Three Atlanta Falcons that are flying under the radar

Three Atlanta Falcons that are flying under the radar

Tyler ‘s here is one of three Falcons flying under the radar that we need to be paying more attention to this year you are locked on Falcons your daily Atlanta Falcons podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome back everyone to another illustrious episode of the locked on Falcons podcast your daily Atlanta Falcons podcast part of lock on sports Atlanta your team every day and today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NFL and you’ll get $20 off your first purchase terms apply so if you don’t know me I’m your very humble host Aaron Freeman been covering the Falcons for a lifetime formerly at FAL fans.com RP still going strong on the celestrial podcast you also may know me as Mr Drew AKA Serius black aka the Jolly G giant aka the iron that sharpens the iron AKA mister AKA and of course guys I appreciate each and every one of you that is in every day that means you tune in to this podcast as your first listen or first watch each and every day and it becoming every day all you got to do is subscribe or follow for free on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcast so today’s episode we’re going to talk about some under the radar players that maybe deserve a little bit more attention uh and it’s going to allow us to touch upon some other topics that I think are going to be important that we you know start disc discussing uh fully before we get ready for the uh regular season such as you know some of the changes that we may see to the Falcons run scheme that you know may you know benefit this offense this upcoming season and you know speaking of the Run scheme the first player I want to talk about is Tyler aler and you know aler is going to be a part of this offense and part of this running back room and is part of the reason why the Falcons you know are arguably may have the best duo of running backs in the NFL with him and bejon Robinson but we’ve talked throughout this offseason about how we kind of expect a reduced workload for Tyler AER this year right that each of the last two years he’s had over 200 touches looking at his carries and pass catches uh these past two years and I’ve mentioned before on the podcast earlier this offseason that I’m expecting that number to drop down in the 150 to you know maybe slightly below range somewhere in that area and so instead of the 4 to3 ratio that we saw in terms of touches last year with bejan getting four touches and air getting three touches you know for every four bejan got air got three I think we’re more likely to see that two to one ratio so it’s probably gonna be closer to 300 Touches for ban this year 150 Touches for Tyler air and that that’s more in line with some of the high-end rb2s that we’ve seen in recent years that’s what Taj Spears got last year in Tennessee behind Derrick Henry that’s what Kareem hunt for many years when him and Nick chub were the best duo of running backs in the NFL for several years in Cleveland that’s what Kareem hunt was getting uh significant ific work around 150 touches a year with a larger percentage of those being um you know pass catches just because chub often was get subbed out on third downs but like that’s kind of what we’re envisioning for Tyler air and it’s fair to Envision that for Tyler air just because I think most people would consider him one of the best rb2s in the NFL yeah I’m sure many people would argue he is the best rb2 in the NFL thanks in part to that thousand yard season he had uh as a rookie in 2022 now personally I would probably argue whoever you consider to be the rb2 in either Detroit or Washington whether that’s um you know David Montgomery or jir Gibbs or Brian Robinson and Austin Eckler in DC those guys would probably be the top rb2 for me in my personal rankings but you know number three ain’t bad for Tyler AER he’s certainly probably in the top five top seven at worst so he’s clearly probably one of the best 35 to 40 running backs in the NFL and that’s a great spot for Tyler AER to be that’s kind of what I thought he would be coming into the NFL we saw him really finish strong that rookie season where he far exceeded what my expectations were uh of him coming into the NFL but outside of that sort of nine game stretch in the back half of 2022 he’s been a very productive rb2 but more in line with that rb2 production than necessarily that rb1 production that we saw in the back half of that rookie season but you know I think one of the interesting things that we’re going to see uh with Tyler AER in this run game is we might see more variation or variance in the Run game under Zack Robinson than we got with Arthur Smith right the Falcons were a very heavy outside Zone scheme under Arthur Smith you know I think the staple of the ground game will still continue to be that outside Zone scheme under Zack Robinson but I think there’s going to be more variant because Arthur Smith’s offense was basically like we’re just running nothing but outside Zone and really not a whole lot else uh and I think with Zack Robinson you’ll still see a large percentage is outside Zone but they will run a lot of other things now I know a lot of people have talked about the Rams being basically the opposite of the Falcons when it came to using Duo which is sort of a gap interior run type of play last year and we you know very much spamming that type of play like the Falcons were spamming the outside Zone and I I’ve seen some people speculating like the Falcons going to switch to that sort of blocking scheme and I don’t think that’s the case now I think we’ll see more of that type of blocking scheme uh but I don’t think the Falcons really have the horses and the Personnel to really go as hard as the Rams did given the size that the Rams have on their interior offensive line versus with the Falcons where size is is kind of a deficiency for the Falcons interior offensive line and you want more of that road grading type of guys if you want to be more of that d scheme but you know it’s the same thing we we’ve talked a number of times about you know good coaching is putting your guys in a position to succeed and asking guys to play in a scheme you know sort of opposite to what their skill set is uh you know to me doesn’t make a ton of sense and and is not good coaching but again we’ll probably see more of that type of run in the running game and I think that type of run you know more of the Interior Duo runs inside Zone stuff uh more Gap stuff than we’ve seen over the last couple of years I think could benefit Tyler aeri because if you guys recall when we drafted him back in in 2022 I stated on this podcast that I thought his scheme fit was a better fit in a in a sort of Gap inside running team than the outside Zone scheme that the Falcons had just because I thought his vision uh and his lack of maybe necessarily the ideal lateral agility that you want in an outside Zone scheme and we talked about this a ton with you know in recent weeks with you know some of these Falcons historian player shootouts that we’ve done talking about work done Devonte Freeman you know bejan fits into that mold of these sort of slashing running backs that are ideally suited to me in the outside Zone scheme and that’s not really Tyler aer’s game he’s more of that downhill Michael Turner s running back and the Falcons ran a very downhill Gap uh scheme in the height of Michael Turner’s Heyday in Atlanta and that’s more the style of running back that I’ve always seen Tyler air even though you know two years in Atlanta and as well as at BYU he spent the bulk of his career playing an outside zon game but all of that is to sit here and say that I do think he could be you know a really good fit as that sort of Duo Runner that guy that can sort of smash the ball in there uh in between the tackles um and so I think you know any sort of variance any sort of Shifting of the Run scheme I think could theoretically benefit Tyler air more than you know bejan can fit in any type of run scheme that you want to run but like aler specifically for this type of running scheme being more of that sort of um you know in between the tackles run scheme than we have been the last two years I think he could benefit for that more and you know it goes back to what we’ve talked about all offseason long which is you know the Run game is still going to matter you know we’ve had quotes from guys like Drake London talking about the ball going to be in the air a lot more and I think that’s led to the perception that we’re going to be this pass heavy offense I don’t think that’s the case we will certainly pass the ball more than we had under Arthur Smith right you look at you know neutral pass frequency which is a stat over at runningbacks don’t matter.com which you know we don’t love the mission statement of that website but certainly they have a lot of great data on that stuff and you know they sort of have a metric of neutral pass frequency looking at first and second down um you know excluding ends of halves excluding games or moment situations where you’re really behind or really ahead on the scoreboard and you look at the last three years under Arthur Smith in those neutral pass frequency situations the Falcons ranked 30th in the NFL so basically very much run heavy uh compared to the rest of the league right the higher you are the more you tend to throw the football in those rankings and you can compare that to the Rams you know over the last three years they were ninth in neutral pass frequency you look at the entirety of the shamik Vay era since 2017 fourth in neutral patch frequency you look at the Vikings right uh the last two years under Kevin okon were seventh in that regard so clearly much more pass heavy offenses and I think that’s one going to be one of the things that Zack Robinson does bring here to Atlanta and sort of explains sort of the comment from Drake London is the ball is going to be in there you’re going to see a lot more passing on early Downs where the Falcons are going to be a more aggressive especially using some of that play action passing in order to try to generate some of those explosive plays on those early Downs rather than just relying on the running game to sort of keep the offense on schedule and trying to be more aggressive trying to get some of those chunk yardage and explosive plays through the air on early downs but it still revolves around the Run game being a core component we of course know that a lot of data tells you that you don’t have to necessarily establish the run in order to set up the play action passing game but certainly if you do have an effective running game in addition to having effective play action passing game that’s sort of a two-edge sword uh as opposed to a single edge when you can just kind of throw the ball without establishing the run off play action and whatnot but um I think all I have to say is like the running game is still going to matter Tyler AER is going to still be an important component of that run game could benefit from a scheme shift even if he’s not necessarily the guy that’s going to be the engine you know sort of driving the um offense uh like he has been in the past just like the Run game may not necessarily be as you know instead of being a V8 we’re going to be a V4 or whatever but although we were V4 trying to be a V8 last year that was part of the problem with last season is our Run game was only a V4 as opposed to being the V8 that we were hoping it would wind up being but we got more to talk about with the Run game Talking a little bit more about the variance in the offense and it’s not just going to impact the running backs it’s going to potentially impact some of the wide receivers because they may be more involved in a run scheme uh than we have seen in recent years under Arthur Smith and that leads us to another guy that’s flying under the radar that is Ray Ray McLoud who not only could benefit in the Run game but also could be a factor in the pass game because he could quietly emerge as the team’s number three wide receiver by the end of training camp and we’ll break that down guys as we continue today’s lock on Falcons guys I want to tell you that today’s episode of lock on Falcons is sponsored by betterhelp and comparison is often the thief of joy and it’s easy to look around especially in today’s social media saturated age uh and be envious of other people’s lives and it looks like they have it all together but in reality they probably don’t and therapy can help hope you focus on what you want as opposed to what others have so that you can start living your best life therapy has benefited me helping teach me positive coping skills like you can only control what you can control and I use those positive coping skills each and every Sunday when I’m watching the Atlanta Falcons I can’t control if they win or lose a football game but I can certainly control whether or not you guys get that premium content here on this illustrious podcast but if you’re thinking of starting therapy to help you deal with whatever you’re dealing with I think you should give bar help a try it’s designed to be convenient flexible suited to your schedule uh and just all you got to do is fill out a brief questionnaire to get match with a licensed therapist and you can switch therapist at any time for no additional charge which makes using better help easier than traditional offline therapy where you’re GNA have to you know pay fees and and Shop yourself around and all that stuff it makes it easy for better he so stop comparing start focusing with better he by visiting better help.com lockon and you’ll get 10% off your first month that’s better help hp.com slash locked on so another aspect of the Falcons Run game that we’ll see variance in that will be a shift from what Arthur Smith utilized is probably we’ll see a lot more usage of jet sweeps into rounds and reverses right uh looking at the PFF data over the last three years the Falcons uh had a total of nine jet sweeps in the rounds or reverses under Arthur Smith over the last three years you now you compare that to the Rams who under the seven years of sha McVey have averaged 24 of those each and every season so we’re talking about a 300% increase in terms of the usage of some of those types of plays right and that was one of the things that to me was a little disappointing watching last year’s offense where I thought one of the things that we were going to see with the positionist football that was so you know hyped up throughout the offseason in the summer last year which was like utilizing beon as that sort of pseudo wide receiver and that we would see him sort of utilize a lot more on these jet sweeps and end rounds and whatnot I think he got like two of those all last year uh but that was a disappointing thing for me um last year but one thing that does not disappoint me guys before we continue this conversation is uh the lockdown sports today a 247 free sports streaming Channel That’s programmed for you each and every day to bring you the biggest stories and can’t miss analysis opinions and news streaming 247 on YouTube with the free Amazon Fire TV channels app it’s part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day but you know with the increased usage of you know these jet sweeps and in rounds and all these various things I think we’re going to see you know this be integrated with the wide receivers and I think when you look at the type of wide receiver three that we have here in Atlanta between Rond Del Moore and Ray Ray McLoud the two guys that are most likely to compete for that open slot uh wide receiver spot that’s kind of the perfect usage for these guys because they’re kind of gadgety type of players now all offseason long we’ve been kind of penciling and Rondo Moore as the front runner for that spot I still think he’s probably the front runner to win that competition but I think there’s going to be a legit competition between him and Ray R McLoud going into training camp and you know we’ve just sort of assume oh rayen McLoud they signed him to just sort of return kicks we talked about that uh earlier this month on sort of the potential of Ray McLoud being the kick returner and Avery Williams being the punt returner um and but the Falcons has spent a decent amount of money on Ray McLoud not a huge amount and you know you would imagine that they sort of see more than him to just being a kick returner if that’s what they were signing him for they they probably overspent a little bit on that but that I think tells us that they have more potential for Ray McLoud to be a significant part of this offense and I think he’ll get that opportunity this summer to compete with the job you know and so like that wide receiver three spot is not locked up and it piggybacks on something that Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus told us on yesterday’s episode if you didn’t catch that episode he talked about how Zack Robinson is a big fan of raver McLoud and you would imagine Sam because you know him and Zach go way back in their PFF days going back to like you know 2018 2017 all that stuff you know I’m sure as Zack was doing the the the film study and per and that was around the time when rayen McLoud was doing his thing at what Clemson or whatever so you know maybe they have some inside information on like this is a guy that Zack Robinson has always liked going back to his Clemson days but when we talk about those gadgety type of players we’re typically talking about guys that aren’t necessarily you know full-fledged wide receivers that are running a complete route tree and all that stuff more the types of guys that it’s really just get the ball into their hands and let them do their things after the catch a lot of sort of underneath stuff the jet sweeps the end rounds of rses screens all that sort of stuff uh and I think raver McLoud certainly has that skill set just like Rondo Moore does just like Cordo Patterson that was his skill set as well for the position and so I’m curious to see what Zack Robinson can do with these guys because you know we talk about the speed added to the Falcons wide receiver core and part of the reason why like I don’t view the Falcons wide receiver group as nearly as strong as maybe other people do when they talk about the revamp in in terms of the Personnel because I don’t know if this group of guys is bringing like there’s you know Collective the higher there’s a higher percentage of fast guys in the room than there was previously but in terms of the speed that rayer McLoud and Rond Del Moore uh and Darnell Moody are bringing to the table I don’t know if it’s different speed than what we had last year with Van Jefferson and Scotty Miller and the difference between I think van Jefferson Scotty Miller in this current group of guys is that those guys the last year’s guys were much more known for being able to stretch defenses vertically being more effective as downfield targets we talked before about Darnell money that’s not been something that he’s been particularly productive at Rod Delmore has been decently productive on the rare occasions he’s catching about a 39% catch rate in terms of deep passes uh over the course of his three-year career but the percentage of his targets that are actually deep passes is a very low number similar to that of like what Muhammad senu or Justin Hardy’s you know percentage of deep passes and no one would have described either one of those guys his deep threats uh but you know the interesting thing about rayor McLoud is he’s never caught a deep ball in his entire NFL career in the five six seasons he’s played in NFL he’s 0411 in terms of catching deep targets uh and you guys may recall that bad drop he had against the Falcons when he was with the 49ers back in 2022 that could have potentially helped tie up that game uh which the Falcons were able to hold on and ultimately but you know Jimmy Garoppolo dropped one in the bucket and Ray Ray dropped it and so that’s why like I sit here and I talk about this wide receiver core is like yeah they have speed but it’s not the type of vertical speed that I think a lot of people assume people just see guys that run four threes and four fours and think oh this is a deep threat you know similar to people said the same thing about Alam zakas and that wasn’t really the name of his game either what these guys are really bringing to the table I think is more not vertical stretch ability but horizontal stretch ability and that goes back to a conversation we’ve had about Zack Robinson and some of the things that he can incorporate in offense more use of motion uh and whatnot to create some mismatches on the outside we’ve seen sort of four offenses really maximize the use of motion last year it was kind of the standard was kind of set by Mike McDaniel with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Wadd in Miami and that’s kind of the core sort of identifying aspect of that offense uh using all that speed to In Motion but you know the Chiefs did it a lot the Rams did it a lot and the 49ers did a lot those were kind of the top four teams in terms of utilizing motion um and you know it’s not a probably not a coincidence that those are considered to be you know among the four best play callers and four best offenses in the INF I know the Chiefs didn’t quite live up to that but we know uh we’ll see what you know we’ll get a chance to see what they can do this year now that they’ve added some more speed to their offense and upgraded that wide receiver core but um that’s one of the things we’re hoping to see Zack Robinson do that we can kind of join that group of of teams by being able to maximize motion and again go back and listen to the episode I did a couple of weeks ago talking about some of the elements of that but when we talk about the spacing of this offense right that was a big knock on Arthur Smith’s offense uh the lack of spacing having too many guys in the same area whatnot and again I think the spacing of this offense is going to be more horizontal than vertical right that we’re not going to necessarily stretch the teams vertically I still think the best deep threat on the team is probably Drake London and Drake London’s not really a deep threat he can certainly make plays down the field because of his contested catch ability and jump ball but defenses aren’t changing the way that they play that’s what I think a deep threat is what you would Define he he threatens teams with his deep ability and you want guys that can change how defense like they oh we have to play two high coverages because we can’t deal with the Deep bow and all that stuff so I don’t think the Falcons really have that deep threat in their offense but the spacing can increase with being much more of a horizontal sort of stretch team and I think rayer McLoud is an integral part of that and so it’ll be interesting to see if he can wind up winning that number three wide receiver spot as I said earlier I do expect Rond Del Moore to walk you know emerge from Camp as you know the starter at that number three spot but I think is a compelling battle uh it’s probably the only technical starting competition on the offensive side of the ball where you consider the number three wide receiver to be one of probably the 11 or 12 starters depending on how you count um on offense and so that’s probably the only one that’s you know up for grabs intering training camp when I sit here and think about unless you want to consider the tight end two spot between Charlie Warner and Ross dwelly and the Falcons have like I don’t know like 12 million reasons why Charlie Warner is supposed to win that competition so we we’ll see about that that’s whatever the guaranteed money is on on Charlie Warner I think it’s somewhere like eight or1 million can’t remember the exact number but um so I think rayar Cloud’s going to be interesting he’s he’s one of these under the radar guys that we can sit here and be like oh he’s just a return specialist a special teams guy but could be wind up being a number three guy and be an important Cog in the offense like again the offense is going to be defined by their usage of end rounds and Jet sweeps but it’s going to be something that I think you’ll see as a staple in this offense and again the horizontal stretching the motion and the spacing is going to be something that we’re hoping to see as a staple in the Zack Robinson offense and so that gives us two under the radar players on offense let’s switch sides of the ball and talk about the defensive side of the ball and talk about D Alford and how his 2024 season you know could depending on how well it goes could really set up this secondary for long-term success and we’ll break that down to wrap up today’s lockdown Falcons so guys it is time to get back in the ballpark and game time is making it easy to do so I know baseball is currently on an All-Star break but game time being an authorized ticket Marketplace for Major League Baseball means that when they come back from the break you can get into the stadium by shopping their Flash Deals which are exclusive inapp deals on select seats ahead of the game we love the views from your seat you get that panoramic view from your seat before you buy so you know exactly what to expect and you know you can line up the perfect spot to catch that fly ball or foul ball uh should it come your way in the ball Mark and of course we love that game time you know allows you the feature of toggling whether or not you’re going to be hit with those hidden fees at checkout that’s kind of the worst thing of buying a lot of things which is like oh I’m getting a steal on this and then you find out you know whether it’s you know shipping and handling or something else there’s so 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see who is the trivia champion in the Falcons historian player shootout as we you know roll through the rest of the summer so let’s talk about D Alfred right you know and D alford’s kind of flying under the radar because most of the attention when it comes to the Falcons uh cornerback position is about who’s going to be the CB2 who’s going to be that other outside corner is it gonna be Mike Hughes it’s gonna be Clark Phillips it’s gonna be Kevin King it’s gonna be Antonio Hamilton or whatever and sort of D offers just kind of flying under the radar just kind of quietly locking down the nickel quarterback spot like is there really going to be a challenge for him at that spot and I have a hard time seeing that b basically to me you know whoever loses that competition between Hughes and Phillips is probably going to be the biggest challenger but if they spend you know the first month of training camp you know going back and forth at the starting quarterback spot that allows plenty of opportunity for D Alfred to just kind of solidify that nickel quarterback spot and that’s going to matter this upcoming season just because there’s going to be a select couple of games this year where you know not only is he gonna draw a a particularly uh good wide receiver with various teams having capable uh you know slot receivers that line up primarily there uh in the slot but there’s gonna be a couple of games where he’s going to probably get the Marquee match up because several teams that we Face tend to like to put their you know number one receiver in the slot for the majority of downs right that’s going to be Dallas with CD lamb that’s going to be Carolina with Adam thielen um and from what I understand Tampa Bay is moving Chris Godwin back to the slot this year uh in their new look offense and so you know obviously Mike Evans is the Marquee matchup in that game but Chris a Chris Godwin is a very close second and that you know can really help determine how this defense performs if they you know we already know that they struggle to to keep Mike Evans in check but the key is like we know Mike Evans is basically what I’m trying to say is Mike Evans going to get his we just got to stop Chris Godwin and if we can do that that’s going to put this defense in a position success and those that responsibility will primarily rely on D Alford so those are going to be some interesting matchups for de Alford this upcoming season just a handful of those uh and given all the question marks we have in the secondary you know at CB2 at strong safety who’s going to start at those positions if the Falcons can eliminate a question mark by De Alford locking down that nickel quarterback spot it can do wonders for the secondary moving forward now what’s interesting about D Alford is he’s been productive when he’s been on the field but for whatever for various reasons has not been the full-time nickel quarterback for the Falcons in the last two years right Pro Football Focus graded him as the 29th highest graded Corner in coverage last year um so but when you eliminate all the guys that are outside corners you look at the guys that just spent the bulk of their snaps playing in the slot last year he would have ranked eighth among uh you know sort of slot Corners so theoretically D Alford was performing like a top 10 nickel last year and again if we get that similar sort of production from him this year you know that would be a huge boost right I don’t think D Alford is a perfect quarterback watching the film like there are ups and downs there are sometimes when this technique gets a little sloppy gets a little handsy at times but generally speaking he’s a do your job guy he can get the B you know he’ll be in that Defender hit pocket like he’s not he’s rarely out of position uh you know he’ll be able to get those guys down on the ground you know after the catch to limit those big gains and whatnot and this is going to be important that he continues to show this ability that we’ve seen flashes of for extended period of times for an entire season because this is a key year for dford it’s a contract year right now he’ll only be a restricted free agent next year but like you know restricted free agents still get a decent chunk of change right like him being a undrafted free agent means that you know he’s if he winds up solidifying that starting spot like that’s a $5 million Tinder next year possibly a first round Tinder would be about $7 million the second round Tinder is the $5 million first round Tinder is $7 million right and then you look at you know know the the type of money that some of these highend nickel quarterbacks have gotten on these second contracts you have a guy like Kenny Moore who’s making 10 million a year you have a guy like Mike Hilton who’s making six million a year so that six to 10 million a year range is kind of that sweet spot for D Alford should he continue to play at a high level and earn a long-term contract extension at some point in the next year or two and that’s going to be important it’s a make or break year for de Alford right this is the year where he has a golden opportunity to show hey I belong in this league I can play at a high level in this league right we’ve seen the flashes we just haven’t seen it for entire season because we’ve had him splitting reps with Isaiah Oliver in 2022 we had him splitting reps last year with Mike Hughes uh in 2023 and and that’s one of the things that the Falcons have lacked at that nickel quarterback but it’s kind of been a revolving door for the last 15 20 years um and like the last time we had a guy locked down out position or really the only time we’ve had a guy locked down out position for more than two years in a row was Brian P from 2016 to 2018 uh and ever since then you know we’ve had guys like Damonte KY and Kendall Sheffield and isai Isa I’m sorry Isaiah Oliver Richie Grant Darren Hall D Alford uh as well as Mike Hughes uh in the mix there sort of just sort of platooning that spot and keeping the seat warm and hopefully D Alford not only will just be keeping the seat warm to us to bring someone better in in the future but you know to be that sort of long-term Place us and bring that long-term stability uh at that spot that we just haven’t had since you know the early days of Brian P’s uh time in Atlanta so I think D Alford is certainly an under the radar player that could be a critical component that isn’t getting nearly as much attention because everybody’s you know giving themselves an ulcer understandably so for that other outside quarterback spot who’s going to be covering the Mike evanses of the world potentially this year uh and and so you know are we gonna is that guy gonna be able to prevent Mike Evans from getting his as well as so many other you know excellent wide receivers that we’ll be facing this upcoming season but I think for those reasons D Alford if he can kind of lock down his spot that’s one less area to worry about right it’s like okay well we can you know again I’m not gonna say we can scheme around it but it’s like the idea we’ll give that corner safety help but we can trust de ALR and AJ TR to kind of be on islands and that will allow you know Jessie bat to kind of freelance and do his thing and whatever you know my man loves to cheat but uh we’ll see how that all plays out but that’s going to do it for us guys in terms of three under the radar Falcons of course we’ll have more Falcons historian player shootouts later this week and I do want to talk about three potential breakout guys that we’ve been talking about all offseason long but now training camp is on upon us you know put that final nail in the coffin talking about how you know these three guys need to make big jumps in order for the Falcons to reach their full potential uh on either side of the ball and those are guys like Troy Anderson Matt berson and Arnold ATI so that may also be in store later this week as well so I hope you continue to make lockdown Falcons your first listen all you got to do is subscribe or follow for free on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcast and if you’re checking out what you want for your second listen go ahead check out lock on Braves and see what’s in store for those guys after they get back from the All-Star break as well as so many other shows here in the lockon podcast Network in the lock on Sports Atlanta podcast family it’s all part of lockon podcast Network your team every day

The Atlanta Falcons have several high-profile players expected to make an impact in 2024. However, host Aaron Freeman discusses three flying under the radar: RB Tyler Allgeier, WR Ray-Ray McCloud, and CB Dee Alford. He breaks down how a shift to a more downhill run scheme might benefit a player like Allgeier, who is among the NFL’s best backup running backs.

Later, he discusses McCloud’s potential to carve out a spot as the team’s their wide receiver ahead of Rondale Moore. He breaks down how McCloud fits well into the “gadget” role that will help stretch defenses horizontally under new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson. Finally, he discusses how Alford is entering a make-or-break year as the team’s top option at nickel cornerback and how a strong year could add much-needed stability to the Falcons secondary for years to come.

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