The Falcons no longer have a top-10 roster going into the 2019 NFL season, according to some. Atlanta came in at No. 11 in the 2019 rankings from a combination of ESPN+ and Pro Football Focus.
Here’s what they had to say about the Falcons’ greatest strength. Unsurprisingly, it’s a guy named Julio Jones.
“Only two offensive players have received overall grades of 90.0 or higher in each of the past four seasons — Tom Brady and Julio Jones. . . He is among the best to ever play the position, and there’s nothing to suggest that he won’t be at the top once again in 2019.”
And here’s their note on their biggest weakness – the pass rush.
“Over the previous two seasons, neither Takkarist McKinley nor Vic Beasley Jr. have recorded a pass-rush grade above 70.0. The team’s edge rushers combined to produce pressure on just 19.0% of their pass-rush snaps last season, which ranked 25th among edge groups.”
No. 11 sounds about right, so there’s no argument here. The Falcons had one of the most talented rosters in the league for a few years, but they’ve had diminishing returns in the draft since 2017 and have been surpassed by teams like the Rams, Chiefs, Chargers and Bears.
As long as they stay healthy, this roster should be good enough to get them back into playoff contention this season. While ESPN pinpointed Deion Jones as their x-factor for 2019, we think Dan Quinn’s performance as the team’s defensive coordinator will ultimately decide where they finish in the standings more than anything else.
