The 5 moves that caused the downfall of the Atlanta Falcons

A third straight losing season is not what anyone had in mind for the Atlanta Falcons.

After the Atlanta Falcons loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, the team falls to a 4-8 record and will not have a winning season for the third consecutive year.

The Falcons made a lot of bad moves to cause this but there are several that stood out.

Devonta Freeman Extension

The first mistake that started the downfall of the Atlanta Falcons was giving Devonta Freeman a contract extension making him the highest-paid running back in the NFL at the time.

The majority of analytics Twitter does not believe in paying running backs and the Atlanta Falcons made a terrible decision re-signing Freeman.

Devonta Freeman was a product of Kyle Shanahan’s scheme and produced nothing when he received his extension. Freeman only produced two 1,000-yard seasons in his career during the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

Shanahan was the offensive coordinator during those seasons and was able to make Devonta Freeman look better than he was.

Since his extension, Freeman has played 35 games in five seasons. He has not been able to stay healthy or productive. While many players and fans liked Freeman extending him was the wrong decision.

Instead, the Atlanta Falcons should have gone with Tevin Coleman and acquire draft capital during the 2017 offseason.

Many plays went wrong for the Atlanta Falcons during Super Bowl 51 but Freeman not blocking Dont’a Hightower was one of the biggest mental errors in sports history.

The Atlanta Falcons started getting in a cap situation after signing him. By making him the highest-paid running back they did not have the money to improve their offensive and defensive lines which have struggled heavily since his extension.

Giving Devonta Freeman the extension was the first domino to fall for the Atlanta Falcons. They make worse moves, but this is one that started the chain reaction.