Atlanta Falcons Off-Season Recap (2023)

by CypherSimile | 3 years ago | 2 Comments

FLOWERY BRANCH – After a 2^nd straight 7-10 season, the Atlanta Falcons went into the off-season looking for a fresh new look and to build upon the areas in which the team lacked depth and overall ability. With this, there were some splash signings and a splash trade that shook the very core of the team up to Coach Steps’ desires and delight. 

First, let’s talk about the shocking trade of TE Kyle Pitts. The Atlanta Falcons saw an opportunity to strike while the iron was as white hot as it was going to get and trade one of its most beloved and dangerous weapons in TE Kyle Pitts to the AFC. The trade was as follows:

 

Chiefs Receive

TE Kyle Pitts

Falcons Receive

2023 1st Round #15 Pick (HOU)

2023 4th Round Pick (HOU)

2024 1st Round Pick (KC)

2024 1st Round Pick (NYJ)

2024 1st Round Pick (CAR)

74 OVR RE Cam McGill

 

The trade was a stunner and a head scratcher to some. Coach Steps was quoted as saying “Kyle Pitts is amazing. He’s going to kill it in Kansas City. For us, we wanted to build up the rest of the roster with high end talent and saw a player in a position group that could get us a lot of draft capital that normally wouldn’t garner as much if he were a different type of talent”. The 1^st and 4^th this season added to their 4 total picks to give them 6 this season with next year Atlanta having 4 total 1^st round picks. Also, RE Cam McGill is nice and will play a bit of DT in nickel sets and RE in some heavy base sets. 

After this trade, Atlanta had one goal in mind this offseason: find a pass catcher who can garner TE Kyle Pitts targets and improve the OL. Free Agency played out this way:

 

Free Agency Additions

WR Allen Robinson

C Brandon Linder

RG David DeCastro

 

Atlanta struck gold signing the two best available OL in C Brandon Linder (who will slide to LG) and RG David DeCastro (who will slide to RT). In signing them both, Atlanta now boasts one of the better offensive lines in the SFL to combat against the Brian Burns, Shaq Barrett and Cameron Jordans within the NFC South. Also, old friend and former Button receiver WR Allen Robinson and Coach Steps are reunited once again and the offense now has a really reliable second option to go with WR Calvin Ridley and WR Ju Ju Smith-Schuster. This signing allowed for Coach Steps to wait until the draft to find a competent TE replacement for TE Kyle Pitts.

Unfortunately and fortunately, the draft is sometimes really unpredictable even when it is predictable. We knew WRs would be taken early so we didn't bother to scout them but what we didn't expect was for the ones that were taken to completely screw up the draft strategy and to leave an otherwise well put-together draft board completely shaken up and stirred. The Atlanta Falcons went from preparing to draft for need to tripping over themselves trying to figure out how a player of this caliber fell to them and whether or not they should take him at a position of excess or go for need. Let’s take a look at that and more with a brief review of the Atlanta Falcons’ draft:

 

1^st Round – Pick #15 – 74 OVR WR James Griffith – 6’5” 233lbs – South Carolina

“Shocking” is the first word that could be explained by this player being here. He was the best WR going into the draft and yet wasn’t a top 10 pick as previously projected AND he wasn’t even the first or second receiver taken in the draft. WR James Griffith dominated DBs in college and posted tremendous numbers and looked to be a true X-Factor (eye emoji) at South Carolina. He’s only 21 but is bult like a tank reminiscent to WR Mike Evans in Tampa. This pick was a pick of excess but he immediately becomes one of the more dynamic weapons to grace an Atlanta Falcons jersey. WR Calvin Ridley, WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR Allen Robinson and now WR James Griffith? I think those Kyle Pitts targets are going to get distributed just fine.

 

2^nd Round – Pick #27 – 70 OVR RE Tommy Franklin – 6’5” 257lbs – LSU

Back to drafting for need, the Atlanta Falcons were able to find a diamond in the rough in RE Tommy Franklin. What makes this pick selection truly fascinating is that he’s both strong and fast, has a really good swim move, spin move and bull rush move but yet has a lower overall than one would think looking at his attributes. No matter, the Falcons plan on using RE Tommy Franklin a ton from day one opposite 2^nd year superstar RE Johnny Edison.

 

4^th Round – Pick #12 – 66 OVR HB James Delgado – 6’0” 234lbs – Washington

After the departure of HB Marlon Mack, the Atlanta Falcons needed a reliable workhorse back that could spell HB Kareem Hunt in a pinch. Enter Washington HB James Delgado who at 6’0” and 234lbs looks to be as much of a workhorse as one could find. Looking at his overall ability, you can tell he’s a Star in the making (eye emoji). He already has a lot of attributes that remind him of HB Kareem Hunt and under his tutelage, he’ll be learning a lot as the season begins and he begins to get reps.

 

4^th Round – Pick #15 – 66 OVR FS Matthew McKee – 6’3” 208lbs – Hawaii

FS Matthew McKee is an intriguing prospect, for sure. Although he can’t tackle very well, he already has a 76 zone coverage with 88 speed. At 6’3”, that could prove to be quite useful in goal-to-go situations on defense. He’s definitely a prospect one would call a project but he has some good physical stats that will help make him usable in the early going in Big Nickel sets.

 

4^th Round – Pick #30 – 68 OVR TE Ben Blond – Eastern Michigan

TE Kyle Pitts replacement may not look like much initially but under the hood, you can tell he could be pretty decent. He’s pretty fast and has solid catch attributes. One of the more important things is that he can block pretty well for a rookie. This will allow him to immediately become the #2 TE at minimum with a chance to eventually be the #1 and stay there for the foreseeable future.

 

5^th Round – Pick #12 – 58 OVR QB Bo Coakley – Wake Forest

This is definitely a project. The Falcons needed a back-up QB and boy, they definitely got one. The saving grace for him is that he’s 21 years old and has mid-70s accuracy stats. He also has the trait of throwing tight spirals although he can be a bit trigger happy when he senses pressure, not the best at throwing the football away when need be and forces way too many passes. Thankfully, Coach Steps is willing and able to bring him along slowly and hopefully, he will become a solid back-up that can step in for QB Gerald Atkinson when need be.

 

Overall, the draft was viewed as another success. Taking WR James Griffith was a no-brainer but initially, it did feel like cheating on the needs for the wants. After getting him into camp, he has looked every bit of broken and like he’ll be an X-Factor for this offense (eye emoji) going forward. The most surprising pick is WR James Griffith as he was not projected or expected to be there and he was the best pick of this class without a doubt. The favorite pick at the moment is HB James Delgado who at Washington, looked every bit of a Star (eye emoji) but his size and overall ability wasn’t quite what people thought an ideal back should look like. 

 

The Off-Season saw the offense take a huge step forward despite losing TE Kyle Pitts via trade. With 4 VERY good pass catchers, a running back who is vastly underrated, a rebuilt OL and a 2^nd year bid from QB Gerald Atkinson, the offense can definitely be much improved from that of a season ago. The defense finally has a younger front 4 but the real challenge is figuring out if these guys are actually going to be good enough to relieve pressure off the backers and defensive backs. Only time will tell but another 7-10 season would be unacceptable, to say the least.