Atlanta Falcons: Early look at three 2023 free agents to sign, avoid

The third 2023 free agent the Atlanta Falcons should sign is DE Marcus Davenport

Yes, the Atlanta Falcons should sign a New Orleans Saint, someone who they just played against.

Listen, it is hard to call Marcus Davenport a good player considering the team he plays for but if the Falcons sign him, he would be a great player. Last season he played in 11 games and still tallied nine sacks. He has all the talent and size you want from an edge rusher and really is a prototypical NFL pass rusher.

He is going to demand a lot of money and considering the Saints are last in projected cap space next year with -$51 million, he is unlikely to get it in NOLA. Notice that negative mark in front, they are deep in the hole when it comes to cap space once again.

The Saints lost another pass rusher in 2021 when Trey Hendrickson signed with the Bengals. Think about the impact that he had on that defense, Davenport might just have more potential than Trey.

And you cannot overlook the fact that you would be stealing him from your heated rival, that might be the number one reason to sign him.

The third 2023 free agent the Atlanta Falcons should avoid is LB Roquan Smith

There was a lot of talk not too long ago about a potential Roquan Smith trade and there were many Atlanta Falcons fans who were clamoring for him since he played for UGA.

This will be an unpopular opinion but Roquan Smith is not that great, and certainly not worth the money he is going to demand.

He has plenty of talent, but talent does not make you a good player. Roquan has been a pretty bad run defender during his career and has been an average coverage player, minus 2021 when he had a great season.

While he is probably an upgrade over anyone the Falcons have right now, that shouldn’t justify the estimated five-year, $88 million contract that he could ask for. We have already seen what has happened with Deion Jones, so why would we want to roll the dice on a very similar situation?

Deion Jones was a better player when the Falcons extended him than Smith has ever been, not to mention he signed for about $30 million less.