We've entered the dead zone between minicamp and training camp. There will be a few roster moves over the next few weeks, but overall it's the quietest part of the NFL year. So... time to browse and peruse just to entertain ourselves. I'll nominate Atlanta as a strong contender for having the most different roster compared to last year. That's not to say they'll necessarily be good or bad (though the press is universally convinced they'll tank). But they're almost a completely different team compared to the 2021 bunch. I went through last year's roster looking for players that started 9 or more games (in other words, just over half the season) that I would project to be starters again this year. It's not a very long list: RB Cordarelle Patterson, TE Kyle Pitts, LT Jake Matthews, RG Chris Lindstrom, DT Grady Jarrett and CB A.J. Terrell. If you count the specialists as starters, add K Younghoe Koo. Fullback Keith Smith is also back, but he played just under 25% of offensive snaps last season and figures to be even less significant this year - assuming the team even keeps a dedicated fullback. The three other starters on the offensive line should make the roster, but they're facing strong challenges for their starting roles. It's too soon to project any of the three as starting again this year. The challengers aren't earth-shaking names, but they don't have to be as the incumbents were among the worst pass protectors in the league last season. "Just a guy" is probably good enough to take away those starting jobs. On defense, safety Erik Harris and edge rusher Ade Ogundeji return - but neither is projected to start. Isaiah Oliver should be back as the nickel corner this year, if he's healthy enough to go by the start of the season. But in a sense he'd be a new player in that role as he missed nearly the entire 2021 season while on IR. Deion Jones might also be back. He had a bit of a down year in the team's first season under Dean Pees, and his enormous cap figure makes him seem like a trade target. If the team can't trade him, nearly all of his salary is guaranteed. He's still a strong enough player at LB that it would make more sense to keep and play him rather than cut him outright. But... the projection is that once he's medically cleared to return to action, Dallas will swing a trade to get him for Dan Quinn. As for who is different, the obvious start is the QB position, where Matt Ryan and Josh Rosen have been replaced by Marcus Mariota and Desmond Ridder. Behind them, two of the top three RBs (Damian Williams and Tyler Allgaier) are different. Two of the top three TEs are different. At least four of the top five WRs are different (and likely all five). And as noted above, there may be as many as three new starters on the offensive line. On defense, three of the four pass rushers in the edge group are new. At least one of the two starting interior LBs will change (replacing Foye Oluokun), and if Deion Jones is traded both starters will be new. Two starters in the interior defensive line and three starters in the secondary will be different. At least two backup linemen will have changed, there will be at least two new backup linebackers, and there will be at least two other new players in the secondary. Even two of the three specialists will be different. For the most part, I'd say the changes are a big step forward, even with the loss of Matt Ryan. Last year's WR group was a joke, the blocking was horrid, and the defense was at best mediocre. I suspect that at least one more Player To Be Named Later will be coming aboard before the regular season starts. Will this group be good? We'll get a taste of the future when preseason games start and they get to block and tackle someone besides each other. But the roster will certainly be very, very different from 2021.
Arthur Smith: You don’t need five first-round picks to have a good offensive line The Falcons seem likely to go into the regular season with Marcus Mariota as their starting quarterback over third-round pick Desmond Ridder. But there’s still a lot to be determined about who will line up in front of whoever’s calling the signals. Two positions along Atlanta’s offensive line appear to be set: left tackle Jake Matthews and right guard Chris Lindstrom. But other than that, there are questions at left guard, center, and right tackle. Head coach Arthur Smith sees the offensive line as “a developmental position, and you find guys any way you can.” That means he doesn’t see it as a group where the Falcons can use high picks to draft their way into success up front. “If you look at people that have had a sustained run of success … it certainly helps them … if you feel great and you take a guy in [the] first round. But it’s not like you need five first-rounders to be a good offensive line,” Smith said, via D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “You need the right guys in there with the chemistry who can play. Versatility is key. It’s a long season. It’s 17 games. You’ve got eight guys up on game day. Guys [must] be able to play multiple spots.” The team is likely to have Jalen Mayfield, a third-round pick from 2021, at left guard — though he didn’t excel as a rookie. Right tackle Kaleb McGary also struggled through 2021 and had his fifth-year option declined this spring. Matt Hennessy and Drew Dalman are set to compete at center. But the Falcons also signed German Ifedi and Elijah Wilkinson to push the players already on the team. And Atlanta drafted guard Justin Shaffer in the sixth round, so he has an outside shot at becoming an instant starter. PFT
Im a huge proponent of games being won or lost in the trenches. Smith gets these guys, the right combo of guys, going and whoever starts at QB or RB will do some damage.
YES!!! The right combo in the right scheme with the right coaches. That's exactly where Atlanta went wrong in 2018-2020. They allegedly wanted to mix in more power/inside/man stuff to fit in with their outside zone scheme, so they signed a couple of huge linemen as free agents - and then kept playing the outside stretch runs. Likewise, in 2014 Mike Nolan had publicly made it known he was moving to a 3-4, so instead of going for defensive ends for the pass rush, the front office got him two massive 2-gap linemen in free agency and drafted another. And then he kept playing 4-3. Both of these disasters were major factors in the head coaches losing their jobs. They got it right in 2008 with line coach Paul Boudreau and a group of linemen that the media had labeled the worst in the NFL before the season began (with The Sporting News projecting them to go 1-15, but that's another story...). He went with a mostly inexperienced line, kept the mental side of the game simple for the prospects, and worked during the offseason program to find pairings that worked well together. That line ended up playing together for the next four seasons - giving the team its first streak of consecutive winning seasons in franchise history. We won't know a thing until they get into full contact mode, but I get the feeling that Arthur Smith and his coaching staff will also be looking for the combinations and not just throwing five guys out there.
Thats good stuff. Goes to show that the paid pundits dont always get it right. Its not always about 5 'All-Americans', but a unique combo of good coaching, good health and the always tricky, good luck. Keeping the line together goes a loooooong way in the continuity of a teams success.
The Falcons have added some depth to their secondary. Atlanta has signed Henry Black, the team announced on Thursday. Black spent the last two seasons with the Packers, appearing in all 17 games for the club last year. He played 73 percent of the team’s special teams snaps and 24 percent of defensive snaps. Black finished the year with 38 total tackles, an interception, a pair of passes defensed, and a forced fumble. As a corresponding move, the Falcons waived tight end Brayden Lenius. He joined Atlanta in January after a few seasons with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL. PFT
Lenius was a bigger WR in college who shifted over to a receiving tight end role in Canada. He had no realistic chance at making the roster here, especially once Atlanta had drafted John Fitzpatrick. At that point he was still in the running for a practice squad berth at either TE or WR, but that has obviously come to an end. Maybe he can rejoin Saskatchewan. They've opened the CFL season with a bit of a losing streak. The intriguing question for Henry Black is whether he can play the nickel role, as Isaiah Oliver is still not back in action yet. Free agent addition Mike Ford has been the primary nickel back so far this offseason, but the team could use some more competition for that role as well as depth if Oliver isn't ready to go for week one. I'd say that Jaylinn Hawkins and Richie Grant are still the projected starters at safety, with Erik Harris and Dean Marlowe as veteran reserves. I don't know if the team signed Black just to push Harris and Marlowe in competition (safety was just about the only position group on the team that seemed "settled" before training camp) or if they intend to keep five safeties. Black's special teams abilities suggest he might be a candidate for a late roster spot even as a tenth overall defensive back, particularly if he shows he can hold his own in the nickel role in Dean Pees' system.
The Falcons are down a defensive lineman. Falcons head coach Arthur Smith announced after Tuesday’s practice that defensive tackle Vincent Taylor ruptured his Achilles. He will miss the entire 2022 season as a result of the injury. Bad news!
This puts Atlanta almost back at square one on rebuilding the defensive interior front. Many of the players from last year who were subpar are gone, but the two veteran free agents who were potential starters are now both gone too. I do like the three main prospects (Anthony Rush at nose tackle, Marlon Davidson and Ta'Quon Graham on the ends), but the team needs another experienced player - preferably two - to join Grady Jarrett.
Falcons sign Abdullah Anderson The Falcons have signed defensive lineman Abdullah Anderson, the team announced Sunday. Anderson, 26, played three games for Green Bay last season. He made two tackles, while playing 49 snaps on defense and 12 on special teams. The Bears signed Anderson as an undrafted free agent out of Bucknell in 2018. He played six games for Chicago in 2019 and made four tackles and a sack. He appeared in one game with the Vikings in 2020. In his 10-game career, Anderson has six tackles and a sack. PFT
Offensive lineman Jalen Mayfield's pursuit of progress and a grip on a starting job with the Atlanta Falcons encountered a detour recently, but he's found his way back to the main route. After missing two practices with a lower back issue, Mayfield returned to the field on Monday, per ESPN's Michael Rothstein. Mayfield endured a difficult rookie season in Atlanta but seemed to be in position to stake his claim to the starting left guard job in Year 2. Such a pursuit begins with this camp, where Mayfield appeared to fall behind veteran guard Elijah Wilkinson in the battle for the job before missing time due to the injury. Now that he's back, the 2021 third-round pick will resume competing for the spot. He has a month to secure it before the regular season begins in Atlanta against the New Orleans Saints. NFL.com
This one happened a few days ago. They had previously signed Darrion Daniels and now they've added Anderson. I don't see either of them as starting caliber, so I'm still watching for a more significant addition to the DL group. In the meantime they've lost another one, as Bryce Rodgers (undrafted rookie DT) also suffered a knee injury. The team has now waived Rodgers (weird rule, but he has to clear waivers before the team puts him on IR) and signed TE MyCole Pruitt. It's not an earth-shaking signing, but Pruitt played for Arthur Smith and with Marcus Mariota in Tennessee.
