- 14 minutes ago
Falcons All-Pro Jessie Bates was traded on deadline day to the Jacksonville Jaguars in return for two draft picks including a 2nd rounder in next year's 2027 NFL Draft. Joe reacts to the big news and shares why this move proves the Falcons are moving differently under Ian Cunningham.
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00:00Welcome back into Joe Patrick on football for an abbreviated instant reaction today to the breaking news that we got
00:06just a few minutes ago from Adam Schefter coming across the wire that the Falcons have traded Jesse Bates to
00:12the Jacksonville Jaguars for a second round pick in the upcoming NFL draft, as well as a fifth round pick
00:18in the 2028 NFL draft.
00:20We're going to just look at it, talk about why I think it's a good trade for the Falcons.
00:25First of all, the first reason being is that this is more value than I thought they were going to
00:31be able to get.
00:32There's a potential that Jesse Bates could have brought back a third round pick and a compensation after free agency,
00:39but then you wouldn't get that pick until the 2028 draft and you're getting at best a third round pick
00:44there.
00:45So not only are they getting better than a third round pick and a second round pick from the Jaguars,
00:49they're getting that second round pick in the upcoming 2027 NFL draft, as well as a fifth round pick in
00:55the 2028 NFL draft.
00:57So I think the value that they got for Jesse was a good value, especially for a player in Bates
01:03who's on the last year of his contract.
01:05So he's kind of, you know, playing out the string here in Atlanta and Atlanta doesn't have a lot going
01:13for them other than the fact that they play in the NFC South, where they're still in contention because of
01:17that.
01:17Every team in the NFC South right now has three wins, as we were talking about on the show yesterday,
01:21but, you know, they're not playing well.
01:26They're inconsistent, so they're not looking like a team that's likely to string off a bunch of wins in a
01:31row to actually win this division.
01:33And then also, you know, going forward, what does the quarterback position look like and does Jesse Bates have a
01:39chance to win as much as he wants to win in the last few years that he's got remaining as
01:45a pro?
01:45Jesse Bates is 29 now, so he'll be going into his, you know, 30th year of his life in next
01:52year's NFL season, which will be the first year of a new contract for him with another team.
01:58A team that never seemed likely to be the Falcons, unless the, like, yes, it could have happened that the
02:03Falcons signed Jesse Bates to an extension.
02:06If everything was falling into place this year, if the team was winning, if they were consistent, they were beating
02:10the teams they should beat.
02:11If Michael Pennings was making a very steady progression upwards and to the right, you know, and that is just
02:17not happening.
02:18The quarterback play has been inconsistent.
02:19I don't think anyone in the organization could even tell you who the quarterback is going to be next year
02:24at this point in time.
02:26You don't look likely to win this division.
02:29And so the future did not look bright for Jesse Bates in Atlanta, and it makes a whole lot of
02:35sense for them to move him on for his own goals and ambitions.
02:39And I'm very happy for him that he's going to finally play in relevant games in January like he did
02:45when he was with Cincinnati playing in a Super Bowl against the Rams in that 2021 season.
02:50He deserves that because he is one of the best players in the NFL and certainly was the best player
02:55on the Falcons for as long as he was on this team.
02:57Just an incredible football player, and he will be missed.
03:00But it's because he will be missed, which is why I think this is a great deal for the Falcons.
03:05And it's not just about the deal.
03:07I do think the deal is good.
03:08Like we just said, the return is better than they would have gotten as far as compensation and all that.
03:13But the real reason I'm optimistic about the Falcons in the wake of this move is because, to me, it
03:20proves that they are now under this regime, Ian Cunningham and Matt Ryan in charge.
03:24They're willing to make the tough move.
03:26And I feel like this team has not been willing to make the difficult decision to move on from certain
03:33players to maybe not, you know, sign certain players.
03:40They've always, I don't know, let me get away from that.
03:43But I just want to say, like, this is a move that is painful because Jesse Bates is the shining
03:49light of this organization right now.
03:51He's by far their best player.
03:53He's an easy player to market.
03:54He says all the right things in the media.
03:56He pumps up his teammates.
03:58He teaches his team.
03:59I'm sure he's educating his teammates in the film room.
04:01Like, he is just a player that makes everybody around him better.
04:06And so that's always painful to part with.
04:09But what the Falcons are undertaking right now under Ian Cunningham is a longer-term play than, frankly, Jesse Bates'
04:18remaining career, quite frankly.
04:21This is, we're looking at a long-term kind of rebuild for the Falcons.
04:27And, you know, the quarterback situation is obviously its own thing that definitely plays into that rebuild.
04:34But look at the Chicago Bears as a parallel.
04:36That's where Ian Cunningham came from, where he was the right-hand man under Ryan Poles.
04:40And the Bears were in a bad way when they obviously, and every team is in a bad way when
04:44you bring in a new GM.
04:45It took them four years to get that team into the playoffs.
04:48The reason why it takes so long is because you basically, when you're coming into this situation as a new
04:54GM, taking over a poor roster, you have to turn over a majority of that roster.
04:59And Ian Cunningham has to do that here.
05:01Obviously, they've signed down some of their core players.
05:04You know, you had the big deals for Drake London and Bajon Robinson.
05:09Not quite as core with Kyle Pitts, but you had at least extended him for one more season.
05:14But really, it's Drake and Bajon as the core offensive pieces who are going to be here long-term.
05:19But outside of that, like, you have, it's probably not actually 50 roster spots you're going to flip.
05:26You know, some guys are going to prove their worth and be sticking around for the long-term.
05:29And obviously, they already have one draft class that's kind of in and showing, like, they're going to be players
05:34for this team for at least the next several years.
05:37But point being is you have to turn over half the roster.
05:40Like, what, you have to redraft basically half of your team if you actually want to bring in the players
05:45that you've assessed and you feel like are quality and you feel like fit your coaching staff and what you
05:50want to execute on the field.
05:51And that just takes time.
05:53And it's one of the reasons why I have some sympathy for Kevin Stefanski, Ian Cunningham, Matt Ryan with some
05:59of these moves.
06:00Because you don't, you make a move like this and you might not actually see the benefit of this trade
06:07for a year, two years down the line.
06:11You know, they won't be taking, they won't be making that fifth round pick, draft pick for two years.
06:16So, by the time those players that they actually pick with those picks start making meaningful contributions and impacts on
06:22the field for the Falcons, it could be years later.
06:24Jesse Bates could be on a team beyond Jacksville having signed his free agent contract with some other team already
06:29and be a couple years into that by the time that some of these players start to make an impact
06:34for the Falcons.
06:35But that's okay, that's just life of the NFL.
06:38And so, it's uncomfortable in that intervening time where you have some uncertainty, whether you actually made the right move
06:46or did you make the team worse by giving this player away.
06:49But ultimately, this team needs so much work.
06:52Jesse Bates, to me, never really felt like he was going to be a part of it unless everything went
06:56to a T.
06:58You know, everything went according to plan and everything was so rosy starting with this year.
07:02And that obviously has not been the case.
07:04And so, I think this is a great move for the Falcons.
07:07I don't think it's a move they probably would have made in the past because it's a difficult one to
07:11make because you have people relying.
07:13So many people in the building relying on Jesse Bates, from Jeff Ulbrich to, you know, the marketing director.
07:18So, good move by the Falcons.
07:22Again, they pick up more compensation for Bates in this trade than they would have gotten by letting the thing
07:28play out.
07:29And I know a lot of Falcons fans were just clamoring for him to sign a contract or for the
07:34Falcons to make a contract extension and extend him.
07:39And I think that this is, again, where we're just seeing some just wisdom, you know.
07:44And sometimes you don't even want to accept that it is wise to make this kind of assessment from someone
07:51like Ian Cunningham.
07:51But, you know, safety is also not a value position.
07:55And this team has so many needs.
07:56You're looking at two probably offensive tackles that you need to get in in the next year.
08:02And that could very well be what that second-round pick is used for.
08:06The Falcons will now have two second-round picks.
08:08And that second-round pick that they got from Jacksonville will certainly be at the latter half of that second
08:13round.
08:14So, not quite, you know, the most valuable second-round pick.
08:16But still, like, you're getting, what, a top 60 player in the NFL, in the draft pool.
08:22So, they have a lot of needs, and they just have to fix those through the draft.
08:26And we know Ian Cunningham likes the draft picks.
08:29So, unfortunately, these are some of the difficult things you have to do as a GM.
08:32But I think in the long term, this is the right play.
08:36And we'll see what effect this has on the team, you know.
08:38Does this have effect on morale?
08:40Does this kind of signal to the players that they are tanking?
08:45You know, I don't think players ever really tank, like, intentionally tank, you know, because they're playing for contracts.
08:50They're trying to put things on film.
08:52But I do think that it's obvious when teams are trending down, the season isn't going well.
08:58You just have team dynamics that are working in a negative way against pretty much everybody in the locker room.
09:03So, we'll see if anything like that crops up with this team.
09:06But it probably wouldn't even be the worst thing in the world.
09:08And a lot of Falcons fans, probably the more sober ones, were, you know, saying that that would be the
09:15best thing for this team this year,
09:16is if they were very bad.
09:18I mean, we even said that, too.
09:19It's like, the worst thing you could be this year is a 7-win team.
09:22And, frankly, keeping Jesse Bates around might have been your best path to getting to a 7-10 result this
09:29season.
09:30So, 7-10 could also win this division, too.
09:33So, there are so many things up in the air in the NFC South at this point.
09:36But I just want to say, from me at least, personally, I think it's a good job, Falcons.
09:41I think this is a move that they would not have made in the past.
09:43And I think that it signals that this front office is moving in a very clear-headed direction going forward,
09:50even though they know that, you know, some of the moves they're going to have to make to move in
09:54that direction are going to be painful,
09:56just like this one was.
09:57Again, Jesse Bates traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a second- and fifth-round picks,
10:02the second-round pick coming in the upcoming NFL draft,
10:04and the fifth-round pick coming a year later in the 2028 NFL draft.
10:07So, I want to know what you guys have to think about this trade, so leave that in the comments.
10:13I'm sure, you know, maybe even conflicted.
10:15You may be, you know, you know that it's the right thing to do, but it also sucks, you know.
10:19And that is probably true as well, definitely true, because we will all miss Jesse.
10:23And he had such a positive impact in the locker room and on so many of the players here.
10:27But I'm also, like I said earlier, very happy for him that he's going to be playing meaningful football in
10:31January.
10:32And, hell, hopefully in February, too.
10:34Now I'll be rooting for the Jaguars because you want to see good things happen to good people,
10:39and Jesse Bates is certainly one of them.
10:41So, thank you guys so much for listening to another episode, watching, tuning in.
10:46And, again, please leave your feedback on what you think about the trade in the comments of Joe Patrick on
10:50football.
10:51Be sure you like the episode and subscribe to 90290Game on YouTube,
10:54where we're going to have a lot of reaction coming today and all this week about what this move means.
10:58And Kevin Stavansky will talk about it, the players will talk about it later this week,
11:02and we'll be talking about all of that going forward on the show.
11:05Thanks so much for tuning in.
11:06We'll talk to you guys next time.