The Atlanta Falcons are under the microscope this offseason after flailing down the stretch and finishing with a losing record for the seventh straight season. After a 2024 offseason that was filled with headline-stealing moves, the team will instead be asked to fill out its roster with ready-made players in the draft this April.
After making several big-time deals, it's clear to The Steakhouse that the free agency moves haven't been enough to elevate this roster to a playoff-worth status.
"We were all in on trading our third for Matthew Judon," Steak said about the free agency moves the Falcons made. "We were all in on signing Justin Simmons. We thought we had done enough with a combination of new players and current ones to be in the playoffs, [but] we're sitting at home this weekend and this year was a failure."
Aside from Darnell Mooney, the Falcons' splashy free agency moves last offseason have come up empty. The expensive Cousins couldn't finish the season, and the defensive additions of Simmons and Judon didn't add the juice that fans hoped they would.
In total, they spent $252 million in free agency and didn't get the results they wanted. In contrast, the pieces that give the franchise any hope at all are the ones brought in through the draft. With the team sitting in the negative (minus-$3.2 million), the onus shifts to Terry Fontenot and what he can do to build this team in that way.
"The draft is what you're going to have to figure out," Steak said. "Can you get Jalon Walker where you're picking? Possibly, but it's really about the guys you've already drafted stepping up."