Tag: Vic Beasley

Every player drafted with the eighth overall pick since the year 2000

NFL Draft History: Looking at every player selected with the eighth overall pick since the year 2000

After another 7-10 season, the Atlanta Falcons landed the eighth overall pick in the draft for the second year in a row. In 2022, the team used this pick on USC wide receiver Drake London, who would go on to set a new franchise record for catches by a rookie.

London led the Falcons with 72 catches for 866 receiving yards and four touchdowns last season. With the eighth overall pick in 2023, the team could potentially add an edge rusher, cornerback, offensive lineman or another wide receiver.

To help give you an idea of what Atlanta may do, let’s go back through every No. 8 overall pick since the year 2000 in this edition of NFL draft history.

Ex-Falcons LB Vic Beasley to play in the new XFL

Ex-Falcons LB Vic Beasley is joining the XFL

The Atlanta Falcons have had just one player finish with double-digit sacks over the last 10 years. Former first-round pick Vic Beasley was the last player to hit the milestone, racking 15.5 sacks during the team’s Super Bowl run in 2016.

Beasley had little success outside of that 2016 season, and when his contract was up in 2019, the Falcons opted not to bring him back.

After short stints with both the Raiders and Titans in 2020, Beasley has yet to play in another NFL game. However, the 30-year-old is returning to the football field in 2023, just not in the NFL.

Beasley is set to join the newest rendition of the XFL under the ownership of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Beasley will be playing for the Vegas Vipers this season, which kicks off on February 18. Quarterback AJ McCarron, who also spent some time on the Falcons roster as a backup, is set to lead the way for the St Louis Battlehawks.

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Two former Tiger defenders have new pro homes

Martavis Bryant wasn’t the only former Clemson standout to get picked in the XFL Draft on Wednesday. Former Clemson defensive end Vic Beasley and defensive back T.J. Green were also selected. Beasley was taken by the Vegas Vipers, the same team that …

Martavis Bryant wasn’t the only former Clemson standout to get picked in the XFL Draft on Wednesday.

Former Clemson defensive end Vic Beasley and defensive back T.J. Green were also selected. Beasley was taken by the Vegas Vipers, the same team that picked Bryant, while Green was grabbed by the Arlington Renegades.

Beasley, a first-round pick of the Atlanta Falcons in 2015 (eighth overall), last played in the NFL with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020. He had 101 tackles, 52.5 tackles for loss, 33 sacks, 29 quarterback pressures, 11 pass breakups, seven caused fumbles, two recovered fumbles and two touchdowns over 48 games (25 starts) in his career at Clemson (2010-14).

Green, a second-round pick of the Indianapolis Colts in 2016 (57th overall), was on the Houston Texans’ roster earlier this year. He had 162 tackles, one interception and 24 kickoff returns for 505 yards over 26 games (16 starts) on defense in his career (2013-15).

The XFL is getting ready to re-launch in 2023 after its 2020 season was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2023 XFL season is slated to kick off on Feb. 18.

Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!

Year by year sack leaders during Brent Venables tenure with the Clemson Tigers

Getting ready for the Brent Venables era, which players led the Clemson Tigers in sacks during his tenure as the defensive coordinator.

It’s a new era for the Oklahoma Sooners, and the biggest change comes on the defensive side of the ball. Brent Venables and a new defensive staff look to take the Oklahoma Sooners back into the top 10 of the national rankings.

One position group that will benefit greatly from the transition to Venables and his group of coaches is the defensive line. During Venables’ time as the defensive coordinator for the Clemson Tigers, their sack leader had double-digit sacks four times. Only once did a Clemson Tiger have fewer than eight sacks.

For comparison, in 2021, Nik Bonitto and Isaiah Thomas each had seven sacks. Back in 2015 for the Clemson Tigers, Kevin Dodd and Shaq Lawson had 12.5 sacks a piece.

Jalen Redmond, Reggie Grimes, Marcus Stripling, Ethan Downs and other defensive linemen will benefit greatly from the hiring of Venables and the additions of Todd Bates and Miguel Chavis.

To look forward and create expectations

Ex-Falcons first-round EDGE named team’s worst pick since 2006

Of the 24 players taken in the first round after Atlanta chose Jamaal Anderson, 13 of them made at least one Pro Bowl.

Every team has misses when it comes to the NFL draft. Scouting is an inexact science and there are no guarantees of a player’s success or failure, regardless of how high they may be selected.

When we label someone a “bust,” we’re weighing their performance against their draft position. Nothing influences the perception around a player more than the success of the players selected immediately after them. For example, there have been a ton of former No. 1 overall picks that didn’t pan out, but the reason JaMarcus Russell is always named among the worst ever is because of who the team passed on to pick him.

Back in 2007, the Raiders selected Russell, a big-armed quarterback out of LSU, one spot ahead of recently-inducted Hall of Fame wide receiver Calvin Johnson. 

The writers over at Pro Football Focus put out a feature naming every franchise’s worst draft pick since the year 2006. For the Falcons, PFF awarded this honor to one of the team’s many failed first-round edge rushers. But no, it’s not Takk McKinley or Vic Beasley.

Atlanta’s worst pick came in that same 2007 draft of which the team selected defensive end Jamaal Anderson out of Arkansas with the No. 8 pick.

“Few edge rushers in PFF history have been as ineffective as Andreson during his time in the league, as he managed only five sacks on nearly 1,400 pass-rushing snaps in his four years with the Falcons,” writes Michael Renner. “And yes, we know sacks aren’t everything, but that ineffectiveness is backed up by the fact that he never earned a pass-rushing grade higher than 61.5 for his career.”

Anderson’s failures were compounded by the fact that the Falcons passed on linebacker Patrick Willis (pick No. 11), RB Marshawn Lynch (No. 12) and CB Darrelle Revis (No. 14).

Adding insult to injury, 13 of the 24 players taken in the first round after Atlanta selected Jamaal Anderson eighth overall have made at least one Pro Bowl.

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2021 NFL free agency: 10 remaining players for Bills to sign

As NFL free agency officially opens, here are 10 players for the Buffalo Bills to still sign.

It might seem like the NFL’s free agency market was already open all week, but it wasn’t. Now it offiically is.

At 4 p.m. on Wednesday, the new “league year” begins. All prior reported signings or trade actually had not happened… they were just “agreed” to. Now all those can go through.

However, even though this deadline has been passed, that doesn’t mean the Bills can’t still continue adding players. The free agency market is still stockpiled with talent for the Bills and general manager Brandon Beane to look at adding.

With that, here are some free agents who have yet to agree to any terms with teams that could interest Buffalo:

2021 free agency: 10 under-the-radar targets for the Bills

Under-the-radar free agents for the Buffalo Bills at the start of 2021 NFL free agency.

On Monday. the NFL’s tampering period for free agency begins. During this time, clubs can talk to pending free agents from other teams ahead of Wednesday, when free agents are officially allowed to sign contracts.

However, the Bills have recently been very active in regards to free agency already. Buffalo made a couple of roster cuts and restructured the contracts of a few other players. That led to linebacker Matt Milano and offensive linemen Daryl Williams and Jon Feliciano re-signing with the club.

Because of those important moves and a dip in the salary cap to $182.5 million this year, Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane won’t have the big dollars to shell out to free agents. But there’s still dough to go around.

With that, here are 10 under-the-radar free agents the Bills could sign when the free agent market opens this week:

Report: Titans to release former Falcons LB Vic Beasley

According to a report by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Titans LB Vic Beasley, who led the NFL with 15.5 sacks during the Falcons’ 2016 Super Bowl run, will be released on Wednesday.

The Atlanta Falcons failed to make any deals before today’s 4 p.m. trade deadline, but there was some news regarding a former player.

According to a report by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Titans LB Vic Beasley, who led the NFL with 15.5 sacks during the Falcons’ 2016 Super Bowl run, will be released on Wednesday.

Beasley hasn’t been a good fit in Tennessee, where he signed a one-year, $9.5 million contract in the offseason. In five games this season, he’s recorded just three tackles (two solo), without any QB hits or sacks. The Titans obviously couldn’t get anything for Beasley at the trade deadline and weren’t happy enough with his production to keep him around.

If you’re wondering what it would cost Atlanta to bring back the team’s 2019 sack leader, ESPN’s Field Yates Tweeted that it would cost just under $2 million against the cap.

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Jags vs. Titans: Dede Westbrook among inactives for second straight week

Dede Westbrook has found himself on the Jags’ inactives list for the second time in 2020.

The Jacksonville Jaguars released their list of inactives for Week 2’s game against the Tennessee Titans. Just like last week, receiver Dede Westbrook has surprisingly been listed amongst the group for the second consecutive time.

Westbrook is coming off a 2019 season where he ranked third on the team in receiving with 660 yards. However, after dealing with a shoulder injury during training camp, he slid down the Jags’ depth chart as rookies Laviska Shenault Jr. and Collin Johnson flashed. Additionally, Keelan Cole had an above average camp, which gave the Jags a solid amount of depth at receiver.

As for the Titans, they had a few notables on their inactives list due to injuries. As expected, A.J. Brown (knee bruise) was among the list after being ruled out Friday. Vic Beasley, who has missed a lot of time on the practice field since joining the Titans, won’t play either after being ruled questionable with a knee injury, too.

WATCH: Falcons All-Decade defensive line highlights

We’ve already examined safeties Ricardo Allen and William Moore, and now, let’s take a look at the All-Decade team’s starting front-four.

The entire writing and editing staff for the Atlanta Falcons has done an outstanding job of unveiling the All-Decade team during a very slow news period.

So far, just the defensive and special teams starters have been released. We’ve already looked at safeties Ricardo Allen and William Moore, and now, let’s check out the All-Decade team’s front-four.

Grady Jarrett and Jonathan Babineaux are the two starting defensive tackles, surrounded by ends Jonathan Abraham and Vic Beasley.

Watch the highlight video of the four former and current Falcons below, as shared by the team’s Twitter account:

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