Atlanta Falcons shouldn’t consider trading Grady Jarrett or A.J. Terrell

Among the off-season speculation connecting the Atlanta Falcons and Lamar Jackson has been the suggestion Atlanta could part ways with Jarrett and Terrell in a potential trade package. The entire idea of trading for Lamar Jackson seems increasingly unlikely with Atlanta both required to win a bidding war for the star quarterback and Baltimore letting their franchise star walk away in the first place.

Even if Baltimore does the unlikely and decides to part ways with Lamar it is hard to imagine Atlanta being willing to give up their two best defensive players on a bad Atlanta defense. Terrell is a great young corner and paired with veteran Casey Hayward leaves the Falcons feeling great about their secondary moving into next season.

Grady Jarrett is still at the top of his game and was just given an extension by Atlanta’s current front office. Jarrett is clearly Atlanta’s best player on defense and one of their leaders they cannot afford to lose. If Atlanta does decide to chase after Lamar neither of these players can be anywhere near the discussion.

Terrell and Jarrett are the two most important building blocks for your defense, not trade chips to solve Atlanta’s quarterback questions. Even if Lamar is in MVP form if the Falcons traded their best two defensive players and paid Lamar the contract he deserves there simply isn’t enough cap space left to build a defense capable of helping Atlanta take the next step forward.

As important as the quarterback position is in today’s passing league we have seen just how far a team can go with a complete team and simply a capable quarterback. Lamar’s current team is a perfect example of this as they were one play away from beating Joe Burrow’s Bengals limiting the Cincy offense and putting themselves in a position to win that game.

Brock Purdy and San Francisco or any of the last three teams led by Jimmy G. are examples of teams that can win games and compete deep into the playoffs without having a star quarterback. The one thing that is required to win in this league is a complete team. Even Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes require adequate protection, capable pass catchers, and a defense that can make a clutch play or create a turnover.  Trading Jarrett or Terrell would be a move in reverse for a franchise that must avoid making the splashy move and simply continue to be patient and build their team that right way.