Talk to four Falcons fans and you'll likely hear four totally different ways to approach our first pick in the draft. Believe me I've gone through every option on the air so many times. I'm cool with all four ways we can handle it.
But there's one Falcons fan whose opinion carries a bit more weight. In today's Football Morning in America column Peter King writes...
"Arthur Blank is fascinated by the quarterbacks atop the draft, thinking the franchise might not be in such an advantageous position to take one for years," King wrote in his latest column for NBC Sports. "But Blank will not force a decision—of that I am sure. He hired GM Terry Fontenot and coach Arthur Smith and won’t big-foot them on their first big call."
So is Arthur being passive aggressive? I mean if Peter King is hearing it right, his new GM has heard it. When your owner is ruminating on resetting the franchise with a fresh new QB, what first-year GM and coach wouldn't pay heed?
Arthur wants to win, we all know that. But it's his loyalty that got him in trouble with his football team. For years I was convinced the former GM would never be shown the door. Many of us wanted Dan Quinn gone after 2018, or midseason of 2019. But Arthur stayed the course as the team continued to miss the playoffs. But is his loyalty to his franchise QB starting to wane?
Imagine if we could travel back to the 2008 NFL Draft in the spring that followed arguably the most painful season in franchise history? What if I told you the dude we're picking at 3, the QB from BC will take us to the playoffs in four of his first five seasons? He'll lead us to two NFC Championships and a Super Bowl. He'll pick up an MVP award and going into his 14th season be ninth all-time in passing yards.
Or we could draft the best defensive player in college football that year, The Lombardi and Nagurski trophy winner, SEC Defensive Player of the year? Glenn Dorsey from the National Champ LSU Tigers.
Yeah, that was my pick that year. Ya know defense wins championships and stuff? I wasn't sold on Ryan and it was a super thin QB class. Joe Flacco went 15 picks after Ryan to the Ravens. Flacco has over 40K passing yards and he does have the ring and that is the thing. He was considered streaky by some, but he put together one of the best playoff runs any NFL QB has ever had in 2012. Granted he played alongside one of the greatest defenses ever.
Glenn Dorsey was a bust, 6 sacks in 7 seasons and out of football by 2016. To his credit Thomas Dimitroff knocked the 2008 draft out of the park.
There's a lot of similarities in 2021 to the 2008 draft, no, we don't have our biggest star sitting in federal prison, but our team is in a purgatory of it's own. No playoffs the last 3 years.
Even with Matt Ryan and Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley and Grady Jarrett and Deion Jones.
I've said it a hundred times, we missed our window, we're not winning a Super Bowl with Matt and Julio. But... Matt will be here for at least 2 more seasons since restructuring his contract was the only way we'd be under the cap number for this season.
Theoretically we could eschew a new QB or star TE and trade down and address this team's glaring needs like secondary, edge rush, guard and o-line depth, and more. With the addition of Mike Davis and whoever we pick up in the draft we could provide Ryan with the run game he hasn't had in years.
A balanced attack is what new coach Arthur Smith is all about. Ryan still has something left in the tank and a rags to riches story like 2008 or 2016 is totally plausible. With a fresh new approach from a new coaching staff and nailing the draft it could happen, right... right?
Which brings us to Arthur Blank's reported opinion on a new QB.
Blank made his billions knowing what the consumer wants. And by now he has to know a large part of the fan base is feeling apathetic.
Does he really think we could squeeze one more playoff run out of Matt & Julio? Or does he say, look we won 4 games last year. We're a bad football team with a top-heavy salary cap.
A big move for a new athletic QB could re-energize his fanbase.
Go back to 2019 since you can't judge attendance when it was so limited during a pandemic.
Falcons fans stopped showing up in 2019, The stadium was three quarters empty. I know I was there every week to earn my perfect attendance pin.
The PSL debacle didn't help, many fans dumped their tickets to recoup their investment in 2019.
There were so many Eagles fans there for the home opener it was embarrassing. And that was before the season went off the rails! I had Rams fans, (they do exist), Bucs, Panthers and of course da Who-Dat fans all over section 342.
Wanting something new and exciting is a not a knock on Matt Ryan. We all know what he has accomplished on and off the field here in Atlanta. Indeed there is a large part of the fanbase which still holds on to the championship pipe dream out of love and respect for #2.
So what's the plan for the 4th pick? If Peter King is right and Arthur remembers how the right QB pick helped create the greatest sustained success in franchise history, then we're going QB right?
Matt is here for 2 more seasons, minimum. Any QB we'd pick be it Fields or Lance won't be on the field unless Smith draws up some gadget like stuff.
Is the QB class so next level in 2021 that no one atop next year's draft would ever measure up?
I get the logic, when you're picking 4 it has to be a transformative pick.
Some would say a Jonathan Ogden type talent at tackle is a pretty good start. Penei Sewell could start at guard before moving to left tackle and protect whoever the team has at QB's blindside for a decade.
Kyle Pitts creates so many potential mismatches that some scouts say he's too good to pass up. Especially in this new hybrid tight end era in the NFL.
Falling back still makes the most sense to me. You could draft Davis Mills or Kyle Trask and let them sit for2 years behind Ryan while fixing one of the league's worst defenses.
Or make the big splash, take Justin Fields (if the 49ers love for Mac Jones is real) and fire up your fanbase. I love the idea of trading back to 9 or 10 (Broncos or Cowboys) and grabbing Trey Lance and snatching up a bunch of extra picks. Drawback there is the Panthers new owner might want Trey Lance too.
Regardless if you go QB with your first pick, folks will want to see him immediately. Ya didn't buy that new Corvette to keep it in the garage.
We'll have ourselves a food ol' fashioned quarterback controversy for 2 seasons. You know Matt Ryan will say all the right things and take the high road. But fans will want the new sports car over the sturdy SUV.
The owner is leaning towards a brand new ride, lets see if the new regime gets the hint.