Hats off the Khan and Steeler scouts. Grade A+

[Captain Lemming]

What no one can say is what level of influence Weidl now has in the room. Some posters say it's Kahn but Weidl was brought in specifically for his player evaluation expertise. He sets the board. Kahn entertains trades but I highly doubt he has the power to rerank the board during the draft.

It was telling that they had Fautanu ranked 7th best player in the draft. It also explains why there was no way Kahn was going to trade down with him being available at the pick even though Kahn fielded multiple phone calls. Clearly Tomlin wanted the pick as well; "he (Kahn) was wearing me out" [referring to trade offers].

Yes, you just described the true role of Weidl and Tomlin AS DESCRIBED BY the team.

Primary reason Troy was so positioned on the board (7th) was Weidl. That informs the decision makers choices.

Drafting Troy IF we kept the pick was obvious as he was BETTER than ANY lineman available on MOST boards. I could see that looking at mocks.

But Weidl ranking him 7th overall means YOU DONT trade down for a center EVEN WITH THE POSSIBILITY of Frazier being gone. Troy is THAT special. Weidl personnel expertise and his year of work lead to an informed decision. But it is no HIS decision.

Your quote of Tomlin also implies that HE is the one who reigns in the wheeler dealer inclinations of Khan. His comments also make clear that he played a role PERSONALLY in how high they had Troy ranked.

But the primary board builder is Weidl. How that board is used is Khan/Tomlin/Rooney.

BTW, an interesting comment was made in the comments of the video that makes sense.

Someone said Rooney lets his guys work but mostly acts as a tiebreaker between the coach and GM which makes perfect sense.

[Northern_Blitz]

Nobody is grading the draft other than comparing when guys were taken and when they thought they'd be taken. If Penix is a star, the Falcons' grade goes up.

I think the problem here is not taking a shot on Penix, it's that Cousins is so hard for them to get rid of after that contract.

The dead cap charges are really high if they cut / trade Cousins in the next couple years.

I guess this means they're going to go the GB Packers route with Penix. Maybe he gets som starts in year 3 ($25MM dead cap if they cut / trade Cousins then...could do it post Jun1 to spread out), or year 4 ($12.5MM dead cap).

But years 1 and 2 are Cousins. Dead cap hits of $90MM and $65MM if cut or traded I think. And I don't think you can keep a guy making that much on the bench. Maybe you just take the year or two in cap hell if you can flip him for some great draft capital (the resulting deal would be pretty cheap for the team picking him up because the Falcons are picking up the prorated SB).

[Northern_Blitz]

EVERY draft is an A++++

Like someone else here has in his signature, how is it possible to have great drafts every year, yet still never win a playoff game...

Instant grades are given based on what we know now.

Basically, grades given out now are asking some combination of "did they follow some big board and take good value picks" and "did they cover the needs they had going into the draft".

I think it looks like we have a good combination of both.

But without a crystal ball, no one knows how good any draft is when it's made.

[Northern_Blitz]

Tomlin's fingerprints were all over recent bad drafts, especially Najee and Kenny. I think it's more likely that Rooney has limited Tomlin's power when he stepped in to fire Canada.

And also the recent good drafts (last year and this year).

Tomlin is an important part of the drafting process.

Rooney is at the top of the heap, but probably doesn't do much in terms of actual picking.

I think the GM has final say in the picks.

But the HC has a lot of input.

I don't understand the argument that Tomlin was controlling Colbert (who predates Tomlin), but not Kahn (new rookie GM).

This seems more like "bad things = Tomlin" and "good things = not Tomlin" type logic to me.

[Northern_Blitz]

In Colberts defense I would suggest the olines deterioration was sudden and premature.

And don?t forget that In a complete rebuild from the Colbert/Cowher era, Colbert/Tomlin DID BUILD what was at one point the leagues best line.

I think they were hoping to hold the OL together with duct tape for the end of Ben's career so they could try to rebuild 1st the D (after 50 got hurt), then the skill positions (after Bell and AB left).

It didn't work. But I think there were probably too many holes in the boat to do anything but have it sink slower.

Shazier getting hurt was the end of Ben's teams being really competitive IMO.

After that, the two sides of the ball weren't peaking at the right time. That's a good recipe to be consistently competitive for a playoff spot. But to compete for a championship, I think you need both sides of the ball to be pretty good at the same time.

[Oviedo]

I think the problem here is not taking a shot on Penix, it's that Cousins is so hard for them to get rid of after that contract.

The dead cap charges are really high if they cut / trade Cousins in the next couple years.

I guess this means they're going to go the GB Packers route with Penix. Maybe he gets som starts in year 3 ($25MM dead cap if they cut / trade Cousins then...could do it post Jun1 to spread out), or year 4 ($12.5MM dead cap).

But years 1 and 2 are Cousins. Dead cap hits of $90MM and $65MM if cut or traded I think. And I don't think you can keep a guy making that much on the bench. Maybe you just take the year or two in cap hell if you can flip him for some great draft capital (the resulting deal would be pretty cheap for the team picking him up because the Falcons are picking up the prorated SB).

I think that the Falcons are following the Jordan Love model. Keep in mind that they have no idea how Cousins will recover from his injury

[Northern_Blitz]

What no one can say is what level of influence Weidl now has in the room. Some posters say it's Kahn but Weidl was brought in specifically for his player evaluation expertise. He sets the board. Kahn entertains trades but I highly doubt he has the power to rerank the board during the draft.

It was telling that they had Fautanu ranked 7th best player in the draft. It also explains why there was no way Kahn was going to trade down with him being available at the pick even though Kahn fielded multiple phone calls. Clearly Tomlin wanted the pick as well; "he (Kahn) was wearing me out" [referring to trade offers].

I really liked hearing this part of the story.

To me, that's what the GM should always be doing.

There's a 95% chance we make that pick. But we've got 10 minutes. Let's just answer a few calls and see if anyone wants to dramatically overpay to move up.

That's the GM's job IMO. And it sounds like Kahn agrees with me.

[Northern_Blitz]

First few drafts in the Tomlin era were stellar.

Then as he accumulated power and responsibility, they started to wane, as did the defense he took control over.

I think we've had a power reset in the last year or so.

Again, this kind of thinking doesn't make sense to me.

Why would Kahn have more power in year 1 than Colbert in decade 2?

I don't think the following is true: But it would make more sense if Colbert leaving meant Tomlin had MORE power not LESS (like when TD left and Cowher had more power).

But it doesn't fit the "good things = not Tomlin" logic.

[Northern_Blitz]

I think that the Falcons are following the Jordan Love model. Keep in mind that they have no idea how Cousins will recover from his injury

This might be true...but if he doesn't recover that contract is going to look really, really bad. Not R Wilson bad.

But they gave him $180MM, with $90MM guaranteed. That's a lot of confidence that he'll be ready to go IMO.

[Captain Lemming]

I think they were hoping to hold the OL together with duct tape for the end of Ben's career so they could try to rebuild 1st the D (after 50 got hurt), then the skill positions (after Bell and AB left).

It didn't work. But I think there were probably too many holes in the boat to do anything but have it sink slower.

Shazier getting hurt was the end of Ben's teams being really competitive IMO.

After that, the two sides of the ball weren't peaking at the right time. That's a good recipe to be consistently competitive for a playoff spot. But to compete for a championship, I think you need both sides of the ball to be pretty good at the same time.

Yup, absolutely true. It is easy to SAY we neglected the line as those guys got older but we had immediate holes to address.

It is like right now we are banking on ONE MORE solid season with Cam. If his play falls off a cliff it does not mean we should have ignored existing holes to draft his replacement.

[Captain Lemming]

Again, this kind of thinking doesn't make sense to me.

Why would Kahn have more power in year 1 than Colbert in decade 2?

I don't think the following is true: But it would make more sense if Colbert leaving meant Tomlin had MORE power not LESS (like when TD left and Cowher had more power).

But it doesn't fit the "good things = not Tomlin" logic.

Tomlin drafts bad corners but
Colbert is a whiz at drafting good receivers. I think that’s how it goes.

Of course the acquisition of JPJ was Weidl/Khan despite Tomlins history of favoring BLOODLINES.

However when we drafted Cam whose daddy played in the league it was all Colbert as Tomlin was a powerless observer of Colberts magic.

Season after season once Tomlin got full reins of control our drafts got worse. He drafted bum Jarvis Jones. Years later Colbert would avoid Tomlins mistake of drafting a Taco by overriding him to take TJ.

Wait, TJ came after Jarvis so I got that power dynamic timing mixed up

Nevermind.
Colbert/Khan/Weidl= good picks
Tomlin= bad picks

Sorry I took so long to just repeat what was said.

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

I think that the Falcons are following the Jordan Love model. Keep in mind that they have no idea how Cousins will recover from his injury

The Jordan Love model was a situation with a QB who was hinting at retirement every year, not one who was just guaranteed $100M. If the team is thinking that they have no idea how he will recover from his injury then they should have done more homework before guaranteeing that much time and money.

Absolutely awful move. Almost like the person who drafted Penix and the person who signed Cousins are different people and one didn't know what the other was doing. The best way to step forward in the worst division in football is to either give the QB some more weapons, protection, or strengthen the D. Not find a backup for the $100M guaranteed QB.

[whatever]

And another season ends with ‘Tomlin doesn’t have any talent to work with’