Falcons Need Improvement to Keep Up with Saints

Jul 30, 2011

As we all know, the NFL lockout has ended, and the chaos of free-agency has ensued. Many teams took advantage of this right away, re-signing and signing some of the best free agents on the market. For some reason, the Falcons were not one of those teams. After trading almost their entire draft for Alabama WR Julio Jones to complement the Falcons already strong offense, we would expect that the Falcons would try to add on to their team, or at least keep it in tact. Instead, they have cut WR Michael Jenkins, and are not looking like they’re going to re-sign backup RB Jason Snelling. On top of that, they already lost OL Harvey Dahl to the Rams, and P Michael Koenen to the Bucs. Instead of sitting as NFC South favorites, they’re looking up at the Saints after only a few days of Free Agency. However, all is not lost; the Falcons can still find some role players, as they didn’t lose ALL of their core guys. Here are a few steps the Falcons need to take in order to compete with New Orleans this season:

1. Resign the remaining available core guys – Justin Blalock and Brent Grimes are both still out there, and are critical to the Falcons. Because of the loss of Harvey Dahl, the Falcons cannot afford to lose any more of their O-line, so Blalock is a must, and Grimes is needed to help a secondary that has been less than stellar in the past.

2. Add a Guard – After losing Harvey Dahl, arguably the best OL for Atlanta, the Falcons need someone to help protect their investment in Matt Ryan. The Falcons are going to have to go to a veteran on a one-year deal, because there are not a lot of players out there at this position. One possibility is Trai Essex from Pittsburgh, though frankly, there just aren’t stats out there that I can throw about an offensive lineman. An interesting name is Patriots current guard Logan Mankins, who held out last year for a new contract, and has tried to weasel his way into free agency this year. It may be difficult working out a trade with the Pats, however.

3. Add a WR or two – Obviously the Falcons have two good WRs in Roddy White and Julio Jones. However, other than Harry Douglas (who is severely injury prone) that is ALL the Falcons have, after allowing Brian Finneran to walk and cutting Michael Jenkins. It will be interesting to see if the Falcons take the route of Baltimore and try to restructure a contract with cut veterans (ala Derek Mason and Todd Heap), but I doubt it. No fear however, as there are still quite a few good WR out there, such as Brandon Stokely, Laurent Robinson (former Falcon), Antwaan Randle El, Terrell Owens (NO!), Randy Moss, Santana Moss, James Jones, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Braylon Edwards (long shot), Michael Clayton, Mark Clayton, Chris Chambers, and Plaxico Burress. With all of these names, it will be interesting to see who the Falcons pick up. Also not mentioned is Eric Weems, who returned kicks for Atlanta last year, but is not a stellar receiver. Considering all of the Falcons receivers are at least 6’0”, it may be smartest to pick up a smaller slot type receiver.

4. Get a backup RB – I don’t think anyone wants Jacquizz Rodgers backing up Michael Turner, which would be the case if the season started tomorrow. I personally would like to see the Falcons resign Jason Snelling, who I think could take over after Michael Turner is gone. However, Snelling believes that he can start elsewhere, so it does not look like he will be back. Some good names out there are Rickey Williams, Cadillac Williams, Brian Westbrook, Fred Taylor, Kevin Smith (interesting, this guy has a lot of upside), Laurence Maloney, Julius Jones, and Ahmad Bradshaw (sounds like he might be staying in the Meadowlands). Cadillac Williams and Kevin Smith are both guys that stand out and remind me of Snelling’s style. It will be interesting to see if guys like them would be willing to take backup jobs to try and earn a second chance.

5. Improve upon their secondary – This is not going to be easy, as the Falcons have a lot of money locked up in Dunta Robinson, who has yet to perform in the Black and Red (should have just waited a year on Nnamdi). Nate Clements and Antonio Cromartie (yeah, right!) are really the only CBs worth mentioning, so I’m not so sure how the Falcons are going to improve upon this right now. The offense is just going to have to win this year in spite of the defense.

Right now, the Falcons are still one of the better teams in the NFC. However, I don’t see how they are going to be able to beat the Saints and win the South this season without some help from the Free Agent pool, or some current guys stepping up majorly.