We are now less than two months away from the start of the NFL regular season, and as the Atlanta Falcons roster starts to take its final form Chris Goforth posed the question; “What constitutes a successful season for the Falcons?”
I think it’s obvious that rookie head coach Arthur Smith overachieved last season with the roster that he had. Even though Smith did have Matt Ryan, Kyle Pitts, Cordarralle Patterson, Grady Jarrett, AJ Terrell, and even Calvin Ridley for half of the year, last year’s Atlanta Falcons team had ample holes in that roster.
Now, the roster still has holes but has improved in areas, with the Falcons bringing in Casey Hayward, re-signing Grady Jarrett, drafting Drake London, Arnold Ebiketie, and Desmond Ridder, the Falcons are headed in the right direction, but are very young in a lot of positions.
This year will be the year to figure out what you have and what you don’t have if you’re the Falcons, and next offseason once Atlanta is free from the shackles of Matt Ryan’s contract and potentially having another top ten draft pick you can really fill holes and address needs through free agency and the draft. This year is about figuring out what players will be a part of the new foundation, and what players aren’t in future plans, and that is exactly what Chris Goforth believes constitutes a successful season for the Atlanta Falcons this year.
Chris says “I don’t know that it’s something that you really gauge in regards to a win-loss record. You know I don’t know that it’s about you know well winning seven games or winning eight games or nine games, I don’t know that that’s really what it is. I think it’s a lot more about how this product looks on the field. When you start talking about what constitutes success this year for the Falcons, I think it's more about some of the individual development.”
This year is about finding out if Drake London can be your number one receiver, if Arnold Ebiketie can be your premiere or at least one of your highlighted pass rushers, if Kaleb McGary, Jalen Mayfield, and Matt Hennessy belong on this offensive line, if Tyler Allgeier can be your running back of the future, and most importantly if Desmond Ridder is your quarterback of the future. This year is about learning who is a part of the future and who isn’t.
If guys you already have and guys this regime has drafted show they deserve to be a part of the future with their development this season then that’s a successful season for the Atlanta Falcons, but if not then the Atlanta Falcons might have bigger problems on their hands.
