DEFENSIVE END
John Abraham (#55)
Jamaal Anderson (#98)
Chauncey Davis (#92)
Kroy Biermann (#71)
Simon Fraser (#75)
Pretty flimsy unit as a whole. Abe's the only real difference maker - his explosiveness, quick hands and awareness make him a threat on every down. His downside is his massive propensity for getting injured. He starts at RDE, and the defensive staff has already shown more creativity than the previous regime as far as using him in a standup position and trying him in different roles to lend their fire zone looks some versatility.
Jamaal Anderson is a very, very raw player with a lot of development ahead of him. The most disconcerting thing you observe when evaluating him is his mediocre athleticism; for a guy who was billed as a raw-yet-toolsy player coming out, that's a terrible sign. Just about everything he does is fundamentally unsound; he doesn't lead with his hands, doesn't play with leverage (upright on almost every snap), attacks blockers straight ahead. His footwork on the edge is sloppy, so when he actually does get some penetration he's still unable to turn the blocker's hips and finish the play. This is the kind of thing that leads me to think that he appears less athletic than he really is because of his bad technique; I'm not sure if that theory holds up, but it's all I've got. His upside is that he's super durable, starting every game last year and playing the majority of defensive snaps. The coaches this year have also been trying him out at the undertackle position on passing downs, a la Justin Tuck in 2007. He's also solid in the run game, though his lack of awareness and limited ability to sift through trash limits his effectiveness there as well.
Kroy Biermann was a nice find in this year's draft, has a very polished game for a 5th round rookie. Reminds me of Darryl Tapp with better football smarts. I love his quickness, hustle, use of hands, footwork, angles and especially his awareness. He diagnoses plays like a seasoned vet, and is super quick in his reactions. Downside: he's undersized and can get washed out on running plays pretty easily. Has some trouble dealing with long-armed tackles if they get the chance to lock out on him, tho usually his good technique prevents this. His size also means that his potential for growth is pretty minimal; he's already close to maxing out as a player. Still, he has a lot of potential as a situational player, and if he were bigger and rangier he would easily be starting over Jams. Also is a good special teams guy.
Chauncey's been around for a few years and has been pretty consistent. He has a little quickness, active hands, decent leverage, shows some hustle - isn't too good at anything, but doesn't suck at anything either. His main utility lies in the fact that he can be subbed in on any down, subsequently he tends to get a lot more snaps than one might be completely comfortable with.
I don't know shit about Simon Fraser. He was inactive this past Sunday, and will probably remain that way until someone gets hurt.
DEFENSIVE TACKLE
Even worse than the ends, probably one of the worst tackle rotations in the NFL (besides the Lions, I mean). In fact, a young, impact defensive tackle is probably the team's biggest need at this point.
Grady Jackson (#90)
Jonathan Babineaux (#95)
Kindal Moorehead (#94)
Jonathan Jefferson (#99)
Grady Jackson has been one of the team's most reliable defenders for a couple years now. He's a 2-down player who still gets a surprising amount of push for a guy his age. Actually can generate some decent inside rush on passing downs, but I assume they elect not to use him in that role to keep him from getting gassed. In 2006 he was probably the team's best defender; Abe and Kerney were out for most of the year, and Boley was just coming into his own. He becomes more and more of a situational player as his career stretches on, though. Also, he's fucking huge as shit. It's sorta rare that you see a guy that FAT in the NFL these days. He's not fat like your average lineman is, he's fat like Fridge Perry was.
Babineaux came from the same draft as Chauncey ('05) and I always associate them in my head. In the past I liked Babs a lot as a depth guy, but as a starter he's in over his head. He probably sees as many snaps as anyone on the d-line at this point. He's a quick, athletic three technique undertackle and was Rod Coleman's backup before Rod was cut. Inconsistent with his use of hands, but shows quickness on every snap, has a good first step. Doesn't play with much power or show great awareness, but he can make the occasional play and provide some inside rush on passing downs. Tends to get blown off the ball on run plays. His younger brother is Jordan Babineaux of the Seattle Squawks, if you give a shit.
Kindal hasn't made much of an impression on me. He subs for both DT spots and is sorta like Babs-lite, if you can imagine that. Shows some quickness at the three technique, but never seems very aware or active. Has some pass rushing potential but when I look at my notes on this past Sunday's game he comes off as largely ineffective.
Jonathan Jefferson was picked up after the Bills waived him at the end of August. I'm not sure if he's even played a down for the Falcons yet; I know I haven't seen him on the field, anyway.
LINEBACKER
This is the best unit on the defense, based largely on the number of promising young players in the wings.
Michael Boley (#59)
Curtis Lofton (#50)
Keith Brooking (#56)
Stephen Nicholas (#54)
Tony Gilbert (#51)
Coy Wire (#52)
Michael Boley is the strong-side linebacker and the team's most versatile defender. He isn't the most underrated linebacker in the NFL - that's still Daryl Smith of Jacksonville - but he's pretty close. He's fluid flipping his hips to cover the TE, he's explosive rushing the passer, he diagnoses, sheds blocks and sifts through traffic quickly. He's a complete player and has been the team's best LB since 2006.
Curtis Lofton is the team's starting middle linebacker, a rookie second rounder out of Oklahoma. The Falcons have been without a real MLB for a few years now, and the selection of Lofton is meant to allow Keith Brooking to return to the weakside. Lofton's pretty raw and has a lot of development ahead of him, but mostly in areas that you expect a rookie starter to struggle with - shedding blocks, awareness, anticipation. He has good burst and decent speed but was far from being the draft's athletic standout at the linebacker position, meaning that his strengths are going to have to be in his awareness, toughness, preparation etc. He comes out of the game on nickel downs. He has one of the hugest asses you've seen on anyone short of Earl Campbell.
Keith Brooking played the last three seasons out of place at middle linebacker and was pretty mediocre for the last two of them. The drafting of Lofton allowed him to move back to the will linebacker position this offseason, and I expected him to look like a more productive player as a result. But when I broke down this past weekend's game against the Lions, I was astonished by how inept he looked - I couldn't even count how many tackles he missed and how many times linemen were able to wash him out on the second level. He's always been a freelancer, but when he was younger his athleticism and explosiveness allowed him to make plays fairly consistently. He's not physically capable of doing the same things anymore and needs to be more assignment sound and develop what they call cerebral speed - better anticipation, better angles, better breaks on the ball, smarter football.
Stephen Nicholas is the nickel backer in 3-3-5 nickel packages; his speed and explosiveness give him some versatility as a situational player, and most of his plays on nickel downs involve him standing on the LoS with the ability to either rush the passer or quickly drop into zone at the snap. He was drafted in '07 with the idea of grooming him as Brooking's successor at WLB, and he has potential as a future starter.
Wire and Gilbert are special teamers and depth guys, Wire seems to deliver a little more on special teams and is more likely than Gilbert to be active for most games. Robert James is a rookie fifth rounder and is currently on IR.
SAFETIES
Solid starters, miserable depth. 2006 second rounder and perpetual underachiever Jimmy Williams was shitcanned this summer when he arrived to camp fat as fuck. DeCoup's a rookie, Fudge and Harris are second-year guys.
Lawyer Milloy (#36)
Eric Coleman (#26)
Thomas DeCoup (#28)
Jamaal Fudge (#29)
Antoine Harris (#41)
Lawyer Milloy is one of my all-time favorite players and amazingly is still a solid contributor on every down; I keep waiting for him to fall off the cliff, and it just hasn't happened. That said, at the age of 35 his range is pretty much shot and he's most appropriately used as an in-the-box player. He did make an incredible, Cromartie-esque play in coverage this past Sunday, showing off some soft hands by extending laterally and making a pick with his fingertips, pulling in an errant pass just inches before it hit the ground.
Coleman was a very canny free agent pickup, and is the best solution we've had at free safety in more than a few years. He doesn't get out of position, doesn't let dudes get behind him and when necessary shoots into the box for the occasional wrap-up tackle. I love his hustle and from what I've seen he has great instincts and awareness. Just a solid pro who seems to do everything right, even if he doesn't really excel at anything.
DeCoup and Fudge are depth and probably won't be active for most games unless someone gets hurt. Harris is a special teams whirligig and theoretically a backup safety, though I'm pretty sure he's only gonna see defensive snaps if, again, someone gets hurt.
CORNERBACKS
Aw, Christ.
Brent Grimes (#20)
Chris Houston (#23)
Chevis Jackson (#22)
David Irons (#30)
Dominique Foxworth (#24)
Brent Grimes is the starting LCB for the Atlanta Falcons, and is looking more and more like a real gem of a player; a second-year UFA, he's smart, tough, extremely athletic and technically skilled. I'm buying into him as a starting corner, especially after seeing him hold his own against the most physically intimidating, explosive receiving tandem in the NFL this past Sunday. He has two glaring weaknesses; his ball-skills and his size. His hands aren't a big deal, ball skills are something that can develop over time and eventually he'll start making plays on all those balls he swats away. But the size factor can't be overstated - he is incredibly diminutive. He's listed at 5'10" but I guar-on-tee you that he is no taller than 5'8", and could be pushing 5'7". He's also extremely slender and slight of build; Calvin Johnson blocked him on most of Detroit's running plays on Sunday, and every time CJ got his long arms on him he basically could've plowed him off the field and out of the stadium. The funny thing, though, is that his size is part of what allows me to buy into him so easily - sometimes when you see a relative nobody come out of nowhere and flash amazing athletic skill and make plays, you ask yourself if maybe you're missing something that's obvious to more advanced football minds, that there has to be more to the story if no teams picked him up sooner. He truly is an NFL-caliber athlete, with great speed, burst, agility and an incredible vertical leap, but it's easy to imagine that teams would've passed on him because of his tiny frame. If Grimes continues to resemble the player he was in preseason and in the opener, then he's a guy who I would take over DeAngelo Hall ANY day of the week.
Chris Houston was a second rounder in 2007 - the second year in a row that they picked a corner in the second round - and is the team's starting RCB. I like players with dreads because it makes them easier to identify when I can't make out the numbers on everyone's jerseys. That's about all I got on the guy, he's still raw and doesn't seem to excel at anything, but he stays assignment-sound and doesn't really screw anything up either.
Chevis Jackson, a third-round rookie out of LSU, is the team's nickel corner. He's matched up on the slot on most downs; he struggled a lot on Sunday but that doesn't really mean anything. He's a young player at a developmental position, he's gonna take a few years before you can expect a finished product.
David Irons is a fierce special teamer and a raw defensive player, is notable for being hilarious and having a twin brother who was on the Bengals last year. Not really a guy you want playing snaps on defense, but he's only a second-year player and has plenty of time to grow.
Dominique Foxworth was acquired from the Denver Broncos on September 2nd for a 2009 seventh-round draft pick. He hasn't seen any action with the team yet - inactive last Sunday - and I have no idea what his role is going to be on this team. He's pretty versatile and can apparently play multiple positions in the secondary - I haven't been able to get a look at him yet, but I'm guessing that he's going to take over as the nickel corner or possibly even RCB.
WRAP-UP
The talent here is stretched pretty thin, but I liked all the moves the new regime made this offseason, a lot of nifty little players (Grimes, Biermann, Coleman) were added to the roster at minimal cost. The coaching staff does a good job of planning around the strengths and weaknesses of their players, and I like their persistence in trying to get their best talent on the field as much as possible; for instance, the 3-3-5 nickel that uses Abe at RDE, Kroy at LDE and Jams at the nose, with Stephen Nicholas as a roaming nickel backer with the ability to rush or cover. This side of the ball is going to take the longest to build up, and it will undoubtedly be an ugly season for the Falcons defense, but they're headed in the right direction.
No comments:
Post a Comment