Terry Fontenot's third season as GM is coming to a close. I'm impressed with the job he has done so far. A few media sites have ripped on him, but seriously?? This year he signed Jesse Bates, Kaden Elliss and David Onyemata as core players to rebuild the defense. All three have been tremendous successes. Rookie draft picks Zach Harrison and Clark Philips have already taken on strong roles - with fourth rounder Philips even stepping into a starting role when needed. Fontenot has drafted 23 players. Some are on IR, and a few are on the practice squad, but overall 21 of the 23 are still in the organization. This has been and will be a tremendous help in breaking the ongoing need to stock the roster with rent-a-players signed off the streets to fill holes on the cheap. The team has also relied on those one-year "prove it" contracts for veteran players and has picked up a few players who were in the final years of their contracts with other teams. Here are the key players becoming free agents and the areas where there will be holes in the roster this offseason: At the moment, the WR group consists of Drake London and injured prospect Josh Ali. Everyone else is a free agent. The cynical comment here would be "who cares - Arthur Smith doesn't use them anyway". And sadly, there's some truth to that. The most valuable of the free agent bunch might be KhaDarel Hodge, the special teams ace who plays offensive snaps primarily for his blocking skills. Mack Holllins signed on a one-year deal. He's been a good leader, solid presence in the locker room, good blocker, etc. But he has only 18 receptions on the season as we head into the finale. The team made a cheap trade to pick up Van Jefferson in midseason. He has 10 receptions. Speedy slot receiver Scotty Miller has 9. I wouldn't be surprised if Hodge resigned for another year, as he's having roughly the same level of success that you'd expect for depth WR (I'd list him as the #5 overall). But if I'm the agent for any of the others (or even representing the practice squad guys), it's the same story as last year's bunch - if the offensive coaching staff is the same heading into next year, I'd be seeking greener pastures for my players. For the offensive line, all five starters are under contract. The free agents are the active backups - center Matt Hennessy (who is on IR) and swing tackle Storm Norton. My guess is that the team resigns Norton. Hennessy is a bigger question with Ryan Neuzil (who will be an exclusive rights free agent - but that doesn't really count) and drafted rookie Jovaughn Gwyn on the rise. My impression was that Gwyn was drafted (and named as a center) to replace Hennessy. And from there the big OL question is how many of the practice squad guys get resigned. There are a lot of them - Tyler Vrabel and John Leglue have had callups and seen action. Justin Shaffer got a developmental season after getting hurt his rookie year. Barry Wesley got hurt this year and missed the season on practice squad IR status. Ryan Swoboda is a newcomer that is getting an audition in practice now. Ethan Greenidge got hurt before the season started, so he's on regular IR status, but I'll put him in the same category. With Kyle Hinton on board, the team seems pretty well stocked in the interior as far as depth goes. I'm hoping the team resigns Storm Norton but also adds another potential swing tackle candidate to add to the competition. I didn't think any of the prospects stepped up well enough to take that role last preseason. The other two noteworthy names on offense are running back Cordarrelle Patterson and fullback Keith Smith. Patterson is the only void clause contract kicking in this offseason. It will trigger $2.5 million in dead money unless the team reworks a deal to sign him for 2024. Unfortunately, he's not being used as he should be - at either WR or at RB - so it doesn't seem likely that he'll want to return. Of course, that could all change Monday morning with an announcement from team owner Arthur Blank regarding the coaching staff... Fullback Keith Smith is more of a mystery to me. I didn't think the team would keep him for 2022, let alone 2024. But he's now in his 30s, and he's ending this year on IR. Practice squad tight end Tucker Fisk came up to take over the fullback role, and even in the 2022 preseason I spotted tight end Parker Hesse (now on the practice squad) playing more FB snaps than Keith Smith. So will the team continue to carry a dedicated FB going into 2024? Once again I'm guessing no, but I was wrong about that in 2022 and in 2023. So... who knows? The TE group is already stocked with Kyle Pitts, Jonnu Smith and blocking TE John FitzPatrick. Parker Hesse is still around (practice squad) and Tucker Fisk got called up to the regular roster. Injured prospect Feleipe Franks is a free agent, as is backup MyCole Pruitt. I'd guess it's the end of the line for the former QB Franks. Adding Pruitt to the roster ahead of Hesse makes me think Pruitt has a good chance of returning - at least if head coach Arthur Smith is back for 2024. On defense, the main story is that both defensive ends, Calais Campbell and Bud Dupree, are free agents. With Campbell, the question is whether he'll retire. He says he's not even thinking about that question until after the final game is played. We'll have to wait and see. He has certainly been a valuable contributor, and I suspect the team would jump at the chance to get him back for one more year. Dupree is a tougher call. And it's not just that recent draft picks Arnold Ebiketie and Zach Harrison have emerged. The interesting addition to the mix is because Nate Landman (another ERFA) has become valuable at linebacker. If the team continues to use a 4-2-5 nickel alignment, getting all three of Landman, Troy Andersen and Kaden Elliss on the field together will be a challenge. The likely solution is that DC Ryan Neuzil used Elliss as an edge rusher for the last seven games of the 2022 season when they were both in New Orleans. Elliss racked up six sacks in that role. So Landman and Andersen in the middle at LB with Elliss moving to end could be in the cards, and that would make Dupree (and also Ade Ogundeji, who is on IR) expendable. In the interior, prospect Albert Huggins has stepped up and become a noteworthy presence in the Atlanta defense. He was with the New Orleans practice squad and on the verge of making their roster in 2021, then was hurt in 2022. Having familiarity with Ryan Neuzil's defense, he stepped right in with Atlanta this season. He'll be a full free agent this year though, not ERFA or RFA. I'm guessing Atlanta keeps him. Since NT Timmy Horne was already plucked from the practice squad, the remaining fringe interior players who are up for grabs are Joe Gaziano and injured Kentavius Street. Prospects LaCale London and Tommy Togiai are finishing the season on the regular roster, so their standard contracts carry them through the offseason. Demone Harris and newly signed Carlos Davis are still on the practice squad. Behind them, the team has a trio of linebackers on the practice squad, but the only free agent on the roster is prospect Andre Smith, Jr. I think they resign him. In the secondary, Jeff Okudah played starter level snaps in 9 games and a few snaps in 3 others, out of action for 4 games. He has played well enough that he's worth resigning - but at what price? That will be the big question for the former Detroit first rounder, and I suspect he'll at least test the open market. Tre Flowers has been valuable depth on his one-year contract, and I would love to see him resigned. In the meantime, former CFL player Dee Alford has done well in his two seasons with the Falcons and is still under contract for 2024, as is Mike Hughes. And fourth round rookie Clark Philips has excelled. The team has sufficient depth at CB even without Okudah. All in all, the roster is in surprisingly good shape considering the mess it was in at the end of 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. I'm hopeful that even if Arthur Smith goes, the new coaches won't churn the roster too much. For me, that's where Atlanta has failed so badly over the last 15+ years. The roster right now is at the point where the team can make additions and improvements in free agency and the draft - obviously the media will be focused solely on the QB position. But for now that seems to be the only position where a starting caliber player needs to be replaced by someone not already on the roster. If the team can avoid excessive churn, they can continue improving.
