Yup

I'd def be ok with getting rid of shanahan

agree

Officially rooting for us to lose out for draft position

But beating the Saints makes me feel better about myself, so I guess I'll root for a win in that one

we should shut down our big $ guys for last 3 games. i think we go 0-3 even if we run them out there. jax offense is on fire, saints probably beat us, and i don't like our chances against carolina for few reasons as of late

just when i thought we might **** up our draft pick, the falcons show up and redeem themselves

I'd like to win a few of these last games to help with FA recruiting

Tough to recruit when you lose 20 games in a row to end the season

Niiiice

I really don't care about draft position. This team doesn't have a TON of holes (OL still being the biggest) and I'd rather them get back to winning. Would also like to see a refreshed LB corp and a new #2 receiver come out of the offseason, and of course Lil Shan getting fired.

Defense & Julio gets game ball today

Gritty performance today. That San Fran decision making me cringe even more now. Guaranteed a win at work. Ryan tough as nails taking some shots.

8-7 and think of all the garbage teams we lost to

I hate losing to the Saints. 9-7 would have been so much better than 8-8, but whatever, and here we are.

I think the number 1 question heading into the offseason is if we keep Dimitroff as GM. Several have mentioned in this thread that they want to get rid of him.

I think Peter King said it best a few weeks ago:

Just fire shanahan and draft/sign/trade for some players to improve the line

Of 8 losses how many do you put on Matty ice?

Two

Justin Durant and William Moore released today.

I liked Moore when he was good in his Pro Bowl year 2012, but he sure seemed to get complacent once he got paid. I know he had some injuries, but he never stepped up to be the leader of the defense that we needed him to be.

Heard on the radio that Soliai will be released when free agency starts.

He was a Mike Smith guy, a fat dude to clog up the middle and help with the run and free up the pass rushers. Yeah that never really worked out.

I'm not ready to completely give up on Hageman yet, but early returns are not promising.

I think this makes D-line our most pressing need, and Kiper and McShay both say this draft is rich with D-line talent. As many as 12 guys conceivably have a first round grade.

The one I'd like is Reggie Ragland from Alabama, only because he's the guy I've seen the most. We ought to have plenty of options at 17, though

I'd love Ragland

...Apparently Ragland is an ILB, not DL. Guess that shows how much I've watched him, lol. Whatever, he's the guy I saw making big stops.

And Bama has two other D-line prospects that grade as first rounders, I'd be fine with either of them.

Roddy White got cut with 2 years left on his deal, saving $2.3M on the cap.

Beautiful game, brutal business. I wanted him to retire a Falcon, but after last season, it's definitely better to be a year too early than a year too late on axing someone.

So I prefer to cherish the good times. Franchise leader (for now, Julio's coming) in receptions, rec. yards, and rec. TD. Six straight 1000 yard seasons. Four Pro Bowls.

...Just please don't sign with Tampa.

tough to see Roddy go, but can't really argue with it. i am hoping we can resign him for cheap but I think 1. someone else will sign him for a good amount (probably like the Patriots fml) and 2. his relationship with Shanahan is damaged

fan Mel called into the Rude Awakening this morning and was "mad as hell" and said "shanahan better watch his back" lol

Ragland is a FOOTBALL PLAYER

He's from my neck of the woods, too. Madison County AL

256 represent

Reed might be the most versatile of Bama's whole cavalcade at DL this past season.

I think he might have been clogging gaps most just because he was the best on the team at it, but he can pursue, tackle, penetrate, he can do it all. He even took the perfect angle and ran downfield to catch a speedy guy in the Senior Bowl

A'Shawn had more flash during the season and has always had the most hype and it's all legit, too

wtf is wrong with our team?

http://www.si.com/nfl/2016/03/04/eli...e-legal-issues

were they trying to recruit him to our bizarre love orgy that is our front office?

I recapped the Falcons' draft on my new Atlanta sports blog, truetoriseupandchop.com

Bottom line, I’m pleased with this draft class for the Falcons. We had a lengthy list of needs, and each pick checked off every box for me. There can be some quibbling over the priorities and relative importance of each pick, but I trust that this is the way the front office wanted to assemble the team, specifically the defense.

Round 1, pick 17: Keanu Neal, SS Florida

Pro Football Focus doesn’t like this pick, as they had Neal as the 176th best available player overall. It may have been a reach, when higher-regarded players like Myles Jack and Shaq Lawson were still on the board. At the end of the day, though, if Neal turns into a valuable contributor, people won’t say he was overdrafted when he could have been had in the 2nd round. Dan Quinn recruited Keanu Neal to Florida while he was the defensive coordinator, so the familiarity is there.

Neal’s calling card is big hits, and he can be a tone-setter for a defense that sorely lacked one. As an all-state junior in high school (in Florida), he had a preposterous 151 tackles. As a freshman at UF, he tied for the lead in special teams tackles. At 6’0, he has prototypical NFL size and can help in run support. In college he played both in the box and as a single-high safety, so as his coverage instincts improve, the hope is he can blend the center field ballhawking of Earl Thomas while still hitting like Kam Chancellor. As it is now, he can help out immediately with covering the opposing tight end, which gave the Falcons problems last year, to put it mildly.

I’m slightly worried that we didn’t spend our blue-chip pick on another edge rusher, seeing as we were dead last in sacks last year (again). After all, the BEST pass defense is the one that knocks the quarterback down before he throws the ball. But this is Dan Quinn making his mark on the defense. This is his guy, and Quinn definitely knows how to coach up a secondary. As Atlanta transitions away from the Willy Mo’ era, Keanu Neal looks to establish an identity for the defense, and be a cornerstone of the secondary for years to come.

Round 2, pick 52: Deion Jones, OLB LSU

First I should mention that I loved that we traded back in the 2nd round. We picked up a free 6th round pick, which we didn’t have thanks to the abortive Andy Levitre experiment.

We wanted to get faster in the linebacking corps, and Jones certainly helps with that. You can’t coach 4.38 speed. As a Georgia fan, I’ve always disliked LSU, but you can’t deny that they regularly churn out athletic defensive talent. Due to LSU’s enviable defensive depth, Jones didn’t start until his senior year, so it may take time for his instincts to get up to NFL speed. But in that senior year, he was a team captain and led the team with 100 tackles (13.5 for loss), 5 sacks, and 2 picks.

For the Falcons, I envision Jones as the ideal Will (weakside) linebacker. Put him in space with sideline-to-sideline speed, he has the versatility to cover, the size to take down running backs in space, and the ability to speed-rush around the edge and get to the quarterback. Basically, he can be everything I always hoped Sean Weatherspoon would be (but wasn’t). And again, (sensing a theme here), he can be an immediate contributor on special teams. *EDIT* Apparently we re-signed ‘Spoon to a 1-year deal in free agency. Maybe he can be a mentor.

Jones was named for Deion Sanders, and his nickname is Debo, a cross between Neon Deion and Bo Jackson. Apparently his dad is a diehard Saints fan. We’ll try not to hold that against him.

Round 3, pick 81: Austin Hooper, TE Stanford

Stanford has put out some NFL-quality tight ends like Zach Ertz, Coby Fleener, Jim Dray, and, um, Levine Toilolo. Hooper comes from a program where run-blocking by tight ends isn’t optional. The Falcons also value football bloodlines (like Matthews and Trufant), as Hooper’s father and uncle both played division 1.

Hooper declared for the draft after only 2 years in college, so he may be a developmental work in progress. He ran a 4.68 40, which is great for a 6’4 tight end. Eventually, the plan is for him to become a red-zone target and new weapon for Matt Ryan. Jacob Tamme isn’t the long-term answer at TE, and it’s poop/potty time for Toilolo. Hooper gives us a fallback plan and long-term solution.

Round 4, pick 115: De’Vondre Campbell, OLB Minnesota

I don’t know much about Campbell, only that his speed and athleticism are highly regarded. That said, I’ve read that his linebacker instincts are sorely lacking, so he’s a bit of a project. In the 4th round, though, I’m happy to draft NFL athleticism and hope we can coach him up. Again, he could be a good special-teamer right away.

Round 6, pick 195: Wes Schweitzer, OL San Jose State

I won’t pretend that I’d heard of Schweitzer before the draft, watched any of his film, or even know the finer points of offensive line play in the first place. I read that he made 36 consecutive starts in college, so that’s nice. If he can compete for a starting guard spot and displace Chester or Person, I’d count that a win.

Round 7, pick 238: Devin Fuller, WR/KR UCLA

4.39 speed. He looks to be the successor to Devin Hester. As a receiver, we can stick him in the slot and send him out on go routes to take the lid off the top of the defense.

In conclusion…

Before the draft, we needed help at edge rusher, linebacker, safety, guard, and tight end. We checked off all those boxes, just not in that order. For our pass rush, I’m predicting that Vic Beasley will take a big step forward in his 2nd season. He really came on towards the end of the year as he got up to NFL speed, and his athletic measurables were off the charts coming out of Clemson. We got a lot faster in our back 7, and Dan Quinn has put the pieces in place for the new-look defense. And if nothing else, our kick coverage team should light some chumps up next season.