Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle gets praise from within NFL

Grady Jarrett has been the one consistent for the Atlanta Falcons defense over the past five-plus years and even after a down year he is still seen as a top ten defensive tackle in the NFL.

There was a post recently published on Blogging Dirty talking about how the Falcons’ star cornerback was downright disrespected by NFL execs, coaches, and players as ESPN+ has been releasing the top ten players at each position according to those people within the NFL. However, this time a Falcons player was given a favorable ranking.

Atlanta Falcons’ longtime star, Grady Jarrett, ranked within the top ten at his position

Grady Jarrett did not have his greatest season as a member of the Atlanta Falcons last year, but who can blame him? He was thrown out there in the first year of a new scheme while having the least amount of help around him of any other NFL player.

Let’s be real, there is probably only one interior defensive lineman in the NFL that could have dominated on the Falcons’ defense last year and that is Aaron Donald. Donald is just a one-of-a-kind player who can do anything he wants.

Grady should not be blamed for his lack of production and it seems like people within the NFL recognize that as they gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Here are the rankings of the top ten defensive tackles according to those 50 NFL people surveyed by ESPN:

1. Aaron Donald – Los Angeles Rams
2. Jeffrey Simmons – Tennessee Titans
3. Chris Jones – Kansas City Chiefs
4. DeForest Buckner – Indianapolis Colts
5. Cameron Heyward – Pittsburgh Steelers
6. Kenny Clark – Green Bay Packers
7. Vita Vea – Tampa Bay Buccaneers
8. Arik Armstead – San Francisco 49ers
9. Grady Jarrett – Atlanta Falcons
10. Jonathan Allen – Washington Commanders

Ranking ninth overall after the lack of numbers he had last year is respectable. However, if this was a year or two ago this ranking would have been unacceptable.

Here is what one senior personnel exec in the NFL said about him:

"A little declined but really good player, wins with initial quickness. Still one of the best at that. So if he keeps that, he’ll always be productive."

He is a defensive tackle who did not put up great stats on a bad team. Other than Allen, he is the only player who played for a team with a losing record last season, that right there says that he is still a respected player.

On another note, this ranking also further proves how ridiculous A.J. Terrell’s ranking was at his position as no one is going to argue that Grady had a better season than Terrell.

At the very least, it is nice to see some Falcons players on these lists, it shows that they still have some talent on the roster.