The Godfather blesses the trade, pick of Julio Jones
Gil Brandt, the Godfather of the NFL, at the NFL scouting combine. He spent time with Julio Jones in New York and came away impressed with the young man. (D. Orlando Ledbetter/AJC)
BIRDLAND – I checked in with the Godfather of Football, the legendary Gil Brandt on Sunday afternoon for a story on the trade to get Jones.
Brandt is in charge of the green room at the draft. He helps to coordinator the players the league invites to the function.
He had a really cool story to report about Julio Jones.
“Jones is a quality, high-character person,” Brandt said. “To show you just what I mean about the kid, he sat in the back room with the running back (Mark Ingram) until he got drafted. Now, most guys get drafted, they do their (media) duties and they want to run to the party. This guy sat back there all that time until Ingram got drafted.”
Alabama's Julio Jones (8) makes a catch for a touchdown as Georgia's Bryan Evans defends during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game in Athens, Ga., Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Brandt spent three days with Jones.
“The guy has got a great demeanor,” Brandt said. “The players all love him. We had the guys and when you have them for three days, you get a pretty good feel for them. The guy was always ahead of time. If he was supposed to be some place at 1 p.m. he was there at a quarter til 1. . .
“I think you see what kind of a good guy he is. When he had the same injury that (Michael) Crabtree had and he completed his workout [at the NFL scouting combine]. He ran a [4.34] and had a 40-inch vertical and so forth.
“I’ll tell you what, if you want to look at him, look at what he did against supposedly the best player in the draft [Patrick] Peterson. He caught nine passes for Alabama against LSU. I don’t see any holes in this guy at all.”
Brandt believes the Falcons must be comfortable with the starting defensive ends they have or they’ll address the position in free agency.
“You just hope the kid from Montana [Kroy Biermann] plays a little bit better,” Brandt said. “The one surprise was that they drafted the middle linebacker (Akeem Dent). That was kind of a surprise to me because I thought their middle linebacker played pretty darn good.”
Brandt, the former personnel executive with the Dallas Cowboys, is impressed with how the Falcons have turned things around in recent years.
“[Head coach Mike] Smith is really, really good,” Brandt said. “They made a great move with him. They made a great move with the GM [Thomas Dimitroff.] Their scouting department is very efficient. Everybody says they gave up too much, but I disagree with that. You can recoup that choice like nothing.”
–D. Orlando Ledbetter, The Atlanta Falcons beat blog
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78 comments Add your comment
SeenThisB4
May 2nd, 2011
8:14 pm
The Saints ARE going to ride roughshod over that slow and gutless falcan’t defense! The New Orleans Saints will RULE the NFC South Division once again.
hiramsaint
May 2nd, 2011
8:28 pm
nymouth- you sound like of man of experience in that dept. i mean you certainly seem to know where to go! well have fun just try to keep it to yourself- this is a football blog
DrJ
May 2nd, 2011
8:56 pm
The Saints will be loaded, but Brees was coming unglued with a relentless pass rush, but only as long as we could maintain it. And what about our pass rush?
Abraham is our slowing Zen Master. Kroy stirs up a lot of dust, but what is is sack count? We must not forget the third problem, the lack of a big push up the middle, which was a big defect in the Packers blowout. Come on FA!
The Faithful
May 2nd, 2011
9:25 pm
The New Nickname for Jacquizz is
“The Quiz”
Cause he is leaving the other team guessing where he went.
SeenThisB4
May 2nd, 2011
9:50 pm
@DrJ: Yeah, Brees was coming unglued,….. to the tune of almost 400 yards total yardage, 300 in the air,,…yeah that relentless pass rush was smothering! LOL!
hiramsaint
May 2nd, 2011
10:03 pm
unglued dropped him to the 3rd best qb in the nfl.- the quizz will be wondering what he did wrong in life to get saddled with the failcans!
Jeffer
May 2nd, 2011
10:34 pm
If Green and Jones were still available what would TD have done?
Jeffer
May 2nd, 2011
10:43 pm
Enter your comments here Add peterson to that question.
Jeffer
May 2nd, 2011
10:45 pm
this is new for me. Quess everbody went to bed.
hbcuclassics
May 2nd, 2011
10:46 pm
HBCU 2011 Draft Picks
1. Kenrick Ellis, 6′5, 330, DT Hampton Jets
2. Johnny Culbreath 6′5, 315 OT SC State Lions
3. Frank Kearse 6′4, 302 DT AlaAM Dolphins
4. Curtis Holcomb 6′1, 196 CB FAMU 49ers
5. Cecil Newton, Jr. 6′4 302 C TN St Colonials
http://www.hbcuclassics.com
wdwj
May 2nd, 2011
10:52 pm
jeffer there’s no way to tell. TD did ask about Green but said they wanted more and backed out on Falcons….I’m glad we got Jones. I like his record at Ala and his work habits. Time will tell but I hope both has great careers . Falcon will come out ok.
Falcon Fan
May 2nd, 2011
11:35 pm
I swear Atlanta has the worst fans in the league. All these people who sit up in these blogs and rag Matt Ryan will be on his nuts when he wins a Super Bowl like they never said anything.
Falcon Fan
May 2nd, 2011
11:36 pm
Oh and by the way, the 9 receptions against Peterson was pretty impressive, I forgot all about it.
MaxxFalcon
May 3rd, 2011
12:07 am
See, I respect Gil Brandt. If he had bagged on the trade, I would have had to respect that opinion. So, pretty much the complete opposite of Kiper and Mcshay. Love the trade, Love Julio, our Offense will be very tough to stop. Pick your poison!
bcinbuford
May 3rd, 2011
12:30 am
I think this should turn out to be a wise move if…we decide to call some explosive plays. Hopefully the OC will do it this year, or back off and let MR call the shots.
SawThat1nce
May 3rd, 2011
1:09 am
Mike Smith had a leash on the OC, last seasson.
Smith likes conservative.
But, I don’t see how he is going to be able, to keep from opening up the O, the next season that they play. I hope they can keep a strong Oline intact.
Can that running back they drated, catch a football?
moe
May 3rd, 2011
2:03 am
HERE WE GO,LETS US SEE HOW GOOD NEXT YEAR CB WILL BE . WILL EVERY TEAM IN THE NFC SOUTH BE LOOK TO UPGRADE ON THEM CB BY THE LOOKS OF IT ALL 3 TEAM WILL NEED TO PICK UP 1ST RD CB IF THEY CANT THEY MIGHT NEED AND LB GET PAIL MORE THAN MOST RB CB GET PAID MORE THAN WR . THE COLTS DID THE SAME THING WHEN THEY DRAFTED P. MANNIE ALL AFC SOUTH TEAM GO TO PICK GETTING CB, LB, DE , JUST TO STOP HEM BUT THEY NEVER DO YOU SEE ATL THAT WHY THEY DID THIS TRADE . NOW THE NEEEWWW STANDER IN THE NFL WILL BE THE ATL. NO ONE WILL THEN DRAFT OFF. LINE OR RB ,WR TE THEY WIIL FALL DO TO THE FALCONS CAUSE EVERYONE WILL TRY TO GET THAT DL MAN OR THAT CB TO STOP MY FALCON . SO STOP AND LOOK SMELL WHAT THE ATL IS COOKEN
GHunt
May 3rd, 2011
2:54 am
Brandt is a great evauator of talent. However, I would not have made the trade. I have no doubt that Julio will be an all pro receiver. But, take a look at what we could have had by staying at 27th. Cam Heyward or Akeem Ayers. At 59th we could have had our choice between Randall Cobb, Torrey Smith, Demarco Murray, Jerrell Jernigan or Justin Houston. At 91 Clint Boling was there. At 124, Akeem Dent or DJ Williams was there for the taking. Throw in the fact that we would still have our #1 and #4 next year.
I do not believe that Julio gives us our best move. I believe that Dimitroff realize that we made a good move with Julio, but we miss a better opportunity when we made the trade.
jj
May 3rd, 2011
3:09 am
I was wondering where our wr that we drafted from Kansas fit in?I see him as a player ike Nelson that GB used as their 3rd reciever last year.I like what TD is cooking and I don’t see where #12 fit in.Matt will have a lot of toys to play with next yeay and I hope our OC can put it together.Oh by the way,how is Kerry progressing?
JONESBORO SLIM
May 3rd, 2011
1:56 pm
Well I’m glad to see that you naysayers have had time to catch their breaths and settled down and excepted the draft choices our brain trust have made over the weekend..for those of us who fell in love with the Jones pick knew that our team will be putting fear into opponents…personnally I like the ideal of the TD and company looking to FA for a DE…and finally I think that Arthur told TD do what ever it would take to “GETTERDONE”…”See you on the hill”
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May 3rd, 2011
2:32 pm
[...] MSF podcast guest and certified NFL legend Gil Brandt thinks the Falcons trading up to get Julio Jones was a smart move. Okay, I’m sold [...]
Buddy
May 3rd, 2011
3:47 pm
Ghunt, that wasn’t a very strong case you made. Just about everyone you named was slow or undersized. It’s not about quantity, but QUALITY!
marcus
May 3rd, 2011
4:13 pm
well guys i think franks will be the nickle back this year i said mid season last season jones is the best fit for the falcons and rodgers now i say they get ray edwards and undrafted the linebacker from boston college herzlich rutgers fegeled DB and safety mcdaniel from clemson and for u guys worried about QB devlin from delaware
Brain Trust
May 3rd, 2011
8:56 pm
Actually , I didn’t know what in the world I was doing. The next 2 seasons will prove what a tard I really am !
Mike is back
May 3rd, 2011
10:02 pm
DLed, great stuff on Julio…I don’t need any more convincing…I love the bold move by TD…from the out set…it leave no doubt that the Falcon organization is committed to winning a championship.
It’s amazing what TD accomplish in the draft. It want be fully appreciated until you see it on the field…Jones and Rogers will allow the Birds to open up the offense…that will directly benefit the Defense…they will be able to play way more aggressive.
IT’S GONNA BE A MONSTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Long live TD.looooooooool
GHunt
May 3rd, 2011
10:33 pm
Buddy, who is the slow one among Jernigan, Murray, Cobb, Heyward and Williams? All of these players were highly regarded by Dimitroff.
Julio will be a great player for us. There is little or no doubt about Julio’s potential, however, I still believe we would have achieved better results if we had stayed pat.
Quincy Q
May 4th, 2011
7:54 pm
The Falcons scout don’t know what they are doing because if they did they would be able to sign more undrafted free agents look at NO they have a couple of good free agents.
Quincy Q
May 4th, 2011
7:56 pm
Thomas Dimitroff was also apart of the Detroit Lions Scout team when they were making all those bad picks and losing all those games.