Dec 27, 2010; Houston, TX, USA; Atlanta Falcons cornerback Brent Grimes (20) prepares for a game against the New Orleans Saints at the Georgia Dome. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-US PRESSWIRE

By now I’m sure most of you have heard the news that Brent Grimes has been handed the franchise tag from the Falcons front office. As we have been speculating here on Blogging Dirty this move made a ton of sense. Grimes was too valuable an asset to let simply walk for nothing.

The move shows that the Falcons staff still are big fans of Brent Grimes, which was a doubt since the end of the season. The coaches obviously have a plan for how he will fit into this more man coverage focused D. I personally love Grimes playing in man and usually does a stand-up job. He should perform exceptionally well in Nolan’s D especially with some added pass rush coming from the advanced scheme.

Now Grimes is under the franchise tag, talks will continue on a long term deal as both sides seem to get one done. Grimes clearly isn’t delighted about the prospect of playing under yet another one year deal and will push hard for the new deal. Soon after news came the franchise tag had been given to Brent, his agent came out and said he will not sign the franchise tag. This is an obvious bargaining ploy from the Grimes camp to try and force a new deal. While it may not be an ideal situation, expect nothing to develop in these talks till the deadline to sign the franchise tender some time in July.

For now let’s assume Grimes signs his tender and plays on the one year, $10.6 million deal. The deal hamstrings the Falcons a bit going forward. After including Grimes’ contract the Falcons have roughly $20 million in cap space and that could be down to roughly $16 million with the expected signing of DE/OLB Kroy Biermann.

Fans hoping for the signing of Mario Williams, will be disappointed as the Falcons do not have the cap space now to pull that off. G Carl Nicks still is a possibility but the Falcons will struggle to secure his services is other teams come in heavily for him.

Corner now will not be a need in the draft. The Falcons will make an effort to resign CB Kelvin Hayden and with the Falcons young depth at corner look pretty set at that spot heading further into the off-season.

Nov 27, 2011; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Falcons linebacker Curtis Lofton (50) sacks Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder (7) during the first half at the Georgia Dome. Mandatory Credit: Josh D. Weiss-US PRESSWIRE

Talks between the Falcons and Curtis Lofton’s representative have continued throughout this week. Its no secret that the Falcons would love to have him back but at the right price.

I have talked about hitting the $6 million a year mark for the past few weeks but how much could it cost to resign our starting middle linebacker.

Here are the top five contracts in the NFL for inside linebackers:

1. Patrick Willis, San Francisco: seven years, $53.51 million, $29 million guaranteed.

2. Jon Beason, Carolina: six years, $51.3 million, $25 million guaranteed.

3. Jerod Mayo, New England: seven years,$49.85 million, $25 million guaranteed.

4. D’Qwell Jackson, Cleveland: five years, $ 42.5 million, $19.5 million guaranteed.

5. David Harris, New York Jets: four years, $36 million, $29.5 million guaranteed.

The rates of these linebackers are substantially higher than the $6 million a year i have speculated. I can’t see the Falcons paying this type of money to Curtis Lofton. Especially considering there have been reports that the new Falcons staff consider him a “two down” linebacker.

If Lofton is looking for this type of money we could be saying goodbye to him.

Feb 25, 2012; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Clemson Tigers tight end Dwayne Allen participates in a catch and run drill during the NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-US PRESSWIRE

The combine is fully underway and already there have been plenty of standout performances.

On day 1 Matt Kalil and Cordy Glenn were the standouts for me. Kalil will be long gone but Glenn could be in play in round 2 for Atlanta. Glenn displayed considerable athleticism at the combine at way over 300 pounds and given his performance yesterday could lead teams to think he can be a left tackle in this league.

I am getting more and more convinced we will select a tight end in round 2 and that choice could come down to Georgia’s Orson Charles, Stanford’s Coby Fleener and Clemson TE Dwayne Allen. At the combine none of these guys really distinguished themselves.

Allen looked fairly unimpressive in the 40 going in the 4.8s, his on field performance wasn’t bad but the lack of athleticism concerns me a bit. Fleener measured impressively at over 6”6 and performed well in the bench press. However due to an injury he was unable to run and take part in the on field drills. Charles opted not to run the 40 which is a bone head move if you ask me. If he had run and recorded a team in the 4.6 range, which I think he is capable of, he could have improved his stock significantly.

At the moment I would say Fleener is my favourite but over the coming weeks, I will be watching more film before a make a concrete decision.

Day 2 saw the QBs shine. Robert Griffin III had a ridiculous combine. Clocking an official time of 4.41 in the 40 yard dash only 0.08 seconds slower the Mike Vick ran in 2001. His athleticism blows me away, combined with his intelligence could be a devastating combination at the next level.

Fellow QB Andrew Luck showed off his athleticism in Indy. Whilst not quite reaching the heights of RG3 he was no slouch, clocking a time of 4.67 in the 40. Neither QB chose to throw which was incredibly disappointing considering both could of benefited from doing so.

Obviously neither of these players will be on the Falcons radar obviously, as they are currently exploring a contract extension for current franchise QB Matt Ryan.

Georgia Tech WR Stephen Hill flew at the combine running a 4.3 unofficial time in the 40. He ran nice routes to boot out on the field and at 6”4 he is a very intriguing prospect that could follow in the footsteps of former GaTech receivers Calvin Johnson and Demaryius Thomas.

An under the radar prospect that interested me for Atlanta was Alabama WR Darius Hanks ran some really nice routes on the field and he could a player of interest as a developmental/ slot receiver late in the draft.