
09:43If Kyle Hinton's dinged up and you –
09:45you know, obviously you only kept nine offensive linemen.
09:48Does Ethan Oneonwa has to start cross-training
09:50or you have to bring in somebody else?
09:52Well, I think Levin's employee guard too, though.
09:55And I understand that.
09:56I just don't think that's a – I don't know.
09:59I don't think that that would be a solution if one of those guys
10:01got dinged up and had to miss a game.
10:02I don't know if I love that idea from what I've seen so far.
10:05Now, granted, they've been able to do it with Les before,
10:08and they've been able to kind of plug in.
10:10And obviously, Bill Callahan knows what these guys are capable of.
10:13I just think in terms of additions, eventually,
10:18when you talk about not the initial 53,
10:20I think there could be some movement at a place like that
10:23where you go into – sorry, like a week two or week three,
10:27and there's a standard practice squad elevation saying
10:29we need more depth at that spot.
10:30Well, I think that's where it's at for them right now with that spot
10:33is depending on what Hinton is.
10:36I – based on what – you know, so Bo Collins is already –
10:40it was put on the IR designated return.
10:43He's a wide receiver.
10:44I said that to tell you that they think Hinton will be healthy enough right now
10:51to start the season and be able to be active and play.
10:55And if not, they think it's such a short-term thing
10:58that they would elevate another guy if they didn't trust Levin in that spot.
11:03So, I think the four – I think just having two running backs,
11:07what's your plan there?
11:08You probably want a third active for special teams
11:11and for if somebody gets banged up, are you willing to elevate a guy to that
11:18or are you willing to drop?
11:19Because to me, I don't foresee them carrying four quarterbacks all season.
11:24And so, to me, you'll pick up there when you hash that fourth quarterback
11:32to go to three, you'll pick up a third running back.
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