The trade deadline has come and gone once again this NFL season. We saw players like Montez Sweat, and Chase Young moved for second and third-round picks collectively. While the Atlanta Falcons did make a move for a pass rusher some of the fan base on X/Twitter is wondering why didn’t the front office do more to improve the pass rush. Are they allergic to pass rushers? Could they be cursed when it comes to finding consistent pass rushers? Come with me down my rabbit hole of obsession today.
But Do They Need Pass Rushers Really?
Kentavious Street I don’t feel as though was brought in to help the pass rush. He only has six and a half career sacks in five NFL seasons. Against the Titans, we lost arguably the best defensive lineman on the team to injury. The loss of Grady Jarrett with the ACL injury is huge not only leadership-wise but stat’s wise. Grady is a monster in the run game and will be hard to replace but Street will hopefully help pick up that slack. We only swapped mid-round picks for him though so nothing is hugely lost if he doesn’t pan out as a solid performer.
I will tell you though, pass rush is still very much needed. Through eight games this team has only fifteen sacks total, whereas they only had twenty-one all season last year. It is an improvement but in comparison to the top defenses in the league, it’s almost half. The Baltimore Ravens lead the NFL in sacks right now with thirty-one as a team. The Falcons are in the bottom ten when it comes to sack totals and just got shredded by a rookie quarterback in Will Levis. So, I would say yes pass rushers are needed still.
Pass Rusher Draft Curse?
I’ve been watching NFL TV pretty much most of the day hoping to see the Falcons do a little more to help the defensive line. However, I was a bit disappointed so as I mentioned earlier I went down a proverbial rabbit hole and looked into some recent draft picks done by the Falcons.
In the last ten drafts, throughout the first three rounds of each of those drafts, the Falcons have taken seven different defensive linemen. If you want to include linebackers then you can add four more players into the pass rusher pool. Only two of the eleven were in the first round those being Takk McKinley and Vic Beasley.
Four of those eleven pass rushers have been within the last two seasons. Coincidently enough they are the only four also who are still on the team. Not very good numbers in my opinion. Speaking of numbers their individual stats aren’t much better. So, it doesn’t appear we have that weapon in development either, which made me all the more curious. Why didn’t they make an effort to go after one of at least the two bigger-named players via trade?
Cursed or Allergic You Tell Me?
Since the 2013 season, the Atlanta Falcons have only had four seasons where they totaled more than thirty sacks as a team. All of those were prior to 2019. In the last two seasons alone as one player Haason Reddick has totalled thirty-one sacks.
The defense has not been a strong point in Atlanta in a few seasons honestly. So, why not fortify the defense with a pick like Jalen Carter? Nope, Bijan Robinson. In 2021 with the fourth pick and a GAME CHANGING pass rusher like Micah Parsons still on the board, they grabbed Kyle Pitts. Again another opportunity was given to another competitor. Should I continue? Because I promise I absolutely can.
While they are better statistically this year in comparison to last year, we could’ve easily given up a second-round pick for a player like Montez Sweat, and be instantly better. Or went after a player like Chase Young Once again though nothing. What do you think fellow Falcons fans? Are we ever going to get to see an elite pass rusher in the ATL?
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