The ex-Falcons star gives his thoughts on his former team’s start to the season after a shocking defeat to the Carolina Panthers.
Former NFL cornerback DeAngelo Hall believes the Atlanta Falcons must limit turnovers and improve offensively, but says it’s not time to panic over quarterback Michael Penix Jr.
The Falcons slipped to 1-2 for the season after suffering a shock defeat to the Carolina Panthers in Week 3, in which Penix was benched late on and replaced by veteran Kirk Cousins.
In our exclusive interview, Hall discusses his former team’s early struggles, which players have stood out this season so far and who he’s picking for the Super Bowl, with the Bills and Ravens currently at the top of the NFL betting markets.
What have you made of the Atlanta Falcons’ start to the season? Are there any players you have been impressed by?
I’ll tell you what. Until Week 3, I would’ve said they were doing really darn good but then they went out against the Carolina Panthers and dropped an egg.
I wasn’t expecting that from the Atlanta Falcons, especially with the leadership of Raheem Morris and everything they’ve been able to do with the players they’ve got.
I wasn’t expecting the Panthers to come and just jump on them the way they did.
When you look at the scoreboard, it was all because of turnovers. The offence has to be better. You cannot turn the football over, and you can’t give the other team points, and that’s what happened. Once that snowball starts in the National Football League, it’s hard to come back from that.
In terms of players that impress me, I’m a corner guy, and A.J. Terrell Jr. is one of the top corners in the NFL. Anytime he’s on the football field, I love watching him play. Falcons need him back and healthy.
Is it too early to panic over Michael Penix Jr.’s play against the Panthers?
Absolutely. Even though he was benched, I think Coach Morris just wanted to get his guys out of there and he made a similar statement echoing this. The game was out of hand so let’s get our young starting quarterback in Penix Jr. out of there.
Coach Morris wanted to let Kirk Cousins, who is a savvy veteran in this league, go ahead and finish up that game.
It’s way too early to panic though for Falcons fans. They’re a young team who need to get some guys healthy and it sometimes just happens in the NFL. You meet a buzzsaw. You don’t come out ready to play and the other team hits you in the mouth.
What have you made of Ashton Jeanty’s start with the Las Vegas Raiders?
Well, he played at Boise State, which isn’t really big-time college football, so I was a little nervous for the kid.
I didn’t know if he could take the physicality of the NFL, especially in a Pete Carroll system where he wants to run the ball.
But I was at the Raiders-Commanders game in Week 3, and Ashton Jeanty is as described. His lower body is built to run the football. So, his physical makeup definitely surprised me after seeing it in person. After seeing that and knowing the way Pete Carroll likes to lean on the run game, I think Jeanty is going to be a beast in this league.
He’s just so low and kind of squatty to the ground. He reminds me a little bit of Ray Rice, the way he’s compact but still has that power and home run speed.
If I was a Raiders fan, I wouldn’t be concerned at his production so far at all. Production comes with time, and it comes with that offence being able to just jell a little bit more.
That offensive line has to get movement too. I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that a running back can find a hole when there’s no hole. The better your offensive line play, the more chance your running back will have of finding those holes and just falling forward.
But Jeanty is one of them guys who will always fall forward because of his physicality.
There is controversy over Tom Brady’s Week 2 appearance in the Las Vegas Raiders’ coaching booth. Do you think there is a conflict of interest between Brady’s roles as minority owner of the Raiders and NFL broadcaster?
First of all, I love Tom Brady. I love what he’s been able to accomplish in the NFL. To go from being one of the greatest players to ever play to now getting part ownership on a team like the Raiders, that’s a huge win for him.
But I do think there is a conflict of interest at times. When you’re doing those production meetings with teams as an analyst, you’re getting some of those secrets. You might not get all the secret sauce but you’re getting enough of those details of what’s coming up in the game plan that I think can help you.
The players ultimately have to go out there and perform but I think some of the information in these production meetings can help you.
On the reverse side though, I don’t know if coaches are as open when they are having these conversations with Brady because why would they be, if they know he might be sitting in the other team’s booth with a headset on.
If I’m Tom and I got a stake in the Raiders, I’m going to make sure the Raiders are good. I’m sorry, Fox, but I want to make sure my organization is good.
The Washington Commanders are a little banged up but have managed to win games. What are your thoughts on their start to the season?
I think they’re trying to pick up where they left off last season. Obviously, injuries have been a factor early on, and they missed a big piece of their team in Jayden Daniels during Week 3.
But in the game against the Raiders, you see what happens in the NFL when you have a mobile quarterback. Daniels is special, but even if you can bring in a mobile backup quarterback like Marcus Mariota, you still have some type of run game and something that can keep defenses at bay.
Once they get healthy, I think this is still a team that’s capable of a deep playoff run, just like last year. Right now, they’re a little banged up, but they have to weather that storm.
They lost Deatrich Wise Jr. who is a pass rusher, for the year, and you need a strong pass rush in this league. So, they went out and signed Preston Smith, who was my young boy back when we drafted him in 2015 in Washington, now he’s an OG in the league. So, they found a replacement there to help the pass rush.
I love Austin Ekeler too. He’s a beast, and they’re definitely going to miss him, but anytime you have a quarterback as part of your run game, it just adds to yardage, and it still contributes towards you controlling the line of scrimmage. With their current running back by committee as well as having a quarterback who can run, they’ll be alright.
It’s nice though when you get a win and your starting quarterback can take a break because he’s not on the field. That’s positive and the team looked good against the Raiders.
Also, the organization remembers Robert Griffin III being rushed back and getting hurt again, so I think they will be as safe as possible when it comes to Jayden Daniels’ recovery. They will be thinking of the big picture which is making sure he is around for a long, long time.
Green Bay had a great start to the season before their surprise loss against the Cleveland Browns in Week 3. What have you made of the Packers’ start?
Some days you just roll out of bed and the other team just has a better 60 minutes of football, and they hit you in the mouth that day. You can play them 100 times and win 99 times, but this was just that one time for the Green Bay Packers against the Browns.
It was just a perfect storm. Cleveland just hung around and executed better right at the end. But, to me, it doesn’t take away from the Packers. They’re still a team that has a lot of speed, they have a quarterback who knows what he’s doing, a run game, weapons on the outside and a lot of good players on the defensive side of the ball too.
They added Micah Parsons who is always going to be a Defensive Player of the Year candidate. Anytime you can get after the quarterback with a guy who is that dominating, he makes you slide your protection, it just gives you so many opportunities as a defense. We already know your protections are going his way so we can dial up blitzes from the other side.
I’m just waiting for Green Bay to really get into their groove. The more time they have with Parsons on the field, the sooner they’ll hit that groove.
On defense, they’re not as dominant on the back end but it doesn’t matter because if the pass rush is coming then they don’t have to cover as long because that ball will have to come out quick. So, as long as you have got Parsons, you’ll be alright and once he is fully healthy, him and that defense could be scary for opposing offences.
How motivated will Parsons be to face the Dallas Cowboys in Week 4?
Extremely motivated. To be traded is to be told that your team didn’t want you or they didn’t value you highly enough. Even if you don’t want to admit to it and even if you go somewhere else and get your money, you still feel a little salty. You still have a chip on your shoulder.
I played in some revenge games during my career so I know how excited and ready Parsons will be and how much he will want to make some plays. This is going to be like a Super Bowl for him.
What did you make of Virginia Tech’s decision to fire Brent Pry, and what are your overall feelings about where the college program is at right now?
Anytime someone loses their job, it is not a fun thing. Pry is a great person, and I think he’s a really good football coach.
The situation is tough because Virginia Tech is close to my heart. It’s the place where I spent my early years, I met my wife there, and my daughter goes to school there. Anytime Virginia Tech is involved, it pulls at my emotional strings.
I think everybody wants to see the Hokies get back to the brand of football that they’re used to. That always starts with recruiting. It’s easier to be a better coach when you have better players and they need to keep more players in the state of Virginia.
I’m from Virginia, the 757 area, and there’s legends like Michael Vick, Bruce Smith and countless other guys who came from the state too. Virginia is so talented when it comes to producing NFL level talent, so we have to keep kids here.
That’s how Coach Frank Beamer built the program back in the day. That’s still the right way to go about things. The NIL element has changed the game but there’s way too many talented kids in Virginia going to other places to play their football.
Which current Virgina Tech player excites you the most?
I always watch Kyron Drones. We live and die on a football field by your quarterback position. So, I’ll always watch the quarterback to see if he’s making the right reads, getting the ball out of his hands and putting the offence in a position to be successful.
But when we talk about translating to the next level, Drones is a player who has immense talent and he’s always a player I watch out for.
Texas QB Arch Manning came into the season with high expectations. However, he has struggled so far. What have you made of his play, and should expectations be cooled for now?
I think expectations should be cooled a little bit. He obviously has the right name when you talk about the legacy of being a football player with the name ‘Manning’. I was drafted the same year Eli Manning was and even he had that family legacy and expectation because of his father and brother playing.
To me, Arch is a really, really good player though. He just hasn’t unpacked his full bag of accessories yet. He’s an awesome talent but he is very early on in the process.
I’ve followed Arch from the time he was in high school, so I know the kind of player he can be when it comes to being able to make every throw and the athleticism too. You have to have that athleticism nowadays at the quarterback position. Peyton, as great as he was, and he’s one of my favorites, he’s not making it in today’s NFL. There are not too many pocket passers anymore.
When you see Arch be able to get out of the pocket and use some of that athleticism, you can see he’s definitely the most athletic Manning.
How big of a miss has cornerback Christian Gonzalez been for the New England Patriots?
He’s been a huge miss. Gonzalez is one of those players who can shut down one side of the field.
I remember watching his college tape when he was coming out of Oregon, and he checked every box. He is an athletic freak who has great traits. He can go get the football. He runs a 4.3. He’s over six feet tall, and he’s good at the line of scrimmage as well.
Anytime you don’t have a player on the field who has these traits and is clearly top 10 at his position, your defense is going to take a hit for sure.
I remember when the Patriots drafted him, they were talking about how they felt like they had hit a home run because he was such a great player. They were right.
What have you made of Jalen Ramsey’s first games for the Pittsburgh Steelers?
Jalen is one of those scrappy, hard-nosed football players, and no matter what team he goes to, he stamps down his identity.
What better place than Pittsburgh for a guy who plays the cornerback position as hard as Ramsey plays it. To me, he was the prototypical kind of player the Steelers were looking for and in need of.
He’s been phenomenal again and he has been his whole career. He doesn’t just live on the outside and play corner, he has the ability to go inside and play in the nickel. He can go back and play safety too.
Jalen is a lot bigger than what people give him credit for. He’s over six feet tall and weighs around 210 pounds but can still run like a smaller corner outside.
I like to joke and call Jalen an avatar, because I’m a little 5-foot 10 corner and he’s this big scary dude with long arms who just goes out and dominates opponents. He’s a first ballot Hall of Famer, no doubt.
Ramsey’s former team, the Miami Dolphins, started 0-3. Could they now regret letting him go?
Anytime you let go of a player like Jalen Ramsey, your team is going to take a little bit of a hit. He is a first ballot Hall of Famer, and there’s no question about that.
When you lose that leadership, presence and the ability to lock down one side of the field, that’s tough on any organization.
Now, when it comes to the Miami Dolphins, I don’t really know what’s going on down there because it’s a little more than just not having Jalen Ramsey on their team. That organization has other problems that they need to deal with pretty soon if they can’t manage to utilize all that team speed, which we thought so highly of going into the season.
You played in the NFC East for a number of years while in Washington. How intense were those divisional games and did preparation for them feel different?
When you have to see an opponent twice, I think it’s natural that you’re always going to be a little bit more locked in, especially if it’s the second matchup against that team that season.
Sometimes, as a corner, you go out there and press a guy and think ‘oh, he’s a little faster than I thought’ or if you hit a guy, you might think ‘oh, he’s a little stronger than I thought.’ But, if it’s the second time, you’ve already seen the opponent. You’ve had a chance to go through all of their tape so there shouldn’t be any surprises.
With division opponents, especially if you’ve been in the division for a couple of years, you start to create these ‘rivalries’ with the opposition players. You just know each other so well that it’s almost like going against a friend in a sense but that doesn’t make the competition any less fierce. You want to beat up on your brother or friend just as much as anybody else.
It’s having the familiarity of understanding the other guys’ game which makes these divisional matchups so heated. That’s a reason why they tend to be close games as well.
Which NFC East rivalry did you feel was the most intense?
Anytime you were playing in New York, Philadelphia or even in Dallas, it was always very heated in those stadiums.
I think the most hostile environment has to be Philadelphia. I don’t like Dallas Cowboys fans that much either but there’s something about playing up in Philly, you just never feel safe there.
I even had the chance to play at Veterans Stadium years ago when I was at Virginia Tech. We played Temple up there and heard all the stories about them having a jail at the bottom of the stadium. Those Philly fans definitely need a jail in there because they can get rowdy.
Which current NFL wide receiver would you relish the challenge of facing one-on-one and why?
In my heyday, I would have loved to go up against Tyreek Hill because of the simple fact I loved going up against the fast dudes. With Tyreek, I know I’m picking the fastest in the league.
When I could run, I wanted to race anybody. Randy Moss got me, but Randy could run with them six foot four legs. I think I can get Tyreek though. It would’ve been a fun matchup back in the day.
You played both cornerback and safety during your career. Which current corner do you see as the best in the league? And Which current safety do you see as best in the league?
At corner, there’s two players right now whose game I love. The obvious one is Patrick Surtain II. I love his patience, IQ, and movement. I just love how he competes overall too.
There’s a ton of other guys, but the second guy is Derek Stingley Jr. I loved watching Stingley at LSU where he was going up against soon to be elite NFL receivers such as Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson every day in practice.
I knew he had the temperament and ball skills to be an impact player in the NFL, so it’s been fun watching him compete and follow receivers. In terms of Stingley, when I watched the college film, I was right, he is elite.
At safety, I love Kyle Hamilton’s game in Baltimore. He plays hard. He’s a versatile player that can do everything well. He blitzes but he can also sit back in coverage. He can also play that nickel role as well like corners such as Jalen Ramsey do from time to time.
I have always loved Derwin James since his time at Florida State as well. I’ve seen him make a lot of plays over the years.
Those are probably my top four defensive backs right now. Anytime those guys are playing, I find myself glued to the screen watching them play.
Through the first few games of the 2025 NFL Regular Season, which team do you think has looked the strongest?
Even though they’ve lost a couple of times already, I’m going with the Baltimore Ravens, for the simple fact that I believe from playing and being around football for over 25 years, the recipe hasn’t changed. You win football games by controlling the line of scrimmage.
The way Baltimore run and control the football on offence with all those skill players, combined with how they can get after you with their defensive front, it’s just hard to beat.
It’s hard when somebody is hitting you in the mouth for three quarters then in the fourth, you still have to tackle Derrick Henry.
Then you have Lamar Jackson, he is dangerous, and you never know if he pulls the ball or not. There’s a reason he’s been MVP multiple times and arguably should have won it last year as well. He’s like Michael Jordan or LeBron James in the sense that he could win MVP every year.
The Ravens front office deserves a lot of credit too. They know who they want to be, and they have a certain identity. They draft guys for that style and identity. Their Head Coach John Harbaugh is awesome.
A couple of other teams have that same formula as well including the reigning champion Philadelphia Eagles. They have a similar style.
There is no secret to winning. You control the line of scrimmage, protect your quarterback, and make life hell for the other team’s quarterback. Both the Ravens and Eagles do these things extremely well.
