Will Vic Beasley repeat as NFL sack leader?
By Brian Foley
In just his second season in the NFL, Atlanta Falcons’ Vic Beasley Jr. led the league in sacks. With 15.5 sacks, he beat out Broncos’ Von Miller (12.5) to receive his crown. However, since expected sack leaders like J.J. Watt, Aldon Smith, and Justin Houston did not play the entire 2016 season, due to injury or suspension, some have criticized his Beasley’s sack title as just lucky timing.
Von Miller even took aim at Beasley and showed his competitive urge for the sack title, tweeting “Coming for you fam,” at the Falcons pass rusher. He has since deleted the tweet.
It’s not unreasonable to predict that Beasley will have much more difficult path to the sack title in 2017. Stars like former defensive player of the year J.J. Watt will be hungry to get the quarterback after being unable to do so for so long, and now that teams are aware of Beasley’s capability to rush the passer, he will likely face more double teams and plays designed to move the ball away from him.
However, Falcons fans have reasons to be optimistic. Atlanta added a lot of defensive firepower this offseason.
With the 26th pick of the NFL draft, the Falcons picked up Takkarist Mckinley, the hard hitting defensive end out of UCLA. They also picked up a linebacker, Duke Riley, from Louisiana State University in the third round. Both will likely receive a starting position on the young Atlanta defense. The Falcons also added a couple of well-seasoned veterans to the team, including Dontari Poe and Jack Crawford. All of these players can take focus off of Beasley, hopefully resulting in him getting to the quarterback more often. However, they also could compete with Beasley in getting sacks of their own.
Whether Beasley keeps his crown or not, the Falcons defense looks to be headed in the right direction. With the mixture of young players full of talent and veterans with lots of knowledge, this Atlanta unit has the potential to be something special.