The Atlanta Falcons entire roster is lacking major talent through and through, up and down and at almost every position. This is the plain, hard reality of the situation.
The embarrassing 32-6 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 1 should both solidify and corroborate this for Atlanta Falcons fans: If there is anybody to blame for this mess, it should start at the top.
The 2021 Falcons are severely devoid of both depth and talent at most positions on this roster. Fans will have to be patient as this so-called “retooling” (as per the new regime) will most likely take a long time.
Perhaps a complete rebuild and overhaul are the words new general manager Terry Fontenot should have used to describe the 2021 season. If the Week 1 game against the Eagles is any indication, this team is the furthest thing from a retool. A retool consists of reorganizing, revising or modifying. There are 27 new players on the roster who are not familiar with each other, let alone playing together.
This includes all of the starters who did not play a snap in the preseason. Even Matt Ryan admitted to it being a strange feeling walking into the building and not knowing many of his new teammates. That does not bode well for a 36-year-old aging quarterback who is closing in on the end of his career in all actuality. He cannot afford to wait one to two seasons to become acclimated to the majority of the new players on this roster.
It is pretty evident that the Falcons have less talent than they did in 2020. That is hard to believe considering how putrid they were defensively last season but it’s true nonetheless. The team is in salary cap purgatory for the foreseeable future with all the dead cap money and contract restructuring that has taken place this past offseason. Sadly, they will most likely be in a worse spot next season and possibly the season after that.
Tough days and unanswered questions lie ahead for the Atlanta Falcons
The new regime and management should have sucked it up for the next few years and come to the realization that the smart thing to do would have been to trade certain players. Specifically, players such as Hayden Hurst, who isn’t part of the future after this season.
What will happen come time to extend wide receiver Calvin Ridley? Will the Falcons offer him a long-term extension, will they even be able to afford it, and/or will he asked to be traded?
There are so many unanswered questions when it pertains to the future of this organization. Today’s game should not have come as a surprise to most fans.
Realistically, the Atlanta Falcons roster has approximately 10-15 decent-to-solid players. The remainder of the roster, however, is comprised of either backup players at best or players who shouldn’t even be on an NFL roster. There is very little to no depth on the lines of both sides of ball. The offensive line still has yet to be majorly addressed, as well as the defensive line, evidenced again by the lack of pass rush against Philadelphia.
We have been accustomed and almost immune to a lack of an Atlanta Falcons pass rush for so many years. This continues to be a glaring issue.
Head coach Arthur Smith blamed himself, for the most part, on Sunday, saying that he did not have his team prepared to play. He should be to blame partially as the play-calling was way too conservative and questionable at best, specifically after the first drive of the game.
The Falcons came out with a fast-paced, up-tempo offense on their opening drive. This led to some excitement with the hope of what Falcons fans had to look forward to all season. Things went downhill the rest of the game after the first two drives, as the Falcons faltered in the red zone (as usual). The offensive line was responsible for a handful of the teams overall 12 penalties.
Regardless of whether or not this was from lack of preseason snaps with no time to gel and develop synergy, one thing on this roster is glaring. The lack of talent, specifically in the trenches on both sides of the ball will lead to a long, arduous, painful season.