The Atlanta Falcons have had a very eventful offseason so far. A busy couple of months has included quite a lot of offensive line changes, some veteran/depth signings and a new line-heavy draft class coming in. There are still some issues that the Falcons have to work on, though.
Here are five big questions the team has to answer going into the heart of the 2019 offseason.
Is the offensive line really better, or just different?
The Falcons added several offensive linemen in free agency, acquiring Jamon Brown, James Carpenter, Adam Gettis and John Wetzel. They also felt the need to draft Chris Lindstrom and Kaleb McGary in the first round. With the group of tackles featuring McGary, Ty Sambrailo and Jake Matthews, the Falcons should have a Pro Bowl left tackle, a competent right tackle and a decent backup.
At guard, Lindstrom, Brown and Carpenter will all compete for the two starting roles and should produce a much better group than in 2018. Alex Mack will hold it all together in the middle, but this group still has to develop chemistry regardless of who makes the starting lineup. Overall, the unit looks to be much improved on paper, but they still have to show it on the field.
Can their key players stay healthy this year?
The Falcons’ defense in 2018 was atrocious because they were missing Ricardo Allen, Deion Jones and Keanu Neal for most of the season. They did get Jones back before the end of the year, but the losses of Neal and Allen were too much to get around. Neal suffered an ACL tear while Allen had an Achilles tendon rupture. Both aren’t easy to come back from.
While both Allen and Neal are on track for the start of training camp, they may not be 100 percent until midway through the season. On offense, the Falcons lost both starting guards, but neither are with the team anymore. They also lost running back Devonta Freeman, but he should be 100 percent once the Falcons start the season. His durability is in question because of a growing history with injuries, though. There’s not much Atlanta can do about it, but staying healthy is obviously a serious concern this year.
Can the secondary return to form?
Secondary depth is another big question mark. Getting Neal and Allen back will help, as should moving on from Robert Alford and the continued improvement of Isaiah Oliver and Damontae Kazee. Adding Kendall Sheffield and Jordan Miller to the depth chart at cornerback should also help, at least in theory. So should J.J. Wilcox at safety.
But there’s still a lot of questions for this group. Oliver has to make the leap from an unreliable rookie cornerback to a solid second-year starter. Kazee has to make an adjustment from playing free safety to nickel corner. Desmond Trufant has to get his career back on track after a down year and Neal and Allen have to show they are the same guys they were before injury. Then, there’s the rookies to consider, who could be hit or miss.
How well the defensive backs play overall will have an enormous impact on where the Falcons finish in the standings.
How will the offense adjust to Dirk Koetter?
In 2016, the Falcons had one of the greatest offenses in NFL history, ranking right up there with the Greatest Show on Turf Rams. The scheme that year was an outside-zone based, west coast offense with concepts that built on each other throughout the game.
Dirk Koetter is known for running a gap-based running scheme with a verticals based offense based off of the Earhardt-Perkins scheme, but has varied often in his career. These are two wildly different offenses. The adjustment to Steve Sarkisian took a year to get the passing offense back on track. However, Koetter likes to take what his quarterback and receivers do well and base his offenses around that.
Atlanta is trying to get back to a more run-based offense with Koetter back in the fold and should use a mix of his gap and inside zone concepts with the outside zone concepts that offensive line coach Chris Morgan runs. To build off that, Koetter will have to take the passing concepts Matt Ryan, Julio Jones and the rest of the offense love to run. It will take a little while for the Falcons to all get on the same page, but once they are, the offense could be as good as it was in 2012 or 2016.
Will the pass rush finally be revived?
The biggest question of the offseason was how the Falcons were going to address their pass rush. The major development is that coach Dan Quinn is taking over the defense and will likely be working heavily with the defensive line. As a result, there should be a massive improvement in the schematics for the pass rush. But there’s also a personnel issue.
Former first-round picks Vic Beasley and Takkarist McKinley have all the tools to create consistent pressure, but Vic and Takk have not lived up to expectations the last couple of seasons. John Cominsky and Adrian Clayborn may have to carry a heavy load on the edge if that continues.
At defensive tackle, adding Tyeler Davison and Ra’Shede Hageman to the rotation with Deadrin Senat, Grady Jarrett and Jack Crawford could take them to the next level.
Quinn will have to work hands-on with this group to really get them there, though. The Falcons haven’t had the kind of pressure needed from their defensive line since 1998. Hopefully, this is the year that changes.
