Falcons aren’t sweating free agency period
The Atlanta Falcons need to have a T-shirt made for fans that reads: “Keep calm. Free agency is for teams with major holes.”
General manager Thomas Dimitroff and coach Dan Quinn are comfortable with their roster and have repeatedly stated they plan to take care of their own players.
The Falcons did make some moves this week as a new business year began for NFL teams. They signed guard Brandon Fusco to a three-year, $12.75 million deal to become their starting right guard, released tight end Levine Toilolo and defensive end Derrick Shelby, and allowed wide receiver Taylor Gabriel, defensive tackle Dontari Poe and defensive end Adrian Clayborn to enter free agency. Gabriel signed with Chicago and Poe signed with the Carolina Panthers.
The key focus for the Falcons, though they need a tight end and a fullback, is to grant a lucrative contract extension to quarterback Matt Ryan.
“I believe Dan and I have spent a lot of time together with our coaching staff and our scouting staff,” Dimitroff said. “We are focused on understanding that we are going to have to make some significant moves to continue to add people and sign new people to new deals.”
The Falcons also secured restricted free agents free safety Ricardo Allen and reserve guard Ben Garland with $2.9 million second-round tenders. They also re-signed kicker Matt Bryant, cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson and reserve offensive tackle Austin Pasztor.
“It’s a creative offseason for us,” Dimitroff said. “There (were) some difficult moves to make.”
In the past, Dimitroff has used free agency to drastically improve the team. In his first season, he signed running back Michael Turner, and that helped propel the team to the playoffs in 2008. He added cornerback Dunta Robinson in 2010.
More recently, the Falcons added center Alex Mack in 2016 to help stabilize the offensive line, and Poe was a key free-agent signing last offseason. But now that they have a strong roster flushed with young starters on defense, the Falcons are trending toward building through the draft.
Quinn is pleased with how things are progressing.
“Thomas and I are now going into our fourth year together,” said Quinn, who has led the Falcons to the playoffs twice, including their Super Bowl appearance in the 2016 season. “We have a really clear vision of how to feature the guys in the very best way.”
The Falcons believe they have the answer for losing Gabriel on their roster in the form of Reggie Davis or Marvin Hall, but they could add a receiver in the draft.
The biggest hole to fill is the one left by Poe, who received a three-year, $27 million deal from the Panthers. He was on the field for 868 plays last season, second-most among Falcons defensive linemen. Grady Jarrett led with 870, while Clayborn was third on the list at 576 and led the team in sacks with 10.5, including the playoffs.
The Falcons are counting on Takkarist McKinley, last year’s first-round pick, to pick up the slack at defensive end, and they’re heavily scouting defensive tackles for the draft, which is April 26-28.
“I’ve had a chance to look at a few,” Quinn said. “It’s definitely a group, from what our staff tells us … that has depth and … a lot of the traits that we are looking for. At defensive line, you better have enough initial quickness to beat a guy to the punch. The defensive tackles, the big guys that have that kind of initial quickness are difficult to block.” Finding the replacement for Poe is crucial. “That’s important for us in Dan Quinn’s defensive philosophy. We need to make sure that we can shoot the gap,” Dimitroff said. “It’s important to see how explosive these guys are off the mark.”
The Falcons — who also let return specialist Andre Roberts and backup running back Terron Ward become free agents — plan to adhere to their team-building plan.