Calvin Johnson...From Beyond The Draft!

Jesus. Where am I even supposed to start on this one? Well, I guess I should be as even-tempered as possible and tell you that Terence Moore is whuppin' a dead horse again. I'm used to reading these kinds of columns a year or two down the line, when a guy a team doesn't draft does exceptionally well and the hometown columnist gets to say "I told you so, jackasses!" Yet Moore has taken it one step further. He's crafted an argument that the Falcons should've gotten Calvin Johnson before the guy even stepped onto the field. But does his argument make sense, you ask?

No. It's one of the most preposterous articles I've seen lately, and that's pretty amazing considering I've also read nearly everything written about Vick. Let's take this argument blow by blow, shall we?

Moore Point #1: The Falcons had a pretty good draft.
Counterpoint: Well, yeah. It's too early to tell, but it looks like the Falcons got value at nearly every position they needed. It has the potential to fall somewhere between average and excellent. No argument here.

Moore Point #2: Sure, it was good...but we should've traded away everything to get CJ.
Counterpoint: Wait, what? Didn't you just say the Falcons had a good draft? Do you even realize what it would have taken to move up and pry that away from the Lions? More than likely the picks that netted us Jamaal Anderson, Chris Houston and Justin Blalock. You know, three of the players you just finished praising. Would you trade all three of those players for Calvin Johnson when we have an inconsistent group of quarterbacks and a decent group of receivers? You really wanted to throw away our top three picks? What the hell is the logic behind your argument here?

Moore Point #3: The Falcons should've gotten CJ because he's a special player and a special person, and all of a sudden the team has a myriad of image problems.
Counterpoint: Well, I definitely see your point. It's clear to me that all of our draft picks are part of a criminal syndicate. If only we had given these players away for Calvin Johnson, whose halo barely fits in his helmet. But instead we got Laurent Robinson, who's not only not less talented on the field but also commands the Dirty Booty Bird, a pirate ship which robs from orphans and sweet old ladies. I guess there's absolutely no chance that any of these other guys are good human beings, especially not compared to Calvin Johnson. Golly.

Moore Point #4:

Counterpoint: Alright, now you're just deliberately insulting the intelligence of Falcons fans. Now I'm actually angry at you. How the hell do you know that CJ is the football equivalent of Michael Jordan? How do you know any of the guys we did draft are the equivalent of Sam Bowie? We NEEDED a defensive end, an offensive lineman, and another standout corner. We arguably didn't need a receiver, even if it's one as talented as CJ obviously is. As you yourself point out, we couldn't have gotten the guy without sacrificing three high round picks. Yet you still act like it would've been no big deal to give up a collection of positions we needed for one we really didn't need.

Let me compare this (loosely) to the NBA. Let's say you're the Atlanta Hawks and you have a motley collection of forwards. What you could really, really use is some combination of a point guard and a center. You have three quality picks and can fill both those needs and still have room to fill another...but instead you trade them all up for a forward who was an enormous star in college. If I were a Hawks fan, I would be marching on the team offices with Molotov cocktails. That's just stupid. If it's possible for you to get a transcendent talent without sacrificing a lot, then of course you have to consider that. If you have to give up a ton to get him, you try to fill your needs. This isn't rocket science, for god's sake. It's common freaking sense!

So I don't want to hear this again. You've even forfeited your right to an "I told you so!" column down the road. I don't want to read another article that says we can solve all of our image and talent problems with one wide receiver. It's sloppy, it's lazy and it's incredibly insulting to fans who follow this team every day. We're not dumb enough to think that this team could have solved all its problems with one pick, and we're also not dumb enough to think CJ's going to be a Hall of Famer without him playing a snap in the NFL. Next time, don't assume we are.