When we talk about the Atlanta Falcons' offseason, the first thing that always comes up is Austin Hooper.
The 25-year-old Pro Bowl tight end is at the end of his contract and is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the beginning of the 2020 league year; in a few months’ time.
Now, bring up Hooper to anyone and they’ll immediately say that the Falcons are expected to re-sign him.
Well first let’s start with the obvious pros for Hooper.
- He’s improved in catches, yards and touchdowns every season since he came into the league in 2016.
- Matt Ryan worked with him in the offseason and seems to love to target him in key situations.
However, if we put ourselves in the position of the Falcons front office, the cons against Hooper actually make a lot of sense.
- First off: Ryan doesn’t need Hooper to be productive. Ryan’s had good and average tight ends throughout his 12 years in the NFL and been productive with or without them. Just this year, during the games Hooper missed, backup TE Jaeden Graham caught eight passes for 117 yards and one touchdown. That’s more than 16 yards per catch.
- Secondly, Hooper is going to be expensive. The estimations are that he will cost about $10 million a year over the next couple of years. The Falcons don’t have a lot of wiggle room with the cap. It’s estimated that the Falcons might have about $15 million to spend in free agency before needing to re-sign anybody on their squad. Hooper would take up the majority of that space.
- Third, keeping with the expenses, if the Falcons let Hooper walk in free agency and promote cheaper and more athletic JGraham to the TE spot, the Falcons could have over $20 million in cap space and use that to actually acquire some good players. Think about it, would you rather have a good free-agent pass-rusher or Hooper?
That’s where I think we have to stop and look at this from the Falcons perspective. Money. Thomas Dimitroff and Dan Quinn need to win now. Does Hooper give them that much better of a chance to win in 2020?
Here’s the deal. I want Hooper to come back. I think tight ends matter in this league more than ever. However, when you put yourself in Dimitroff's and Quinn’s shoes, it starts to make sense why Hooper remains unsigned.
