atltillidie

I do think our offseason was good and we will be a better team because of it. On defense we finally have the personnel to run the fronts that we want to. We have more size, so we'll be able to stop the run better. On offense, we've added better better oline personnel so we'll be able to protect Matt Ryan better and run the ball with more success. I think we'll win at least 8 games.

Even if our offseason was bad, I still would be pumped for the season because I love football. If you think the Falcons will still be in the same place they were in 2013 then by all means, believe it. It doesn't bother me.

TheOak

Until coaches are entered into the draft, your not going to draft your self out of your problems.

Marlboro Man

Sorry about all the hostility, but some of your fans don't have the sense god gave a jackass, and prove it by some of the stupidity they spew. However, when a fan comes here to talk football for the love of football and their team, we should show some courtesy and respect them for their love of their team and the game.

That being said, I must admit that I really didn't pay much attention to what the Falcons did in the offseason. If you care to share with us, what you believe your teams needs were, and how they were addressed, that would be a good topic for discussion and something we could kick around, much like we do with your Falcons every year...dang, sorry, couldn't help myself, but it's all in good fun anyway. So, if you like lets start with what the Falcons did in FA. What holes did you fill and why do you think the players you got are better than the ones that left.

atltillidie

The only key player that the Falcons lost this offseason was Tony Gonzalez. We were able to get Corey Peters and Peria Jerry back. We released S Thomas DeCoud, OG Garrett Reynolds, CB Asante Samuel, LB Stephen Nicholas. We gained OG Jon Asamoah from the Chiefs, DE Tyson Jackson from the Chiefs, Devin Hester, and DT Paul Soliai from the Dolphins in FA. Earlier on after the 2013 season we picked up OG Gabe Carimi for roster depth.

As for the free safety position, I think you guys were overestimating Thomas DeCoud. The reason I say that is because from reading posts around here, some of you were interested in picking him up. From what I've seen, he's probably one of the worst tackling free safeties in the league. I'm not trying to make him seem bad, it's just that he is. This is the truth. He was absolutely dreadful in coverage, although I will say prior to this season that he always seem to be a little bit of a ballhawk, but still was not very impressive with that. As for Dezmin Southward, I really do like his upside. His athletic ability is excellent for a safety. He ran a 4.38 40 time at his pro day because he missed the combine due to injury. He had a 42 inch vertical leap as well. I'm not saying he will be a star, but he does have the potential to become an impact player for us at free safety. His versatility could be useful, too. He did play some snaps at cornerback at Wisconsin even though it wasn't his natural position.

We will be playing a hybrid multiple front defense. Mike Smith said that we would have no base defense and will rotate between 3-4 to 4-3 during the season. We drafted a few pass rushing LBs that will probably be sticking their hand in the dirt when we play 4-3 and standing up in a 3-4, like Prince Shembo, Tyler Starr, and Marquis Spruill. We drafted Yawin Smallwood to compete with Akeem Dent for the Second ILB spot. I think that Smallwood will eventually unseat Dent, as I think that he's got potential. All of the LBers that we picked up in the draft do have experience playing ILB some in college, so I think that we will be sticking them all over the place in our scheme.

On the defensive line, we added huge bodies. Tyson Jackson and Paul Soliai both weigh over 300 pounds as does our second round pick Ra'Shede Hageman. We will be playing Ra'Shede and Tyson at DT in our 4-3 packages and DE in our 3-4 packages. Since all three of those guys excel at stopping the run, I expect stopping the run to be a strength for our defense.

On offense, besides injuries, the source of all our problems was the offensive line. RG Garrett Reynolds was by far the worst lineman on our offense and we replaced him with Jon Asamoah. I'm sure that you know that we got our franchise LT in the draft with Jake Matthews. Sam Baker will move to right tackle. Those two with out a doubt make our line better. Blank, TD, and Mike Smith all said that they wanted the trench players on both sides to be tougher than last year and I believe we accomplished that and that's partly why I think that we will take a step forward in 2014.