It’s time for the Atlanta Falcons to commit to a rebuild

It’s tough to be an Atlanta Falcons fan right now. We are less than a month away from the NFL draft and one thing is clear, the Atlanta Falcons have no clear plan.

The Falcons just ended their third straight disappointing season. They brought in a new regime with a head coach and general manager, they made some cuts of veteran players and they restructured some abysmal contracts. And even after all of that, it’s still not clear just what exactly the Falcons are planning to do.

If you look around at the neighboring Atlanta teams, they all went through tough stretches but they committed to a plan.

The Hawks tore it all down and rebuilt with young talent in the draft. They then added some veteran players and aha, they look like they can compete. The Braves did the same, stocked up on young talent, let them develop, added some veteran pieces, and boom, they are a mainstay in the National League.

The Atlanta Falcons need to commit to a rebuild and stick to it.

So what exactly are the Falcons doing?

No one knows. Recently talks have emerged about them drafting Kyle Pitts – the tight end from Florida. But they just signed Hayden Hurst to a four-year deal and he has solid talent for the position.

He’s just been grossly misused. We all thought the Falcons would take a quarterback, but instead, they restructured Matt Ryan’s contract. That means they’re tied to him even longer now.

The Atlanta Falcons can’t decide if they want to commit to a full rebuild or continue to pay top dollar to miss the playoffs. The end result is the same, however, one leads you closer to your ultimate goal of a championship.

The Falcons have won 18 games total over the past three seasons.

That’s with big-name players, bloated contract figures, and still no results. That path isn’t working. The Falcons hope in Matt Ryan being the guy has not been rewarded. He has been consistently good, with small glimpses of greatness.

It’s time to move on.

Unfortunately, there is no career-altering talent that is apparent in the draft that lines up with a need for the Falcons. They would be foolish to sit pat at number four. Instead, the Falcons need to commit to what they are – a bad team right now.

They should trade back, stock draft capital, get their cap situation under control, and then look to compete in a few years.

But the team they are slated to roll out each Sunday this season is far off from competing with the powers in the NFL that be. Somebody in the organization just needs to see that.