Atlanta Falcons

It's incredibly easy to overlook the Atlanta Falcons heading into the 2021 NFL season. The team's coming off a bad year, starting over with a new coaching staff, lost a franchise great and feels like a dramatic rebuilder. 

Which makes the Falcons a pretty great playoff underdog. 

No, really. The Falcons botched the end of the Dan Quinn era, letting it painfully drag out with consecutive 7-9 seasons before being fired in the middle of a 4-12 season largely thanks to the goodwill earned by 11 wins and a Super Bowl appearance in 2017. That it ever got to this point is part of the reason the Falcons have such a stench of a rebuilder. At DraftKings, they have the joint-ninth-worst Super Bowl odds at +8000 (bet $100 to win $8,000).

But the Falcons still have the most important thing in football going for them: a quarterback with top-10 potential. 

Matt Ryan might be 36 years old, but even last year while slogging through a four-win campaign, he completed 65 percent of his passes with 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions despite taking 41 sacks. His stellar 83.1 Pro Football Focus grade was higher than the year prior (76.0). Not only was the line bad, he did this while his lead back, Todd Gurley, averaged 3.5 yards per carry, Julio Jones only appeared in nine games, Russell Gage was the team's second-leading receiver and his defense coughed up 25.9 points per game. 

Part of the hesitation with the Falcons also stems from the trading away of Jones, the seven-time Pro Bowler and franchise great. But the loss isn't as dramatic as it might seem at face value. Jones, now 32 years old, had injury woes last year, which could be a sign of things to come. 

"He's genuine."
WATCH: #Falcons QB Matt Ryan with fantastic words about HC Arthur Smith, including "I like that and I respect that." pic.twitter.com/T2pxIKvykP

— Maria Martin (@Ria_Martin) July 31, 2021

More importantly, Atlanta compensated for this loss. Fourth overall pick Kyle Pitts was the highest-drafted tight end ever. For good reason, too, given his ability to play all over the field and create mismatch nightmares. He'll pair perfectly with Calvin Ridley, last year's leading wideout (1,374 yards and nine touchdowns).

The addition of Mike Davis seemed to fly under the radar after he scored six rushing touchdowns last year and caught 59 of his 70 targets. That receiving ability is an upgrade and will keep him on the field all three downs after Gurley only caught 25 passes last year. 

Better spacing because of playmakers means an easier time for Ryan and wider running lanes. Most important of all, though, is the arrival of Arthur Smith as head coach. The architect behind Ryan Tannehill's stunning turnaround in Tennessee now gets to turn loose with a modern great quarterback and top-flight weapons. 

Smith is ready to tailor the offense to Ryan's strengths, just like he did for Tannehill. Plus, Ryan was a big part of the job's attractiveness, as he told Pete Schrager on the Flying Coach podcast (h/t Evan Birchfield of The Falcoholic):

"I've always been a fan of Matt Ryan from afar. I know a lot of people who have worked with him and know him well, and I'm just so impressed with how he handles himself. He wants to be coached and Ryan [Tannehill] was the same way. They are different players, and they both have their strengths and both of those guys, when you have players like that they come in there and they work hard."

Also tucked into that interview? Sean McVay, often cited as the foremost offensive mind in the NFL, admitting he steals stuff from Smith. 

The defense is still a work in progress. The Falcons need someone at the corner spot opposite 2020 first-rounder A.J. Terrell. Grady Jarrett is still as disruptive as it gets from the interior, but the team's edge-rushers will need to produce consistently. 

Still, new coordinator Dean Pees spent the 2018 and '19 seasons in Tennessee producing solid units and has a reputation for playing to his talent's strengths. And in today's NFL, an offense can carry a struggling defense (Kansas City spent the last few years entirely retooling its defense while contending). 

Keep in mind outside factors. Seven teams from the conference can make the playoffs, and the Falcons happen to have the third-easiest schedule in the NFL. It's a tricky thing to quantify, and last year's winning percentage isn't the greatest measurement, but it's worth pointing out. 

The schedule passes the eye test, too, with what could be easier games against teams such as the New York Giants and Jets in the first five games. Closing the season with three of five on the road hurts, but maybe a game against Buffalo in Week 17 features backups given the Bills' strength. 

Tom Brady's march to the Super Bowl in the NFC South skews the perception of the division. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers return all 22 starters, but it's a free-for-all after them. New Orleans will start the post-Drew Brees era with some combination of Jameis Winston and Taysom Hill under center, while Carolina will start over yet again with Jets bust Sam Darnold. 

Even while winning just four games last year, Atlanta had only a minus-18 point differential, while Carolina finished in third place with five wins and a minus-52 differential. The Falcons outplayed their record and lost seven games by five or fewer points. 

Freed of a struggling era with the best offensive mind in place for Matt Ryan since Kyle Shanahan, the Falcons have the upside of a team that can catch many by surprise at a time when the general narrative seems to expect a rebuild. 

    

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Atlanta Falcons chairman Arthur Blank felt personally bothered by Julio Jones' trade request earlier this offseason. 

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Blank said he wanted Jones to be a Falcon for life but understood his desire to leave: 

"The part that bothered me personally was the fact that he expressed that he wanted to be traded. We had a 10-year relationship. We had a good relationship. He was productive, a Hall of Fame player, and I was disappointed he felt that way. For whatever reasons, I'm not sure, I wasn't able to speak with him. I tried to, but he felt the way he felt and he wanted to make a change."

On June 6, the Falcons sent Jones and a 2023 sixth-round pick to the Tennessee Titans for a 2022 second-round pick and a 2023 fourth-round pick.

Atlanta finished under .500 in each of the last three seasons and hasn't made the postseason since 2017.

Atlanta will likely struggle to contend while sharing a division with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints regardless of whether Jones was on the field. 

Blank wasn't ready to see him go, however. Not after he tallied 12,896 receiving yards and 60 touchdown catches in 135 games over 10 years.

Instead, Blank said it was Jones' desire to play elsewhere that set the trade into motion:

Julio made it clear that he had certain aspirations and wanted to do it someplace else. That was not our original intent. That's the message that we got from the player and human being as well. He gave us 10 great years, which is about half of my ownership. He set all kinds of records, but the time was right for him to move on. I think the coach and general manager did a good job trying to get him to stay here, but he was ready to move. One thing about football is that you want a locker room where everyone does want to be here. You don't want even one of the 53 to want to be someplace else.

That isn't a slight at Jones so much as the reality of the situation. With the Falcons unable to contend at the moment, Jones had few reasons to stay for a rebuild. 

  

  

Atlanta Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo's Jeep was stolen Sunday morning, he said in a series of Instagram posts.

Koo added his cleats were in the vehicle, preventing him from kicking.

Atlanta Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo’s Jeep was stolen this morning.

Please bring back his cleats , Falcons cannot afford to miss any extra points this season 🙏🏿 pic.twitter.com/hLl8LiOJD7

— Yahoo Sportsbook (@YahooSportsbook) July 18, 2021

The Falcons kicker ascended to stardom in 2020, making 37 of 39 field-goal attempts on his way to earning his first Pro Bowl selection.

Given his rate of success, the prime suspects might be fans of rival teams in the NFC South. 

There have been several thefts of celebrity vehicles in the Atlanta area this year. Titans cornerback Janoris Jenkins, R&B singer Akon and rapper Ludacris have been among those targeted. 

Atlanta Falcons outside linebacker Barkevious Mingo was reportedly arrested and charged with indecency with child sexual contact in Tarrant County, Texas.

Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk reported Saturday that Mingo was released on $25,000 bond. 

The Falcons later announced they have decided to release Mingo from his contract after gathering information on the situation.

No further information about the case was immediately released. 

Mingo's attorney released a statement Saturday:

A statement from the Lukas Garcia, attorney for #Falcons LB Barkevious Mingo, who was recently charged with indecency with a child. Garcia calls the charge “completely baseless: pic.twitter.com/OksG4Xe414

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 10, 2021

The charge against Mingo is a second-degree felony that carries up to 20 years in prison, per Michael J. Babcock of TMZ Sports. His representatives haven't returned TMZ's request for comment or further details.

Mingo signed a one-year, $1.25 million contract with the Falcons in March. It marked the seventh team of his nine-year NFL career.

The 30-year-old Florida native was a first-round pick of the Cleveland Browns out of LSU in 2013. Along with three seasons in Cleveland, he's spent one year apiece with the New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts, Seattle Seahawks, Houston Texans and Chicago Bears.

He's recorded 255 total tackles, 17 passes defended, 12.5 sacks and five forced fumbles in 126 regular-season appearances.

The Falcons are scheduled to open training camp July 27.

While most suspected the San Francisco 49ers were going to draft a quarterback at No. 3 overall in the 2021 NFL draft, Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay thought the team could pick Kyle Pitts.

The 49ers traded up from No. 12 to No. 3 in March, eventually taking North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance ahead of other top options like Justin Fields and Mac Jones. Pitts, the top non-QB playmaker on the board, was also still available, and McVay thought 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan might want to go that route.

The Rams coach explained his theory on the Flying Coach podcast (h/t Kevin Patra of NFL.com):

I thought there was a possibility that Kyle was gonna go Pitts at three. In all seriousness, because he's such a visionary. I'm telling you, I didn't think it was going to be a crazy thought because you go back to when New England had the two-tight end set, and they were doing things totally different. You think about what [George] Kittle. And then, the thing that makes sense is that, hey, Jimmy [Garoppolo]'s produced all the way. This isn't a production thing. This is an availability thing that you're saying, 'We can't have that,' like, all the things.

The 49ers already have one of the top tight ends in the NFL in George Kittle, but adding Pitts would have given the offense another dimension while making the duo extremely difficult to defend.

Shanahan will instead look to build the offense around Lance, a dual-threat quarterback who already has several exciting targets in Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel.

Pitts was taken one pick later by the Atlanta Falcons at No. 4 overall.

Tight end Kyle Pitts signed his rookie contract with the Atlanta Falcons on Tuesday, according to Falcons digital managing editor Scott Bair.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reported Pitts received a fully guaranteed four-year, $32.9 million contract. Mike Garafolo of NFL Network noted Pitts' signing bonus will be worth just more than $21 million.

Pitts will be asked to step in and to help replace longtime star Julio Jones, who was traded to the Tennesee Titans earlier this offseason. Now, it will be up to the likes of Pitts and Calvin Ridley to help carry the Falcons offense. Pitts' size, athleticism and versatility will make him a weapon both lined up out wide and as an in-line option. 

Part tight end, part wideout, there's a reason the 20-year-old was the first non-quarterback selected at this year's NFL draft. 

The NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah ranked him as the No. 2 player in the 2021 draft class, describing him as a "long, lean tight end prospect with excellent speed, ball skills and production" who "runs routes like a wideout" and "beat upper-echelon SEC cornerbacks on a weekly basis."

He added: "Overall, Pitts is a unique talent with the ability to take over a game. He is the definition of a mismatch player."

Here's where it gets fun for Atlanta. Sell out to stop Ridley and Pitts probably has a mismatch against one of your defenders. If defenses focus on Pitts, Ridley has a matchup he'll like. 

Granted, that only matters if the line can protect Matt Ryan and the defense can get the occasional stop. Atlanta didn't patch a hole with the selection of the Florida product so much as they further solidified a point of strength.

But you can bet they'll score a lot of points in 2021 and be a fun watch. Pitts should have a strong rookie season on this offense.

Atlanta Falcons coach Arthur Smith called the team's trade of Julio Jones to the Tennessee Titans a "win-win" situation.

Smith told Cris Collinsworth of Pro Football Focus the team's cap situation presented a challenge with retaining Jones for 2021, and a trade was the best solution for both sides.

Why the Falcons traded Julio

Full interview: https://t.co/H9nVQJ2Y8f pic.twitter.com/cisLGZ4kvh

— Cris Collinsworth (@CollinsworthPFF) June 22, 2021

"We knew the issue with the cap and then obviously the cap went down this year, coming off the bizarre year with the pandemic, the cap actually shrunk. So we knew there were going to be some big decisions we would have to make coming up. The way everything worked out, we feel pretty good," Smith said. "We feel like it was a win-win. With the salary cap, and Julio going to Tennessee and us right now being able to solve our short-term issue with the cap."

The Falcons traded Jones and a 2023 sixth-round pick to Tennessee in exchange for a 2022 second-round selection and a fourth-rounder in 2023.

While it seemed Jones welcomed a change, a divorce was inevitable given the $15.3 million in savings the cap-strapped Falcons gained with the deal. Jones is coming off an injury-plagued 2021 that saw him limited to nine games, marking just the second time in his career he'd missed more than three games.

"I believe in me. I know what I have in the tank. And we talking about age is 32. I'm young. In football, you can say it's old, but you either do it or don't. This game don't change for me. I'm still fast and still strong. For those questioning my health, stay tuned," Jones told reporters. 

The Titans are hoping pairing Jones with AJ Brown will give them one of the most dynamic receiving corps in the league. 

The Falcons used their first-round selection on tight end Kyle Pitts, which may help offset the loss of Jones. 

With Julio Jones ready to suit up for the Tennessee Titans, it's time for the Calvin Ridley era to really begin in Atlanta. And he's ready for the responsibility.

Ridley, whose fifth-year option was picked up in May, told reporters Tuesday he feels "no pressure" to step in for Jones, who was traded to the Titans in exchange for a package of draft picks earlier this month.

That attitude is part of what he's taking from Jones, noting that he believed the star's confidence was the key to his success: 

"Just the confidence [Jones] has every week and being the No. 1 receiver and going out to work every day, I feel like you have to believe in yourself. And by my second year, that's when I realized that's what he's all about, confidence. So when I realized that, I just started to think that, I didn't think that I'm better than him, but I just believed in myself and I really think that made me a better player. I really believe in myself."

Ridley was already the de facto leader in the receiving corps for the Falcons last season, with 1,374 yards and nine touchdowns through 15 games. He saw an increased role with Jones limited to nine games due to injuries in 2020. 

The team's No. 26 overall pick in 2018, Ridley posted career highs in yards as well as targets (143) and receptions (90) last season, and he did all of that while playing through a foot injury that required surgery this offseason.

While he hasn't practiced fully with the team yet, he said he plans to be ready for training camp next month.

The Atlanta Falcons sit in the worst position a team can hold in professional sports. They're neither good enough to be considered a legitimate contender nor bad enough to be in the conversation for next year's No. 1 overall pick.

Yet the team didn't commit to either direction this offseason.

Instead, the organization chose to rework Matt Ryan's contract to its own detriment and passed on an opportunity to find a long-term starter behind center, opting for tight end Kyle Pitts with this year's fourth overall pick as the class' top non-quarterback prospect.

Also, the Falcons caved and traded star receiver Julio Jones to the Tennessee Titans.

Something Stealers Wheel sang long ago applies to the Falcons' relationship with the team's all-time leading passer:

Yes, I'm stuck in the middle with you
Stuck in the middle with you
Here I am
Stuck in the middle with you

The combination of keeping Ryan, passing on Ohio State's Justin Fields and moving on from Jones doesn't make sense. It's a scattershot approach based on flawed logic.

The Falcons should have bitten the bullet this year, understood they had to endure Ryan's exorbitant salary-cap charge and moved on a year from now with a future franchise quarterback tied to the new regime. It never happened.

Pitts is an exceptional talent who should thrive under head coach Arthur Smith's supervision. But the franchise's lack of foresight at the game's most important position while working its way through salary-cap issues placed it in a difficult position.

General manager Terry Fontenot knew it too:

"We knew when we stepped into this that we were going to have to make some tough decisions, because it's just the reality of it. That's where we are with the salary cap. So we have to make some difficult decisions so we have to look at all the different options and all the different scenarios. And so, if someone calls about any player, we have to discuss it and do what's right for the team. That's what we're always going to do. But we hold that player in high regard, we just have to look at every option to get where we need to get."

Atlanta moved on from a large group of veterans based on financial restrictions caused by the lowered salary-cap number. Center Alex Mack, running back Todd Gurley II, guard James Carpenter, utility lineman Justin McCray, defensive lineman Allen Bailey and safeties Damontae Kazee and Keanu Neal are no longer with the squad.

The Falcons weren't active in free agency either. Running back Mike Davis signed the only deal longer than one year and for more than $3 million.

Fontenot and Co. renegotiated Ryan's deal to get the team under the salary cap at the onset of the new league year. The move achieved part of the goal since the team was approximately $16 million over the number prior to the move and Ryan's restructured deal created $14 million in space, per WSB Channel 2 Atlanta's Zach Klein.

At the same time, the move hamstrung further options, especially if some thought existed of a potential Jones trade. Knowledge of the wide receiver's intentions apparently became clear months earlier, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. The idea of trading the seven-time Pro Bowl selection—which they ultimately did—should have been in the team's back pocket, knowing his departure would create $15 million in salary-cap space after a June 1 trade.

Atlanta is now $16 million below the cap (prior to getting the rookie class under contract), per Spotrac.

The team had to be under the mandated number when the new league year opened, and Ryan's contract became the most obvious target. But other possibilities existed, like reworking Grady Jarrett's deal (on top of doing the same with Jake Matthews earlier in the offseason) and cutting a handful of other veteran contracts.

Would the roster have taken a significant hit with that approach? Absolutely, and that's the point. Ryan would have been the starter for one more year or until Fields was ready to take over the offense.

Yes, the incoming decision-makers were saddled with multiple bad contracts. However, the new general manager and head coach lacked the vision or fortitude to navigate a difficult transition. Now, they're stuck.

They're stuck with Ryan, whose salary-cap charges exceed $43 million in each of the next two seasons. The Falcons will be forced to eat $24.9 million if he's cut or traded after June 1 next year.

A trade may have been possible without a restructured contract. Atlanta could have saved $23 million by agreeing to a move after June 1 of this year. But that possibility never had a chance to materialize.

The Falcons are a year behind where they should be with the start of a full-blown rebuild. This isn't a philosophical discussion. Coaches, players and, yes, front-office personnel want to win. Even so, the practicality of investing in a franchise quarterback prospect made sense from the start.

A discrepancy emerged during the evaluation process. Fontenot wanted to take a quarterback with the fourth overall pick, albeit North Dakota State's Trey Lance, while Smith thought he could squeeze a couple more years out of Ryan, per ESPN's Chris Mortensen (h/t The Falcoholic's Evan Birchfield).

Fields was never a consolation prize, even though he fell to the 11th overall pick. His natural ability reached or surpassed the first three quarterback prospects off the board.

In fact, Fields graded as the most accurate quarterback prospect since Pro Football Focus started evaluating collegiate players. His CPOE (completion percentage over expected) trumped Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Joe Burrow—all of whom heard their names called with the first overall pick in their respective draft classes.

Fields ranked first in his class in working from a clean pocket and throws past his first read.

Once the 22-year-old's athleticism and toughness factored into the equation, he could have easily been a top-three selection. Instead, a handful of teams passed on a massive talent, potentially to their detriment.

Early returns in Chicago are promising.

"Everything that we thought he was going to be when he got here with learning and being obsessed with everything that we teach him and then being able to be himself out on the field—he's really doing things in a really good way," Bears head coach Matt Nagy told reporters Wednesday.

Running back David Montgomery added: "Justin is definitely a freakish athlete, to say the least. He already kind of carries that leader mantra that you rarely see in rookies that I know I didn't have."

Fields signed his fully guaranteed rookie contract Friday. While the Bears are elated and ready to move forward with the new face of the franchise, the Falcons enter another year of uncertainty with no shortcut to fixing the problems they faced this offseason.

        

Atlanta Falcons wideout Calvin Ridley reportedly underwent a minor procedure on his foot recently.

According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the surgery was performed by Dr. Robert Anderson in Green Bay, and while it will keep him out of minicamp, he should be ready for training camp.

Ridley, who is set to enter his fourth NFL season, is coming off a career year in 2020 that saw him set personal bests with 90 receptions for 1,374 yards. He also reeled in nine touchdown catches, which was his most since scoring 10 times as a rookie.

The 26-year-old missed one game last season with a foot ailment, which was an improvement from 2019 when he missed three games due to injury.

Ridley already emerged as quarterback Matt Ryan's favorite target last season, but he figures to play an even bigger role in the offense in 2021.

The Falcons traded veteran wideout Julio Jones to the Tennessee Titans this week, eliminating any doubt regarding whether Ridley is the No. 1 target in the Atlanta offense.

While rookie tight end Kyle Pitts may be the recipient of many of the targets left behind by Jones, there are some question marks within the Atlanta receiving corps behind Ridley.

Should recovery from the foot surgery take longer than expected, look for Russell Gage to take on the role of No. 1 wideout during training camp with the likes of Olamide Zaccheaus, Cordarrelle Patterson, Tajae Sharpe and others stepping up as well.