Atlanta Falcons: No need to call Dwight Freeney
By Randy Gurzi
Even though they lost their best pass rusher to a hamstring tear, the Atlanta Falcons don’t need to call veteran Dwight Freeney as a replacement
Sometimes an injury can be a blessing in disguise, as long as you don’t overthink it and mess everything up. Often times when a team loses a star player the knee jerk reaction is to call an old guy they didn’t want to begin with. That seems to be the consensus for the Atlanta Falcons as it was learned edge rusher Vic Beasley, Jr. was lost for some time with a torn hamstring.
Immediately the idea was to call defensive end Dwight Freeney, who was on the Atlanta roster in 2016. Head coach Dan Quinn has even confirmed the 37-year old is on his radar after the loss of Beasley.
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According to Will McFadden of the team’s website, the coach said “yes” when asked directly about Freeney being on the radar, and then elaborated on the thought:
"“(He’s) definitely somebody that we still talk to on a regular basis. We’re hopeful that he’s going to play this year, he certainly wants to. Right now, there are no changes on our end as we head into today.”"
Freeney played sparingly in the regular season for the Falcons in 2016 — his only season with the team. He did provide a spark in the post season though as a pass rusher and seems like his addition would make sense. It really wouldn’t though.
This team is different than the 2016 Falcons and they have guys who can provide pressure in the absence of Beasley. Most notably is rookie defensive end Takkarist McKinley. While he has yet to make his first career sack, McKinley has been in on a lot of quarterback pressures already and could benefit from the playing time.
Then there’s De’Vondre Campbell who just recorded his first sack of the season on Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers Sunday night. He too could benefit from more opportunities to rush from Beasley’s spot.
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In the end, the injury could be a blessing as Beasley should be back in a month or so and in the meantime young guys like McKinley and Campbell could benefit from the play. Getting them to up their play would help Atlanta down the stretch as the snaps will only make them better. Signing Freeney could mess that up as he would be a stop gap player that really didn’t help in the regular season anyway.