TD Wire post-draft power rankings: Falcons in NFC South basement?
The NFL draft is one of the biggest events in all of sports because it gives every team a chance to start fresh and wipe away the pain of the previous year. For the Falcons, that meant switching out a four-win season for the No. 4 overall pick. Atlanta would use that pick to select tight end Kyle Pitts, a potential Hall-of-Fame talent out of Florida.
Despite Pitts’ upside, though, one player was never going to solve all of the team’s problems. A new batch of power rankings came out and the Falcons aren’t getting a ton of respect. Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar has Atlanta rated at No. 25 overall, the worst of the four NFC South teams, in his latest rankings.
While Farrar likes what the Falcons did in the draft, the team simply has too many defensive holes to buy in at this point.
“When they put two or more tight ends on the field in 2020, the Tennessee Titans threw for 14 touchdowns and just two interceptions. So, when ex-Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith became the new Falcons’ head coach, you’d assume Atlanta was going to improve its base at the position. The Falcons did so by making Florida’s Kyle Pitts the highest-drafted tight end in pro football history with the fourth overall pick, and Pitts is worth the reach. He and Hayden Hurst (along with Julio Jones and the grievously underrated Calvin Ridley) give Matt Ryan perhaps the most impactful bunch of targets he’s ever had. A defense in great need of help at just about every level should see some improvement with UCF safety Richie Grant, but that’s the side of the ball that remains in question before the Falcons can contend again.”
Second-round pick Richie Grant should be an instant-impact starter, but questions remain at outside linebacker/EDGE, cornerback and safety. There’s still time for the team to tweak its roster ahead of next season. The problem is that Atlanta doesn’t even have the cap space to sign its rookie class at the moment.
With Calvin Ridley, Julio Jones, Hayden Hurst and Kyle Pitts, though, the Falcons’ offense has the potential to be as high-powered as they come.
