For the last couple of years now, the Atlanta Falcons have been nothing short of a disappointment. Ever since their 13-3 season, it has been all downhill. The head coach and both coordinators have been changed since that season, and the roster has changed dramatically over that period. However, the Falcons have never been near the bottom of the league because of their best players: Matt Ryan and Julio Jones. Now with Dan Quinn holding the reigns, there is reason to be excited for his sophomore season as the Falcons’ head coach.
Speed on the defensive side of the ball has been the number one priority for Dan Quinn. Now, with the second offseason under his belt, they have it. Vic Beasley added a ton of speed last year, and they added Brooks Reed for a lot of money. Reed never showed up last year, and you can say that that was due to injuries, but staying healthy is a factor when a team signs you to a substantial contract. Beasley showed a lot of promise regarding his ability to not only sack the quarterback, but to go after the ball when sacking the opposing QB.
A couple of months ago, Dan Quinn spent his second draft with the Falcons, and it was an interesting one. Why interesting? Well, the Falcons didn’t directly attempt to fix the issue that plagued their defense the most; the pass rush. My dream pick for the team consisted of taking Leonard Floyd from Georgia, but the Bears swooped in and erased any chance of that happening. After that, I thought, “Okay, well, maybe they will go after Shaq Lawson and have two Clemson guys going after opposing quarterbacks.” That didn’t happen either. Instead, they went with a safety from Florida by the name of Keanu Neal. I had never even heard of the guy, and I found myself looking on YouTube for highlight videos from his career at Florida. The videos excited me because of they way Neal attacked opposing players. There was a highlight that I specifically remember of him tackling Derrick Henry with little to no effort, and most linebackers couldn’t do that with the same amount of ease that Neal showed. With all of that being said, I expect him to be a great replacement for William Moore, and I would assume that he is a lot faster and better in zone coverage than Moore. With picks later in the draft, the Falcons selected two linebackers that ran faster than most receivers in this draft class. There is no doubt that using the Falcons in Madden 17 will be fun, but what really matters is if these guys can perform at the professional level.
Speaking of the defensive back I mentioned earlier, the Falcons are primed to have one of the best defensive backfields in the league next year. Desmond Trufant has proved to be a true shutdown corner, Robert Alford has tremendous speed and seems to come up with more interceptions than Trufant, and Ricardo Allen played REALLY well at free safety last year. In fact, he led the entire team in interceptions, and that says a lot for a guy that was on the practice squad for a majority of the prior season. Now, if you’re a follower of the Falcons, I’m sure you noticed that I did not mention Keanu Neal or Jalen Collins, but those two guys have a chance to improve the secondary even more if they can come in and prove their worth. Collins seems to be having the same problem with PEDs that he had in college, and I have not seen Neal play yet. But if the Falcons can have them all playing together at a point in time, they’re going to be a very fun and very fast defense to watch.
I know that all of the talk to this point has been about defense, but I assure you that moves on the offense should excite all Falcons fans. Along with Matt Ryan, the Falcons have Julio locked up on a long term deal, and Devonta Freeman became one of the best running backs in the league in the blink of an eye. Freeman plays incredibly hard, and if Tevin Coleman can develop that same work ethic and effort, they will be a tremendous tandem. Alongside Julio Jones is going to be Muhammad Sanu, and that is an exciting signing because of all of the things he can do. Over the course of his career, he has lined up at receiver, running back, and quarterback. He has also thrown for a couple of very long touchdowns. With Julio taking the place of AJ Green in those wildcat formations, the results can be the exact same if not better than in Cincinnati! I imagine that the offense will manufacture the same amount of production as last year, but I am still excited to see how all of the new pieces tie into things.
In this article, I listed a lot of things that Falcons fans should be excited about, but I also left out a lot. I could go on and on about the Alex Mack signing, the Courtney Upshaw signing, and all of the position changes that are being made on the defensive side of the ball. The bottom line is that the Falcons are doing a lot of things in a short amount of time to be a successful team, and even with their tough schedule next year, I think that we will see the first winning season from Atlanta for the first time in what seems like forever.
