Matt Ryan is set to get an extension sometime during this off season and it will most likely be the most exciting news Atlanta Falcons fans will hear in the next couple months. We don’t know numbers yet but this contract will surely be a very high and lengthy deal for the young quarterback. This deal should happen sooner rather than later so we shouldn’t have to wait long to get our Falcons fix.

Free Agency is also still happening and although Atlanta has used most of their salary cap thus far you never know when Thomas Dimitroff will make another move. The draft is over and there are improvements that still can be made to the roster.One guy who is highly unlikely to rejoin the team is John Abraham but the longer he remains available the more confidence I have he can return. If the price is right the Falcons should be more then willing to add depth to an already dangerous Atlanta Falcons roster.

Even when the Atlanta Falcons aren’t making first page stories Blogging Dirty is always there to give us Falcons Fanatics different perspectives and new content to read up on so we can keep in touch with the team we love.Atlanta should make more headlines before the first snap of the regular season but until then we can only look forward to the force we will be when that time finally comes.

November 10, 2012; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; LSU Tigers defensive end Sam Montgomery (99) against the Mississippi State Bulldogs during the first half of a game at Tiger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

As soon as the 2012 season ended, the only thing for fans of teams who didn’t win the Super Bowl to do is to look ahead to the upcoming Draft. Unfortunately, such is the case this season. But there’s still a bunch of questions as to who will be drafted, even what position the Falcons will target with their first round pick, something they didn’t have in 2012 due to the Julio Jones trade. I’ll make a case for the three positions that need the most attention, in no particular order.

Defensive end/pass rusher: The playoff games against Seattle and San Francisco highlighted this. The Falcons were very solid in coverage, and were able to stop the run in obvious situations. But the fact of the matter is that when the quarterback has infinite time to throw passes, he will always find an open receiver. We saw that highlighted in the intermediate game, when Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick constantly found their tight ends in the middle of the field. How can you prevent that, especially when your coverage really isn’t bad? Improve your pass rush, especially against the mobile quarterback.

It isn’t just that the Falcons pass-rush is poor; the clock is ticking. John Abraham is still solid as a rock, but he’s older and we’ve seen what the Falcons rush looks like without Abraham. When he decided to hang it up, they will be left with Kroy Biermann, Lawrence Sidbury, Cliff Matthews, and a cast of non-impact type players. They’re not bad players, and they certainly are critical to setting the edge and filling out the rotation, but they need an additional/replacement impact player at defensive end, or a general pass-rusher.

Offensive line: This is my personal preference for what the Falcons should do with their first round pick. The line was much better in 2012 than it was in the 2011 season, but it still wasn’t spectacular. The main reason it improved was due to the improve play of left tackle Sam Baker. But geez, this unit is far from outstanding.

Will the Falcons re-sign Sam Baker? Great question, and it will be one of the first orders of business for the Falcons. Let’s assume they do. Well, there are still issues at center and guard. Let’s also assume that veteran center Todd McClure retires, and 2012 rookie Peter Konz fills in at center. That will still leave a huge void at right guard, a position where the Falcons have struggled in the past couple seasons. The key to winning football games is winning in the trenches, and the Falcons need to invest serious picks in improving the offensive line. It’s a key to getting the ball in the hands of the play-makers.

Tight end: Tony Gonzalez, the greatest tight end in the history of the NFL, is likely retiring after this season. The Falcons will need to upgrade talent there. Currently they have Chase Coffman, who is a solid, but not a tremendous playmaker, Tommy Gallarda, mostly a blocking tight end, and….that’s about it. They need a pass-catching threat.

Tony Gonzalez, in his time in Atlanta, has been great at moving the chains and playing in the red-zone. That’s mostly what the Falcons have needed out of him, but he rarely stretches the field. The Falcons need to find a new tight end with a skill set similar to that of Gonzalez, but who can also stretch the field to a higher degree. I wouldn’t personally invest a 1st round pick in a tight end, especially when there are such pressing needs on the offensive and defensive lines, but it is a position of need.

So what will it be? Will the Falcons look to crush quarterbacks, build to play in the trenches, or look for another weapon for Matt Ryan? I’d like to hear from you, so vote below, and speak your mind on what you think the Falcons should do in the 2013 NFL Draft.

September 22, 2012; Gainesville FL, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Larry Warford (67) and guard Zach West (75) block against the Florida Gators in the second quarter at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Like I said yesterday, when I posted my first league-wide 1st-round Mock Draft of 2013, the Atlanta Falcons season is over. Normal fans would mope around, with nothing to look forward to for the next few months at least. But we should all take a page out of the front office of the Falcons, and focus on building this roster for the future. Head coach Mike Smith and GM Thomas Dimitroff are already in Moblie Alabama, evaluating talent for the upcoming NFL Draft. If they’re doing it, we as fans certainly can do the same.

I’m going to do something a little different here. It’s extremely hard to predict what is going to happen in the 4th round or later, so as a result, I’m not even going to give predictions on who they Falcons may or may not take in that draft. It’s a crapshoot at this point, as the NFL Combine hasn’t even commenced. Heck, the Super Bowl hasn’t even been played yet.

What I will do is use current information and charting of talent for the upcoming NFL Draft, match that with the positions the Falcons need help with, and come up with the first three players the Falcons will select. It’s just a guess, and it’s certainly subject to change, but in this last week of January, these are the three players I think the Falcons could end up taking.

Round 1 Pick 30- Margus Hunt, DE/DT, Southern Methodist: This is a guy I didn’t know much about coming into this week, but I’ve heard some really good things about. Hunt is an extremely tall defensive lineman at 6’8″, and 275 lbs. That’s really the only drawback that I see on the guy, and if he doesn’t maintain low pad level, offensive linemen will out-leverage him.

The positives are that Hunt is extremely athletic, has great brute strength, is fast, and is versatile. He’s not really a true defensive end like we’re used to seeing with John Abraham, but he’s not quite a defensive tackle like Babineaux is. He can hold up on the edge, but he’s quick enough to play the defensive end position and beat offensive tackles. He’s big, strong, and can do a multitude of things on the defensive front, things that the Falcons could really use at this point.

Round 2 Pick 62- Larry Warford, OG, Kentucky: Warford is a very, very good right guard. He was only second team SEC, but he’s still as solid as they get. I’ve watched him in some of the Senior Bowl drills, and he’s simply been dominating. Now, he probably won’t dominate in the NFL, but he will certainly be able to hold his own. He’s played really well in the best conference in college football, a league known very well for their big, fast defensive fronts. Warford can be a very good player on the Falcons offensive line.

One concern is that the Falcons just drafted Peter Konz, and he played right guard this year. Well, Todd McClure isn’t getting any younger, and while he may like to return next season, the Falcons may not necessarily re-sign him. That would allow Konz to shift to his more natural position, which is center, what he played in college. That would vacate the right guard position, and allow the Falcons to draft Warford to take the spot voided by Konz.

Round 3 Pick 94- Joseph Fauria, TE, UCLA: Fauria is almost the exact same type of player that Tony Gonzalez was from a production standpoint. Gonzalez wasn’t used much as a primary blocker; the Falcons opted to send him down the field and catch passes, or flex him out to the slot. He was certainly serviceable as a blocker, but that wasn’t exactly what he was best at, and the Falcons played to his strengths.

That’s Fauria exactly. At UCLA this past season, he caught 45 passes for over 600 yards and caught 11 touchdowns. That shows that he can excel in the red-zone as a receiving target, an area of the field where Tony was very good. He has reasonable speed to stretch the field down the seam, and beat linebackers. Matt Ryan will need a target at tight end, whether or not Tony Gonzalez retires, and Fauria would fit the bill perfectly.