Summerhill

Yeah it's a fairly recent development from 2017 on where you have had a good run of QBs deemed good enough for a top 15 pick but not good enough to go #1 overall and still turn out to be really good.

Agreed. I don't like the narrative that the Falcons never had a good OL. I'd say they were at least decent 50% of Ryan's career with peaks 2008-2011 and 2016-2017.

I'm reminded of something our new GM's former team did. In 2014 they used the #20 overall pick on WR Brandin Cooks. He had a solid rookie season and then over 1,100 yards his second and third seasons. In 2016 they used the #47 overall pick on Michael Thomas. He immediately put up 1,100 yards as a rookie. So what did the Saints do? Did they keep both since they were both good? No. They traded Cooks for a 1st rounder that ultimately became RT Ryan Ramczyk. That accomplished two things. First, they spread their resources around multiple position units rather than loading up at one. Second,

My thought is good OL's are usually made up of 3 blue chippers and 2 scrappers. The Falcons theoretically have 4 blue chippers. In order to field an entire team, the Falcons are going to have to be able to build a OL with a few scrappers or else you will be painfully short with blue chippers at other units. * I am completely in favor of drafting Sewell if available because he is just that good it doesn't matter about anything else.

Ugh on the 1st round.

Turning the corner like a DE

I think Brissett and Garrappolo were wastes for the Patriots. I'm a believer drafting backup QBs is a waste. If you need a backup QB, sign a free agent. They don't cost that much. Draft picks are for players you can't sign.

I'll give you Cassell not because of the 11-5 season they didn't make the playoffs but because they flipped him for a 2nd rounder. But for the most part they used a lot of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th round picks on backup QBs for the bench rather than players for the field to win even more while they had the greatest QB of all time. They didn't win the Super Bowl for 10 years over what should have been Brady's absolute peak prime.

NFL salaries generally operate on a "who's next" basis. If you're among the top 2-3 free agent players at a position, you're signing a huge deal.

End of thread. I don't even necessarily want to get rid of Ridley, but for a long time the Falcons have been a country club where every good player gets a huge new contract. Some teams let good players go.

There's no question in order to win it all you have to have a lot of players outplaying their salary. In this case Evans had a valley in his contract structure that doubles for next season, Godwin was in the last year of his rookie contract, Gronk was playing for the only team he would play for, and Antonio Brown was radioactive to any team without Saint Brady to take the heat off him. Not easy to replicate.

No. Lots of teams accumulate picks, dump bad contracts, and sit out free agency if they don't think they can win now to maximize their window in the future.

Chase is definitely a long term pick. The question is if you do that, is Ridley a long term player, too?

Sure we can go all-in to win this season and not build for sustained success but I thought that's what Dimitroff got fired for.

That's just because of accounting. His average salary is $16M per season.