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Atlanta Falcons News & Rumors

Updated 2020 NFL Draft Order

January 6th, 2020 at 8:36am CST by Zachary Links

After a weekend full of drama and upsets, four more spots have been determined in this year’s NFL Draft order. Most notably – the Patriots will pick No. 23 overall, their highest original pick since 2006.

Here’s the updated rundown, from Nos. 1-24:

1. Bengals (2-14)

2. Redskins (3-13)

3. Lions (3-12-1)

4. Giants (4-12)

5. Dolphins (5-11)

6. Chargers (5-11)

7. Panthers (5-11)

8. Cardinals (5-10-1)

9. Jaguars (6-10)

10. Browns (6-10)

11. Jets (7-9)

12. Raiders (7-9)

13. Colts (7-9)

14. Buccaneers (7-9)

15. Broncos (7-9)

16. Falcons (7-9)

17. Cowboys (8-8)

18. Dolphins (via Steelers 8-8)

19. Raiders (via Bears 8-8)

20. Jaguars (via Rams 9-7)

21. Eagles (9-7)

22. Bills (10-6)

23. Patriots (12-4)

24. Saints (13-3)

NFC South Notes: JPP, Panthers, Falcons

December 31st, 2019 at 4:55pm CST by Sam Robinson

Bruce Arians has understandably asserted Shaquil Barrett‘s all-time contract year will keep him with the Buccaneers but added the team wants to keep its other high-profile front-seven starters as well. Both Jason Pierre-Paul and Ndamukong Suh‘s contracts are up, but Arians said keeping both will be a top priority (Twitter link via Scott Smith of Buccaneers.com). The veteran HC may have indicated JPP resides slightly higher on the priority list as well, per Greg Auman of The Athletic (on Twitter). Pierre-Paul returned from another scary injury this season and has registered 8.5 sacks in 10 games, giving him 21 in two Bucs seasons. The Bucs hold a great deal of cap space, at $88.9MM, but will likely need to devote a chunk of that amount to Jameis Winston.

Here is the latest from the AFC South:

  • If Greg Olsen opts to put off his broadcasting career for another year, he will likely need to relocate. The veteran tight end indicated recently he did not want to take part in a potential Panthers rebuild. While the franchise has not committed to charting that path, Joe Person of The Athletic expects Olsen to be elsewhere in 2020. “I just think sometimes the writing’s on the wall,” Olsen said, via Joe Person of The Athletic (subscription required). “There hasn’t been anything officially. But I wanted to make sure if that was my last time that I made sure I told the people that I needed to how much they meant on my career.” One year (at a $6.6MM base salary) remains on the 34-year-old tight end’s contract. Carolina would save $8.1MM by cutting Olsen, its top tight end for the past nine years.
  • Moving to a younger NFC South tight end, Austin Hooper acknowledged the Falcons have not yet made him an offer to stay, per D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link). Hooper, however, would like to return, and Thomas Dimitroff appeared to indicate the breakout tight end will be a priority (Twitter link via Ledbetter). We heard this earlier this season as well.
  • A Hooper return may lead De’Vondre Campbell elsewhere. The Falcons already gave a top-market contract to Deion Jones and are up against the salary cap. While noting he wants to stay in Atlanta, the Falcons’ top 2019 tackler acknowledged (via ESPN.com’s Vaughn McClure) he may need to change teams. Although the Falcons will consider re-signing Campbell and Vic Beasley, Dimitroff did not commit to either’s return (via McClure, on Twitter).
  • Despite Breshad Perriman‘s end-of-season stretch potentially raising his free agency price, the Buccaneers‘ No. 3 wideout would like to stay in this high-octane offense. Perriman signed a one-year, $4MM deal with Tampa Bay, doing so after backing out of a Cleveland commitment following the Odell Beckham Jr. trade. The Bucs have Mike Evans on a high-end deal and will see Chris Godwin enter a contract year in 2020, perhaps pushing Perriman to another team.
  • A player the Panthers do not want on another team: James Bradberry. Carolina’s top cornerback met with GM Marty Hurney, and David Newton of ESPN.com notes the fourth-year corner received a “be patient” message from this summit. The Panthers want Bradberry back, Newton adds, but the former Round 2 pick would obviously prefer an upper-echelon deal to stay.

Falcons To Keep Dan Quinn, Thomas Dimitroff

December 27th, 2019 at 8:30am CST by Zachary Links

The Falcons will be making lots of changes this offseason, but they won’t be in the hunt for a new head coach or general manager. On Friday, the Falcons announced that they’ll retain both Dan Quinn and Thomas Dimitroff in 2020. 

However, they have made one significant change – secondary coach and assistant head coach Raheem Morris has been named as the Falcons’ new defensive coordinator. The move will go into effect immediately after the Falcons’ season finale.

Quinn and Dimitroff will return next year, though they’ll both report directly to Falcons CEO Rich McKay, who will continue to report to owner Arthur Blank. Blank, per the press release, “will retain oversight of the football operation.”

The decision to keep the duo doesn’t come as a huge surprise, given their late season success. The Falcons were disappointing on the whole, but they are riding a three-game winning streak heading into their season finale against the Buccaneers.

Quinn’s seat starting heating up back in November, when the Falcons got off to an atrocious 1-7 start. At the time, Quinn’s defense ranked near the bottom of the league in just about every defensive category, with nearly 400 yards of total offense allowed per game. Things have turned around recently – the Falcons held the Saints to nine points in a Week 10 win and capped the Niners at just 22 points en route to a December upset.

In the 2016 season, Quinn led the Falcons to the Super Bowl, though their painful collapse cost them their first Lombardi Trophy. His club followed up with a 10-6 mark in the following season, but they’ve been on a downhill slide ever since. In 2020, Quinn will return for a sixth season at the helm, giving him an opportunity to right the ship.

Dimitroff has served as the Falcons’ GM since the 2008 season with mixed results, though he is responsible for drafting team pillars including Matt Ryan and Julio Jones, with the latter coming to Atlanta via a king’s ransom of picks. He’ll stay for a 12th season as Falcons GM, though more changes could be coming to the front office:

“Every year we evaluate all our football operations and this year I have asked Rich to work closely with Thomas and Dan over the next couple of weeks to conduct a top-to-bottom review, inclusive of structure, processes, resourcing and personnel to identify whatever changes are necessary to enable us to compete consistently at the highest level,” Blank said in a statement. “In my time as owner, and particularly since 2008, we have been one of the winningest teams in the NFC ranking fourth in wins and across the NFL, tied for seventh in wins, and that remains the only acceptable result for us now and in the future.”

NFL Suspends Falcons CB Jordan Miller

December 26th, 2019 at 3:50pm CST by Zachary Links

The NFL announced that Falcons cornerback Jordan Miller has been suspended for four games due to a violation of the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. The suspension will go into effect immediately, with the remaining three games on the ban being enforced in 2020. 

Miller, 22, was a fourth-round draft pick of the Falcons in 2019. He still has three years to go on his four-year, $2.75MM rookie deal.

In his freshman season, Miller appeared in ten games and notched four tackles and one fumble recovery. Next year, he may get a better chance to showcase his bump-and-run coverage skills, but, first he’ll have to sit out the early weeks of the 2020 season.

The Falcons will close out the 2019 season against the Buccaneers, without Miller on the roster. The game won’t have any playoff implications, but a win would give the 6-9 Falcons four straight wins to close out the year.

Falcons Place G James Carpenter On IR

December 20th, 2019 at 2:03pm CST by Rory Parks

The Falcons have placed guard James Carpenter on IR, as D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (via Twitter). Carpenter has missed the team’s last two contests with a concussion, and Atlanta has decided to play it safe with the 30-year-old vet.

Carpenter, a former first-round pick of the Seahawks, spent the first four years of his career in Seattle and the next four with the Jets. He hooked on with the Falcons shortly after free agency opened this past March, signing a four-year, $21MM pact with the club.

As that contract suggests, Carpenter has generally been a serviceable player, but not a great one. The Alabama product started all 11 games in which he appeared this year before succumbing to the concussion, but he has yielded four sacks (tied for 13th-most in the league) and has committed seven penalties (tied for sixth-most). Advanced metrics are also not fond of his work this year.

However, he has started 108 out of a possible 114 games in his career with three different teams, so he must be doing something right. The Falcons focused heavily on their O-line in the draft this year, and since they wouldn’t save a ton of money against the cap by cutting Carpenter, it seems as though he’ll be back in 2020 while Atlanta addresses areas of more pressing concern.

In a corresponding move, the Falcons signed OL Sean Harlow.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/17/19

December 17th, 2019 at 8:40pm CST by Zachary Links

Today’s minor moves:

Atlanta Falcons

Cincinnati Bengals

Denver Broncos

  • Promoted from practice squad: DB Aljiah Holder

Miami Dolphins

New York Jets

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Falcons’ Takk McKinley Done For The Year

December 16th, 2019 at 2:48pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

This time of year a lot of players are getting shut down for the season, and we’ve got another notable one to pass along. Falcons pass-rusher Takk McKinley is done for the year, head coach Dan Quinn announced Monday. 

He apparently suffered a shoulder injury during Atlanta’s upset win over the 49ers yesterday. The Falcons drafted McKinley 26th overall out of UCLA back in 2017. He’s been up and down during his three years as a pro, showing plenty of flashes but failing to put it all together consistently. His playing time has increased each year he’s been in the league, but despite playing the highest rate of snaps in his career this season, his sack production went down.

He had six as a rookie and seven last year, but will finish the 2019 campaign with only 3.5 in 15 games. Two of those came two weeks ago in a win over the Panthers. It’s been a disappointing season for Atlanta’s defense, and now they’ll be leaning even more heavily on Adrian Clayborn and Vic Beasley to provide some pressure over the final couple of games.

2020 NFL Draft Order As Of Week 15

December 10th, 2019 at 8:06am CST by Zachary Links

With 14 full weeks of the NFL season in the books, the 2020 draft order is beginning to take shape. Here’s the rundown of where things would stand if the 2019 season ended today:

1. Bengals: 1-12
2. Giants: 2-11
3. Redskins: 3-10
4. Dolphins: 3-10
5. Lions: 3-9-1
6. Cardinals: 3-9-1
7. Jaguars: 4-9
8. Falcons: 4-9
9. Jets: 5-8
10. Chargers: 5-8
11. Broncos 5-8
12. Panthers 5-8
13. Eagles 6-7
14. Raiders 6-7
15. Colts 6-7
16. Buccaneers 6-7
17. Browns 6-7
18. Raiders (via Bears) 6-7
19. Titans 8-5
20. Jaguars (via Rams) 8-5
21. Cowboys 6-7
22. Dolphins (via Steelers) 8-5
23. Dolphins (via Texans) 8-5
24. Vikings 9-4
25. Bills 9-4
26. Chiefs 9-4
27. Packers 10-3
28. Seahawks 10-3
29. Patriots 10-3
30. Saints 10-3
31. Ravens 11-2
32. 49ers 11-2

Calvin Ridley Done For Season

December 9th, 2019 at 1:18pm CST by Rory Parks

Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley will be shut down for the rest of the season, as Ridley himself announced on Instagram. The second-year wideout sustained an abdominal injury during the third quarter of Atlanta’s win over the Panthers on Sunday, and he did not return to the game.

Obviously, the 4-9 Falcons have been out of playoff contention for some time, so it makes sense for the club to play it safe with Ridley, who followed up a strong rookie campaign in 2018 with an even better sophomore effort. After catching 64 passes for 821 yards and 10 TDs in 2018, Ridley reeled in 63 receptions for 866 yards and seven scores in three fewer games in 2019.

Ridley, whom the Falcons selected with the No. 26 overall pick of the 2018 draft, was considered the most polished receiver in his class. He has more than lived up to that billing and has shown a nose for the endzone, and while the Falcons as a whole have disappointed over the past two years, Ridley has been a bright spot.

Since trading Mohamed Sanu to the Patriots in October, the Falcons have given opportunities to a number of younger receivers. With Ridley out of the picture for the remainder of the year, players like Russell Gage, Christian Blake, and Olamide Zaccheaus will have more chances to shine.

Falcons’ Desmond Trufant Done For The Year

December 8th, 2019 at 8:00pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Falcons have been playing a bit better recently, but they’ll have to finish the year without one of their better players. Starting cornerback Desmond Trufant broke his forearm during their win over the Panthers Sunday and will miss the rest of the season, a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).

Rapsheet added that Trufant will undergo surgery this week. Atlanta drafted Trufant in the first-round back in 2013, and he immediately became a starter. He’s always been a reliable option outside, and started at least 15 games in five of his first six seasons. This isn’t his first significant injury of the year, as he missed four games earlier this season with a toe injury. He’ll finish 2019 having had one of his strongest years statistically, racking up four interceptions and seven passes defended in only eight games.

A Pro Bowler back in 2015, Trufant still has three more years left on his contract. 2019 was the second year of a massive five-year, $68.75MM extension that he signed back in 2017. The Washington product will be back to be one of the anchors of Atlanta’s secondary in 2020. The Falcon’s defense was one of the worst in the league to start the year, but they’ve been getting better recently.

They’ve now gone 3-2 in their last five games, and are battling hard as Dan Quinn fights to save his job. Unfortunately, they’ll be without a key piece as they try to finish strong. Rookie fifth-round pick Jordan Miller, also from Washington, could get a crack at some playing time with Trufant on the shelf, tweets Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com.

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