egoprime II

I get your points and have considered those things you mentioned. I'm looking to the future. After next season the 2018 draft class' rookie contracts expire. Ridley and TE Hayden Hurst can be optioned, but they will be expensive. LB Foye Oluokun and OL Matt Gono will be FAs. Now, if the Falcons can sign all four of them to extensions, then great! But I'm not seeing it. Remember, we kept Keanu Neal and LB Deion Jones but lost TE Austin Hooper and LB DeVondre Campbell in a similar situation. OL, LB and TE are harder to find than WRs. Ridley will be -very- expensive to keep

Throw in a last place schedule..... 10-6.

You are right. This team is going 10-6. And no, I'm not being an unreasonable optimist. Last place schedule, good coaches\playcallers, re-establishing the run game..... the elements are coming together for a winning season.

As cynical and critical as I can be about the Falcons, as much as this team has proven to be almost completely dysfunctional in the past..... even I thought the Falcons were going to win that game. Can't blame anyone for thinking so, after all.... Quinn had only showed some signs of how completely over his head he was, as an NFL HC. We really did not know about him until later.

Plus we were already short some guys, Clayborn, Trufant......

Yeah, probably. We don't need another 1-million-dollars-per-game WR.

Maybe, maybe not. I do know we have at least four rookie-contract players upcoming after this season, players the Falcons want to keep: WR Ridley, TE Hurst, LB Oluokun and OL Matt Gono. Hurst and Ridley can be optioned, but that's expensive. Of those four, Ridley would cost the most to keep. Ridley also has a high trade value, but only if we trade him now, this offseason.

Agreed, however the highest FA compensation for losing a player is a 3rd round pick at the end of the 3rd round. We sure don't want to lose Ridley -that- way..... The time to trade Ridley is right now.

I'm with you..... except the defense part. Our D was on the field for what, 96 plays, OT included? Our offense ran about 62 or 63 plays. There are times when you run the ball just to keep the clock running, and keep the D off the field. Falcons failed to do this, because the coaches were not up to closing the deal. Our D simply got wore out.

Arthur Smith wants to use more 2 TE sets, plus he likes to run the ball more. I'm not seeing how this team can go with so many good WRs. Best to trade Ridley.

If the Falcons draft Chase, then I want the Falcons to trade Ridley, regardless of what the team does with Julio. Its year four of Ridley's rookie deal.... I like him, we all do, but Ridley will be needing a contract extension soon. It will take 10-12 million per to keep Ridley here. Rather than risk losing Ridley to FA, Fontenot should trade Ridley. Falcons -should- be able to get a 1st and another pick, maybe as high as a 3rd. Maybe this needs to happen even if we don't draft Chase........

Cowherd is making like its the players' fault we lost that game. All the coaches are gone, that's what we really needed. Keeping Ulbricht would have been ok, though.....

Alternate title for this thread could be: "New Falcons GM Terry Fontenot Takes a Swipe at former Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff". Because that's exactly what Fontenot just -did-. And that's fine by me.

Wouldn't the Saint just love to see Matt Ryan get cut..... so they can sign yet -another- HOF caliber QB as a street FA? And have to pay -nothing- as regards draft picks, for him?

When I listen to the 'talking heads' giving thier opinions, I try to remember these folks work for a broadcast company. Many times they are told what position to take, so everyone doesn't end up agreeing with each other. In other newa, the lady 'talking heads' seem to be doing a good job replacing thier male counterparts? These ladies are proving that they can be just as redundant and -boring- as thier male counterparts are. That one lady talks about 'NFL Draft gamesmanship' as if its some new thing she needs to -explain- to us...... 🙄