Category: Falcons

The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Wrapping up NFL free agency for 2024

2024 NFL free agency is just about in the books, so it’s time for Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar to analyze the biggest transactions in the second wave.

Now that most of NFL free agency for the 2024 league year is in the bag — though there are a few helpful players still on the open market — it’s time for Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire, to recap the biggest and most important moves in the second wave of this free agency phase. Greg and Doug covered the first day of free agency last week in the Xs and Os; here’s the conclusion.

Among the discussion points:

  • What does Brian Burns bring to a Giants defensive line that already has Kayvon Thibodeaux and Dexter Lawrence?
  • Can Justin Fields become the best version of himself in the Steelers’ offense?
  • Conversely, can Kenny Pickett turn his career around with the Eagles?
  • How can Calvin Ridley use his true X-Iso skill set to ramp up the Titans’ offense?
  • Can the Texans’ addition of Danielle Hunter, along with Will Anderson Jr. and Denico Autry, make Houston’s defensive line a Super Bowl-level group?
  • What can Hollywood Brown do for the Chiefs?
  • Tyron Smith is a future Hall of Famer, but what will he be able to do for the Jets’ offensive line in the short term?
  • Chase Young has been an inconsistent pass-rusher throughout his NFL career; can he turn it around with the Saints?
  • The Lions made important additions to their defensive line and their secondary; can all that put them over the top?
  • The Falcons already have a ton of weapons for new quarterback Kirk Cousins. How will the addition of receiver Rondale Moore affect what looks like one of like the NFL’s most explosive offenses (in theory, at least)?

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

What number is Kirk Cousins going to wear as a Falcon?

What number will Kirk Cousins wear as a Falcon?

Kirk Cousins shifted from the Minnesota Vikings to the Atlanta Falcons via a huge free-agency contract.

Cousins wore No. 8 throughout his time in Minnesota.

In Atlanta, that number currently belongs to tight end Kyle Pitts.

Were they going to work out a deal for Pitts to give up No. 8?

No.

The Falcons have posted an image with Cousins in his new number: 18.

Kirk Cousins’ deal with the Falcons could upset the NFC’s balance of power

Kirk Cousins’ four-year deal with the Atlanta Falcons upsets the balance of power in the NFC South — and perhaps the entire NFC.

In the end, the Minnesota Vikings and the Atlanta Falcons were in a bidding war for the services of quarterback Kirk Cousins, and in the end, the Falcons won out. Per multiple reports, Cousins has agreed to terms on a four-year contract, and this puts the Falcons in an entirely new stratosphere.

The numbers are about what you’d expect.

Last season, under head coach Arthur Smith, the Falcons finished 7-10 with quarterbacks Desmond Ridder, Taylor Heinicke, and Logan Woodside. Those quarterbacks combined for 17 touchdowns and 17 interceptions, and the tape was just as average as the numbers would indicate. Last season, before suffering a torn Achilles tendon in Week 8 against the Green Bay Packers, Cousins completed 69.5% of his passes for 19 touchdowns and five interceptions. He had done some of his best work with Vikings head coach and offensive shot-caller Kevin O’Connell; he’ll now try to get on the same page with Falcons OC Zac Robinson, who has a strong background in Sean McVay’s offense. Cousins also has a strong background in that kind of offense throughout his career.

Cousins will also have some estimable targets to throw to — while the Falcons have been in quarterback purgatory since Matt Ryan’s decline, they’ve added a lot of first-round talent at the skill positions with Drake London, Kyle Pitts, and Bijan Robinson. That all of a sudden takes Atlanta’s offense from Extremely Mid to potentially top-tier, which is a very big deal.

Falcons near hiring Rams DC Raheem Morris as head coach

Raheem Morris is heading toward the head coaching job in Atlanta

Bill Belichick apparently will not be relocating from New England to Atlanta.

Reports Thursday indicated the Falcons plan on hiring LA Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris as their head coach.

Morris has a history with the Falcons. He was with the team in various roles from 2015-20.

In 2020, he was named the team’s interim head coach after Dan Quinn was fired. He went 4-7 in that role.

Since 2021, Morris has been with the Rams as their DC.

Morris spent three years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2009-11 as their head coach. He was 3-13 in his first season, 10-6 in his second, and then 4-12 in 2011.

Dolphins DB Jalen Ramsey loves the hire.

One voter’s 2023 AP First-Team All-Pro ballot

If you’ve ever wanted to see an official First-Team All-Pro ballot, we have you covered.

There are moments in your career where you think to yourself… “Yeah, this is a moment to remember.” Two years ago, when the Associated Press asked me to be one of the analysts responsible for voting for the First- and Second-Team All-Pro teams, as well as NFL Most Valuable Player and all other individual awards, that was certainly such a moment for me.

So, this is my second year of voting, and I wanted to share my first-team ballot with our readers. It’s an honor I take incredibly seriously, and this process involves a ton of advanced metrics, tape study, and reflections from a season of diving into both.

Some of these votes were easy; some were incredibly difficult. But it will give you a bit of insight into what happens with an All-Pro vote.

The perfect head coaching candidates for each vacancy

The perfect head coaching candidate for every current vacancy around the NFL.

There have been a plethora of teams around the NFL that decided to move on from their now former head coaches. From the totally expected to the outright shocking, there are currently eight head coaching vacancies around the NFL- each one with a candidate that could help turn their tides.

Side note: I don’t think Bill Belichick or Mike Vrabel take any current vacancy.

Atlanta Falcons fire Arthur Smith as head coach

Atlanta Falcons fire head coach Arthur Smith

After three 7-10 seasons, the Atlanta Falcons told Arthur Smith to split — sorry for the bowling joke — on Sunday night.

The firing of Smith came after Atlanta gave up the final 31 points of the game in a 48-17 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

Smith was 7-10 in each season and never seemed to get the Falcons any traction in the weak NFC South.

Smith’s final act as head coach was to yell and curse at New Orleans head coach Dennis Allen. Smith was upset the Saints scored a touchdown late in the game while appearing to be in victory formation.

“Decisions like this are never easy and they never feel good,” Blank said. “We have profound respect for Coach Smith and appreciate all the hard work and dedication he has put into the Falcons over the last three years.

“He has been part of building a good culture in our football team, but the results on the field have not met our expectations. After significant thought and reflection, we have determined the best way forward for our team is new leadership in the head coaching position.”

Falcons fire head coach Arthur Smith after three straight 7-win seasons

The Atlanta Falcons fired head coach Arthur Smith on Sunday night, and it’s not as if Smith gave owner Arthur Blank any other choice.

America’s purest successor to Jeff Fisher has been asked to find employment elsewhere. The Atlanta Falcons have fired head coach Arthur Smith after three straight seven-win seasons, and little progress along the way.

“Decisions like this are never easy and they never feel good,” team owner Arthur Blank said in a statement. “We have profound respect for Coach Smith and appreciate all the hard work and dedication he has put into the Falcons over the last three years. He has been part of building a good culture in our football team, but the results on the field have not met our expectations. After significant thought and reflection, we have determined the best way forward for our team is new leadership in the head coaching position.”

Per the team:

The search for a new head coach of the Falcons will begin immediately. It will be led by Blank and McKay, with input from Falcons General Manager Terry Fontenot, and several other appropriate members of Blank’s Atlanta Falcons and AMB Sports and Entertainment organizations. There is no timetable for filling the role.

The Falcons have brought multiple first-round talents on offense during Smith’s tenure, and he could never quite figure out what to do with any of them. Tight end Kyle Pitts, receiver Drake London, and running back Bijan Robinson have been three of the NFL’s most camouflaged skill position players, and the only person who was able to stop them consistently was Smith, who seemed bound and determined to show how creative he could be with lesser players, to ill effect most of the time.

In the end, Smith’s fate was likely sealed by four losses in the last five games in the 2023 season, capped off by a 48-17 beatdown at the hands of the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

America reacts to Arthur Smith’s unhappiness with the Saints’ late touchdown

Before that game, the Falcons ranked 21st in Offensive DVOA, and that was supposed to be Smith’s baby. Atlanta ranked 31st in Offensive DVOA in 2022 and 31st in 2021, so if you want to peer through rose-colored glasses, you could say that this year’s Falcons were a little bit better. But if you watch the tape, you know that this was a hopeless endeavor, especially given how Smith mishandled the quarterback situation.

 “Sure, as I’ve said many times, we know the industry that we’re in,” Smith said after the Saints loss, when asked whether he wanted to keep his job. “I love doing what I’m doing. Also, like I’ve told you many times, this is the industry that we are in. I love coaching. I would have loved to win today. Obviously, we didn’t.”

Sadly, Smith left Blank no rational choice for the future of his team.

2024 NFL Mock Draft: End-of-season quarterback decisions lead to surprising picks

How many NFL teams will stick with their current quarterbacks? A high number could make for an interesting first round of the 2024 draft.

Now that the 2023 NFL regular season is over, every team turns its attention to the draft — even those teams that are part of the postseason. Area scouts will start to move to the home facility to interact with scouting directors and general managers, and with the scouting combine less than two months away, it’s time to start putting your big boards together.

This applies especially to those teams with crucial quarterback decisions to make. For the purposes of this mock draft, we’ll assume that the Chicago Bears are sticking with Justin Fields, the Arizona Cardinals are committed to Kyler Murray, the Tennessee Titans think they have a future franchise quarterback in Will Levis, and the New York Jets think that eventually, Aaron Rodgers will stop shooting his mouth off long enough to play quarterback in 2024.

Conversely, the Washington Commanders, New England Patriots, New York Giants, and Atlanta Falcons will avail themselves of the best draftable quarterbacks possible in the interest of turning things around.

So, four quarterbacks go in the first round here, with more teams looking to build around the guys they’ve already got. That makes for one notable omission (Oregon’s Bo Nix), and a whole bunch of talented prospects at other positions pushing themselves up the boards.

America reacts to Arthur Smith’s unhappiness with the Saints’ late touchdown

Falcons head coach Arthur Smith was very unhappy with the Saints’ late touchdown. Perhaps Smith sees touchdowns as a form of aggression.

Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith has nobody to blame but himself.

Over the last three seasons, nobody has done less with more than the former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator. Nobody has done a better job of hiding transcendent first-round talent like Kyle Pitts, Drake London, and Bijan Robinson at the expense of stupid Wildcat stuff in the red zone. And nobody has mangled his quarterback situation more notably.

But we digress. In any event, at the end of the Falcons’ 48-17 Sunday loss to the New Orleans Saints, Smith gave Saints head coach Dennis Allen a bit of what-for based on New Orleans scoring a final touchdown with 1:10 left in the game. This was a fake victory formation at the one-yard line after Saints defensive back Tyrann Mathieu picked off a Logan Woodside pass at the Atlanta 25-yard line, and ran out of gas after a 74-yard run.

What was Allen supposed to do — kneel on the ball at the Atlanta one-yard line until the clock ran out?

Apparently, Smith thinks that’s exactly what Allen should have done.

America was ready with corrective action for Coach Smith, and justifiably so. Allen shouldn’t have to apologize for a bit of it, though he did.