Atlanta Falcons: 3 position battles to watch
By Andrew Ross
The Atlanta Falcons lost all of their starting safety options this offseason as Keanu Neal, Ricardo Allen, and Damontae Kazee all headed to free agency. While this group isn’t as up in the air as the o-line it will be full of new starters.
Atlanta Falcons’ new GM Terry Fontenot addressed this position with several solid free agency signings of Duron Harmon and Erik Harris. Going into the draft the additions at least gave the team some options at the position. While Harris and Harmon could fill the holes left by Allen and Neal the Falcons still needed a long-term answer.
With the 40th pick in the draft, the Atlanta Falcons took UCF safety, Richie Grant. Grant brings the versatility needed to excel as a three-down safety in Dean Pees system. Utilizing his players all over the field, Pees will be able to get the most out of what Grant has to offer.
The ability to play deep, in the slot, and down in the box make Grant a day one starter. The expectation should be for Grant and Harmon to be the starters at safety with Erik Harris being solid depth and an above-average rotational player.
After the top three, the position gets immediately troublesome, with only fringe roster players and UDFAs available to fill in. At the moment one injury makes this group a weakness again and the way Dean Pees likes to utilize his safeties would severely hamper the effectiveness of this team.
The Atlanta Falcons do not have much cap space left to work with, but some interesting free agents should be explored before the season starts.