Luda34

I think the guy is hell of a player but is it just me but he can't cover worth of s&%h. I watch ever game and it seem soon as the other team gets in the red zone he gets burnt. What do you guys think

ChrisXVI

You're right. Hawthorne is looking way better in pass coverage this preseason. I think quite a few of us wouldn't mind seeing a lot of Hawthorne and Humber on the inside this year.

|Mitch|

I thought it was great how he knocked the ball out to prevent the TD yesterday... I'll take his somewhat poor coverage along with everything great he does...

westbankdaze

I'm going to keep beating my drum - we need to replace the old guys with fresh blood or our defense is going to be pathetic again this year.

|Mitch|

He's 27 and had 123 tackles last year, tied 17th in the league... Doesn't look pathetic to me

westbankdaze

True, but I will say that there was a reason the falcons cut him and while he isn't the oldest kid on the block he has more years on him than the guys I want him to be replaced with.

|Mitch|

Yeah he declined their 3 different offers and then signed with us for less... He was a UFA

ChrisXVI

The Falcons thought he wasn't an every down LB... That's why they didn't offer him the money he wanted and he signed with us because he felt disrespected by the Falcons low-balling him. I'm not gonna lie, the Falcons may have been right because his pass coverage is lacking.

|Mitch|

Funny; he played 95% of the defensive snaps when he was on their team... 118+ tackles every season except his rookie with 94

Utah_Saint

The Falcons didn't cut him. In fact they offered him almost as much as the Saints did.

But they, in their typical classless way, decided to use insults as a negotiating tool. They made announcements to the rest of the league that Lofton wasn't that good. They claimed he was a liability in coverage, which they had never said before his contract year. And that he was only a 2 down back even though he played more downs than any other player on their defense going back to his rookie year. So in the end, even though the falcons offered him almost as much as the Saints, he decided he didn't want to play for a team that would publicly disrespect him after several years of being one of their best defensive players.

After Lofton left, the Falcons run defense dropped from 6th in 2011 to 21st in 2012. And overall the dirty bird defense dropped from 11th in 2011 to 24th in 2012. I'm not going to pretend the decline in defense is completely due to Lofton's departure but the pigeons didn't do themselves any favors by letting him walk.