Michael Penix to the Falcons!?! J.J. McCarthy get his wish & look out for Caleb Williams & the Bears

first time Kurt Cousins has a bad game

in particular in a big spot which he's

prone to do during the course of his

career guess what everybody is going to

be clamoring for in Atlanta we want

Michael pennix we want Michael penx so

you're submarining the locker room right

there because Kirk Cousins is not going

to be on solid footing from day one

college football has never been better

interest has never been higher believe

that we are at the dawn of the golden

age of college

football it was an epic day of college

football it was one of those days where

you fall in love with the sport all over

[Music]

again what's going on everybody welcome

into the program I am Joel clatt this is

the Joel clatt show and we are reacting

to the NFL draft here on a Monday

morning um first of all thank you for

joining us and remember wherever you're

listening to this podcast go ahead and

follow us subscribe to it if you're

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we got lots of stuff headed your way uh

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like to social media at Joel clao let's

dive into this thing right away because

there was a lot to get into with this

draft it was one of the more interesting

drafts that I can remember um big thanks

to the NFL Network for uh always

affording me the opportunity to come

cover the draft uh really enjoyed being

with you on night one and and night two

Thursday night for round one Friday

night for round two and three love work

working with with DJ he's a he's a dear

friend CD is a dear friend Charles Davis

and and obviously Rich Eisen who's also

um a a good friend of mine a dear friend

love being on the desk with each of

those gentlemen I will say just quickly

a quick story about being uh there in

Detroit wild scene I mean hundreds of

thousands of people lots of Michigan

fans there was a lot of GL go Blue going

on as we were walking up in particular

with Rich there who's obviously a big

Michigan fan um I would also just

quickly

tell there was a lot of stuff being

smoked right around our set I mean like

it was like Wow and on Thursday night it

hung around for at least a couple hours

we're on air for like two hours and it

was heavy for at least two hours of the

show and at one point I look over and

Charles Davis is housing Pringles and

just housing them and I'm like in a

commercial I'm like are you okay and he

looks at me and he was like he was like

I never knew these Pringles were so

good so that's how night1 went um and

then there was so much stuff that I want

to react to from the actual draft it was

in a lot of ways unprecedented we had

the six quarterbacks go in the first you

know what was it 12 picks of the of the

first round we're never going to see

that again by the way I kept trying to

say and I don't think people really

understood it like oh this is a crazy

year yeah it's also going to be the most

unique and and a draft that is unlike

any other draft that we've ever seen

because of that covid year specifically

and then when you couple the co year

with the transfer portal and what

happened you saw three guys that got

opportunities late in their career and

then increased their stock in order to

become firstr draft picks when they

first trans transferred Jaden Daniels

Michael pinnick and Bo Knicks they were

not first round draft picks they get

extra eligibility because of the covid

year they get the opportunity to

transfer and then they play out the

string they all have you know 50 plus

starts and they all become first round

draft picks and when you when you

combine them with the

traditional three andone first round

draft picks from the quarterback

position like Caleb Williams Drake May

and JJ m you get this perfect storm

where you get six quarterbacks in the

first round it's also a year happens to

be a year in which there are six seven

eight teams with genuine quarterback

needs so this is not a trend this is an

anomaly we're never going to see that

again never it's never going to happen

let's talk about one of those uh

quarterbacks because I don't think you

can even start talking about this draft

without talking about the Falcons taking

Michael pennick at number eight and

before I go into everything that I'm

going to say here about this draft pick

I I want to say Michael penx is

absolutely a top 10 pick nothing about

his game suggests that you should not

take Michael pinnick he's an awesome

quarterback if you've been listening to

this show for any amount of time you

will know that I've been a giant fan of

pinck for a long time all the way back

to his days at Indiana really but even

before this last season when he blew up

with Washington really the last two but

really before the last one I said back

in September that Washington's not only

a top five team but he's a Darkhorse

Heisman candidate because of the way

that he can throw the ball it's

beautiful the ball comes out of his hand

as well as anybody in this draft he

throws it down the field so well you've

heard me talk constantly about his

ability to pass the football with

leverage down the field I'm sure the

entire staff here at the Joel clat show

just rolled their eyes because they've

heard that description at least a

million times because it's accurate so

what I'm trying to say is Michael

pennick deserved to be selected where he

got selected this is not a case of an

overdrafted player this is a case of an

organization with zero plan my problem

is that he went to Atlanta Atlanta is

seven- 10 they I don't think have a

stacked roster at least as much as they

think they have a stack stacked roster

they missed the playoffs last uh last

season and the five prior to that so six

straight years without a playoff birth

they need players now which is why they

went chips in the middle of the table

for Kirk Cousins remember this is a year

after they decided to say you know what

we're good we don't need to be in the

Lamar Jackson sweep stakes and then the

next year they say no we definitely need

a quarterback we should go get that 3

what six year old with a torn Achilles

and they gave Kurt Cousins $100

million in free agency guaranteed 100

guaranteed more than that in the full

contract 100

guaranteed then they decide man we

really like Michael penck like some Bozo

who gets engaged and then goes to spring

break and falls in love with the first

first girly season of bikini on the

beach like what are you

doing so they fall in love with Michael

pinnick and then decide that they're

going to draft him but don't give Kirk

Cousins a heads up during the process

that they're starting to fall in love

with Michael pennick and the first time

he hears about it is when they're on the

clock what are

we

doing what are we

doing make it make

sense when that pick came across I was

shocked DJ was shocked CD was shocked we

were all Su uh shocked and it's one

thing to have a succession plan okay and

I understand that okay I really do I

understand this succession plan thing

it's entirely a different thing to

submarine your locker room before the

players are even in the locker room and

and this is what I feel like they did

you know you can claim that this is

injury insurance for Kurt Cousins but if

you need injury Insurance then you

shouldn't have signed them to a $100

million guaranteed contract everything

about this the fact that they felt like

they needed to give him that contract in

free agency the fact that they still

were looking in terms of a quarterback

the fact that they knew it was wrong

which is why they didn't bring in

Michael pen pennick for an in-person

visit like if they fell in love with

Michael pennick during this process you

would have brought him in for an

in-person visit but they knew that they

couldn't because they just gave a guy

$100 million so therein lies the truth

that they even knew this was backwards

or else they would have brought him in

they would have brought him in

I understand even that teams are going

to have multiple quarterbacks start I

understand that but if you're worried

about Kurt Cousins then you don't sign

him to that contract if anything now I'm

starting to wonder like whoa what really

was the plan in free agency everything

about this reeks of ready fire

aim again you just you just have to have

a better plan than this this is a team

that needs players now if you're going

to assign KK cousins you need players

now you only have 53 SP spots on your

roster there's a salary cap you need

players now the opportunity cost of of

of basically foregoing that pick and and

shoving that pick onto the sidelines is

far-reaching you know

that they don't even get the benefit of

drafting a Young quarterback in the top

10 that they feel like they could win

with and then building the team around a

quarterback in there first

contract

so and then the explanation starts

coming out which wasn't very solid from

their standpoint but even some in the

media were starting to be like well I

kind of understand it because listen you

know you're going to have to have a plan

in the future and they feel like they're

never going to pick this high in the

draft so they better get their guy in

particular if they fell in love with him

and now they feel like they're built for

the next 10 years and not just for the

next two or three all of that sounds

really good but my point would

be great now you're a spec home

builder because you're not going to

enjoy the fruits of your labor I just I

don't see how this makes your team

better right now to make the playoffs

with Kirk Cousins and builds it for the

future you can't do two things at once

you're not good enough to do two things

at once right now you've got to do first

things first which is become a good team

now which is why they signed KK cousins

in the first place if they if they

didn't love the defensive players which

by the way they've terrible on defense

and had their pick of any defender in

the draft none had been taken yet none

had been taken

yet fine tell me you don't love any of

those players right there at the eighth

pick trade it back and get more assets

so that you can do what win now they

need assets on the team on the field

currently they're not a team that can

just shove the eighth pick on the

sideline and say don't worry in four

years we're going to play

him I also will say from a locker room

standpoint and I mentioned this a little

bit earlier you submarine the locker

room right away how does Kirk cousins

feel right away he feels like every

mistake that he makes he's going to be

looking over his shoulder I don't care

how many times you tell him don't look

over your shoulder Kirk okay that's like

me telling you at home right now hey

don't think of the color red don't you

do it don't think of that color red like

come on I'm gonna think of the color red

cuz you brought it up you brought it up

and they brought up the succession by

taking Michael pinnick so now the first

time kurk cousins has a bad game in

particular in a big spot which he's

prone to do during the course of his

career guess what everybody is going to

be clamoring for in Atlanta we want

Michael pinnix we want Michael pinx so

you're submarining the locker room right

there because Kirk Cousins is not going

to be on solid footing from day one and

he doesn't trust you as an

organization and you've created a

distraction cuz everybody's going to be

asked about it every every wide receiver

every player is going to be as about

like whoy how are Kurt and Michael

getting along in the quarterback room

the quickest way to be defeated is to be

distracted and they've created a

distract distraction excuse me they've

created distrust within the locker room

and they have created a a

a a situation where kurk cousins cannot

feel comfortable to go out and play

freely all of that suggests that they're

not ready to win right away that all

being said and I want everybody to make

sure that you clip what I'm about to say

right here to anything that I've just

said I pray this works out for everybody

involved I don't want it to work out

poorly for Atlanta I'd love to see

Atlanta win and everybody there I'd love

to see kurk cousins get a legitimate

shot to go and prove that he can win on

the top level I've Loved Michael pennick

for a long time my heart hurts for

Michael pennick because now he's shoved

to the sideline and put to a position a

position where it's going to be hard to

succeed I want all of these guys to

succeed and I pray that in 10 years

Michael pennick is the quarterback of

the Atlanta Falcons this all worked out

swimmingly and everybody has a Super

Bowl ring I'm hoping that that's what

works we'll see if it does I have my

doubts JJ McCarthy was taken by the

Minnesota Vikings a little backstory on

this a couple of weeks ago I went to

Michigan uh to do the spring football

game and they were GNA have the morning

of the spring football game they were

going to have their ring ceremony to get

all their rings and apparently now they

give out like it's it's like equal parts

national championship ring ceremony and

ribbon ceremony because it's it's it's

kind of the modern-day ribbons for

everyone they got four

rings four they won the Big 10 that's

one the Rose Bowl gives you a ring the

cfp gives you a ring just for going to

the cfp and then they obviously won the

national championship by the way the

rosebowl ring looked incredible looked

incredible regardless I digress J.J

McCarthy was in town so we talked with

Chiron Moore that's coming up on big

noon conversations this summer quick

tease right there shiron Moore is going

to be on big noon conversations we're

sitting there talking with him on Friday

we're talking with a lot of the players

on Friday and JJ and some of the past

players were also there getting ready

for their ring ceremony on Saturday

morning and I got to talk with JJ a

little bit and and we were chatting and

I just asked him I was like listen where

is the place that is your dream where do

you want to go and he goes oh Minnesota

I would love to go to Minnesota and lo

and behold their Minnesota is and

they're able to select JJ McCarthy now

some backstory of what was going on as

as the texts are coming in and and I'm

I'm sitting with DJ and cidd um I was

texting with with Jay Glazer a little

bit as well here's what was happening

during all of this is

that both Minnesota and New York at some

point had at least inquired about what

it would take to trade up to number

three in the New England slot and

potentially draft Drake May

okay didn't work out New England stuck

they picked so now it becomes a good

oldfashioned staredown game of chicken

between the Giants and Minnesota so

here's the Vikings and they're sitting

there at 11 or 10 excuse

me and here's the Giants sitting there

at

6 and the Vikings are thinking to

themselves do we need to go to the

Arizona spot at four do we need to go to

the charger spot at five to beat them to

this place to get our guy in JJ McCarthy

and they called their Bluff they called

their Bluff and they were right so the

Giants pass on quarterback they go Malik

neighbors they're going to run it back

with Daniel Jones and now Minnesota is

in a position where as long as Vegas

doesn't jump up or Denver doesn't jump

up they're going to be in position to

draft JJ McCarthy I think that that is

fascinating now the pinnick deal threw a

whole wrench into things cuz I'm sure

everyone was like oh hold on a second do

we need to go now to nine they didn't

and the Vikings get selected and now I

think JJ McCarthy is in the best

situation of any of the rookie

quarterbacks to go and succeed right

away there was some debate on our desk

uh both on the air and off about whether

JJ should or could play Early in his

career I believe that he can and he will

for Kevin

oconnell I just know him well enough to

know like he's he's hyper competitive

and he's really skilled and what they're

going to see is is a guy that can help

them win football

games partly because of what he does on

the field but also just as a leader the

guy wins man he's 27 and one you know

there there there's a reason why they

were able to make the plays when they

needed to make the plays this last year

when Michigan has habitually not been

able to make those plays in previous

Seasons they had a really good deep team

and the difference was this year they

had a quarterback that could take them

above the X's nose in particular in

crucial moments like third down his

third down tape was was as good as any

of the quarterbacks in fact when you

looked at at just like if you piece it

together and you looked at all the

quarterbacks and and the way that they

threw the ball from 10 to 19 yards down

the field or 10 to 20 yards down the

field I had a buddy um Jake butt

actually kind of clued me into this stat

he was like Hey take a look at at

McCarthy in the intermediate zones and I

was like okay that's interesting so I

went back and I kind of did a deep dive

I watched the film cut up of it and I

looked at some of the statistics and

what you'll see is of all the

quarterbacks in the draft he was

basically the best one when throwing the

ball between 10 and 20 yards down the

field a lot of these guys made their

bones throwing the ball at the line of

scrimmage at the line of scrimmage now

the only one that could exceed McCarthy

was what Michael pennick did down the

field past 20 yards but that's another

story so I think that his skill set is

probably even better than some people

realize speaking of McCarthy I think

that he'll play Early in his career in

Minnesota and he's got the best weapons

by a long shot Justin Jefferson Jordan

Addison TJ hackinson Aaron Jones they

got in free agency I know hackinson is

coming off of that injury he might miss

the first I mean they're hoping like a

month uh maybe a month of the season but

that's a situation where you can have a

lot of success defense made a step

forward last year for Brian Flores uh

when he was a defensive coordinator now

they're in middle of the pack defense

they might even get better and now JJ

McCarthy is in a position to really

succeed early kind of similar to CJ

strout with the huge Houston Texans I

love that they were able to trade back

up get Dallas Turner in the first round

back-to-back years by the way we've had

a team that has had the offensive and

defensive rookie of the year on their

team we saw with the New York Jets with

Garrett Wilson and S Gardner then last

year in Houston with CJ strad and Will

Anderson

there's a chance that we're going to get

that with Minnesota if JJ plays early

enough to put up the numbers necessary

to win that award then you could get a

Dallas Turner JJ McCarthy rookie of the

year next year in the National Football

League that's how good of a situation I

think McCarthy is in and again I've been

a McCarthy believer uh for a long time

again i' I've done 16 Michigan games in

the last three years so that was a

really good

situation I'd love to go up to the top

of the draft as well because what

Chicago did I felt was special

it was always going to be Caleb Williams

it was always going to be Caleb Williams

it was always going to be Caleb Williams

and we knew that as the draft got even

closer but that was solidified with even

the way that he carried himself at the

draft I thought his answer to Kaylee

Hartong uh who was conducting our

interviews on the NFL Network was really

good and strong after after he got

selected and he was on the

stage I can't remember exactly

how she worded the

question but it was along the lines of

like why is this going to work I believe

was kind of the the vein of the question

and he said something you know normally

what I'm expecting I'm just geared to

expect because I'm going to work hard

and I want to win and you know you're

going to get a guy no one's going to

work harder blah blah blah and he just

looked at her and kind of like Snapped

over and in the microphone and was like

because I care and I was like that's a

unique answer and I really enjoyed the

answer he says I care about winning I

care about being great I care about my

teammates I care about my coaches I even

care about the janitors in the

building you can think what you want to

think about Caleb Williams I've spent

some time around this guy his teammates

generally really like

him he tried to get other guys paid

around him in nil namely the offensive

line he was on a team that was

underachieving I don't believe that was

his fault a lot of that to me was a poor

offensive line and and a a subpar at

least for Lincoln Riley's um tenure

subpar wide receiver

room because that I felt like he tried

to put a cape on his back too much hold

the ball too much so this last year

wasn't great the year before

unbelievable and this answer I care

because I care it's going to work

because I care I loved that answer you

you can you can hate Caleb Williams if

you want I think it's going to succeed

and they are in a better position than

anybody but Minnesota in terms of a

rookie quarterback to succeed they get

Caleb Williams Romo dun you betcha I

can't wait to see those two on the field

together they get Keenan Allen they have

DeAndre Swift they got DJ Moore Cole KT

that's all of a sudden a really good

offense folks there you see Caleb

Williams if you're watching on YouTube

Caleb Williams and Rome Odun after Odun

was selected with the ninth pick this

this Duo formed a good positive

relationship before the draft and then

they end up being drafted to the same

location and and all of the sudden this

is a far cry from what Chicago was when

they drafted Justin fields and here they

are and they have weapons around it I

think the defense can get better they

they drafted uh Tory Taylor in the

fourth round so you know that at least

when they have to punt it's going to be

an incredible punt Tory Taylor of uh

Iowa I think they could possibly be this

season's Houston Texans I really do I

I'm a big fan of Chicago's draft and

it's not all the time that you look at

the team with the number one draft or

the number one draft pick and you say

like man they killed it throughout the

draft and they did two top 10 picks and

I think that the NFC North is going to

be an incredible division to watch

you've got two rookie quarterbacks there

with the Vikings and the Bears you've

got the lions with everything they've

got going on and they went to the NFC

Championship Game and that's become a

division that I'm I'm all in for let's

talk about another another one of the

quarterbacks Bo Nicks if you've listened

to this show for any amount of time you

will know that and I'm gonna I'll say it

because I know it's true we were the

first right here to say this and then it

came to fruition I believed it when I

said it and I believed it throughout the

process B knck was a perfect F in Denver

because of his style of play the offense

that Shawn Payton runs I said it way

back at the beginning of this process I

believe it was still January and I said

Denver's going to draft B Knicks and lo

and behold here's exactly what happened

by the way our social team probably

going to be pulling up that clip and

then they'll intertial it and then

that'll get released on social which you

can follow at Joel clao any of the

social medias so Nicks gets selected by

the Broncos

was he overdrafted I think that's a fair

question even though I thought that this

was going to be the pick for months it

was all based on fit and not necessarily

value this is not a knock against Bon

knck I just think Bon knck was probably

more of a mid 20s draft pick than he was

a 12th pick in the draft but is what it

is all the quarterbacks are off the

board at that time and Denver's got to

get their man they can't allow the

Raiders to get on the clock and