Atlanta Falcons: Time to respect Grady Jarrett and acknowledge his greatness

Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett is coming for that number one spot in 2020.

Laugh now and Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett will laugh later. There is no doubt that Grady is not only the top Falcons defender but he is looking for something greater and we will all get a front-row seat as it happens.

Aaron Donald is the undisputed leader when it comes to being the best defensive tackle in the NFL and you won’t find people that will dispute that, however, the line behind him is arguable and does change depending on who you talk to.

Insert Grady Jarrett.

Grady has been overlooked his entire life. He was undersized coming out of high school in Conyers and ended up rewarding Clemson for believing in him. Despite a great college career, he was overlooked in the 2015 NFL draft because he was still considered undersized and the Atlanta Falcons are being rewarded for taking a chance on him.

Grady is considered to be a Top five defensive tackle in the game now but he should be higher, much higher. Guys like Fletcher Cox, DeForest Buckner, and Geno Atkins have had good careers but it’s time that Grady surpasses all of them and takes his rightful place among the greats of the game.

Over the last six weeks, NFL fans have drooled over watching workout videos of Aaron Donald, but have you seen Grady’s? He looks like a man on a mission and someone that has accepted that if the Atlanta Falcons are going to get back to the playoffs and back to respectability, he is going to have to shoulder the load moving forward.

https://twitter.com/AtlantaFalcons/status/1264201165358555137

Each of his five seasons in the NFL has seen Grady improve his stats from the previous season. In 2019, Jarrett had a career-high 7.5 sacks, 12 tackles for loss, 16 QB hits, and was selected to his first ever Pro-Bowl.

Adding a player like Dante Fowler will help to give Grady more one on one opportunities on the interior of the defensive line and we will see an explosion in his success rate in 2020.