Kevin Stefanski is one of those coaches who is ride-or-die for the players he coaches. It's an admirable trait. That endless loyalty to his guys was part of his undoing in Cleveland, but is also a quality that can help the Atlanta Falcons if they play their cards right before the season kicks off.
The Falcons really haven't signed very many players who Stefanski previously coached in free agency. It was just Cameron Thomas and Austin Hooper, which was pretty surprising. However, Atlanta missed a chance to sign another former Stefanski collaborator in free agency in Ethan Pocic.
Pocic was the Browns' main starting center for the better part of the last four seasons. He started 57 games for Cleveland across the last four seasons, and it made too much sense for Atlanta to bring in a Stefanski guy. But unfortunately, another center-needy team managed to beat them to the punch.
Dwayne Ledford and the Ravens stole Ethan Pocic away from the Falcons
The Falcons were beat to the finish line by the team that now employs their old offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford: the Baltimore Ravens. After losing Tyler Linderbaum in free agency, the Ravens signed Pocic to a one-year deal after neglecting to address the center position until this week.
ESPN's Adam Schefter reported earlier this week that that the 30-year-old was medically cleared by Dr. Norman Waldrop to participate in training camp, labeling the veteran center as a "full go" despite tearing his Achilles in December. That doesn't exactly match up with the Achilles recovery timeline.
The injury status was the only reason that Pocic was still a free agent, but assuming Schefter is telling the truth about Pocic in line to take part in training camp, it answered the biggest lingering question about him. Unfortunately, instead of it benefiting the Dirty Birds, it will benefit Ledford's new team.
Right now, Atlanta is starting Ryan Neuzil at center, with free agent addition Corey Levin and UDFA James Brockermeyer pushing for depth roles, so they could have used another body. The 6-foot-6, 320-pound center played for Bill Callahan, and would have been a better fit for his system than Neuzil.
While the latter is undersized, Ethan Pocic is one massive human being. And getting bigger and more physical on the offensive line was a priority this offseason. And it was Ledford's system that managed to thrive with undersized linemen, but his new team now just brought in one of the NFL's biggest interior linemen.
The 2017 second-round pick from LSU has 97 career starts under his belt, which is significantly more than the 29 Neuzil has. So even though Atlanta's incumbent starting center ranked inside the top 10 in both PFF grade and run blocking grade last season, the Falcons could have taken a flier on Pocic.
The issue isn't failing to get Ethan Pocic, because Neuzil is still a quality starter and Brockermeyer stood out during OTAs, it was more about who they lost him to. Because if Kevin Stefanski and Bill Callahan tried, they would've had a good chance to steal him from Dwayne Ledford and the Ravens.
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