Your 2011 Atlanta Falcons Worst Player: The Voting

I’ve been one of his biggest supporters and got upset when people started calling him a bust. So when Babs injured his MCL, I expected Jerry to step up prove and the doubters wrong. Jerry proclaimed himself fully healthy so to see him disappear during games was disappointing. He was such a non-factor that I actually started checking the breaking news posts during the games to make sure he wasn’t injured. Not only has Peters taken his job, but Vance Walker has outplayed him as well. I’m officially declaring Jerry a bust.

We got him for pass rush… enough said.

Baker, Jerry,Reynolds.

Who nominated those last three? Yeah Julio Jones really stunk with his eight touchdowns and 17.7 YPC average.

Atlanta gave up two 2nd round picks ( 3rd and 17th in round 2) and the 4th pick of the 4th rd in order to move up and “grab” Baker. Strangely, The only OT selected other than Baker until the 3rd round was Duane Brown who was picked 5 spots AFTER Baker and has started 59 games and was All Pro this season. While hindsight is 20-20, seems that we gave up a lot for him when he or Brown would have been there in round 2. None of the picks we traded away were used for a OT. Granted Baker has been injured, and bad backs and O linemen are a combonation not unlike bourbon and dynamite, but in hindsight, this is on TD and the Falcon brass. We were loaded with picks in 2008 and in hindsight, we squandered 3 picks. Take a look at the 2008 draft, and the players that could have been had in the spots we gave away to move up.

baker,jerry are disopointing for sure,think jerry may be the worse TD pick yet,at least there were 2 yrs of ok play from baker ,Dont know why reynolds cant play any better the guy is huge to bad we cant injeck a mean strick into him

man those picks really hurt us for baker and now we let him walk i bet there had to be scouts ripping us good for that move ya know there isnt a lineman on the saints OL
that is higher than a 4 round pick i think

I agree with many of your observations, and you are right that he seem out of position, but that does have a lot to do with the soft zone they played. Qb’s took advantage in the “trade off” zone which made it appear that both he and the safety were both out of position. Lack of QB pressure can make DB’s look much worse than they are. That said, you might argue that Grimes didnt appear the same and again you are right, but keep in mind, that Grimes lined up on the opponents #1 much of the time, and in many cases that is the QB’s first option. When the QB looks to that side, Grimes still had man coverage in the soft zone and the QB checked to his next option. Dunte in many cases was covering that 2nd option and in the process of transfering responsibility. Let’s all hope that Dunte preforms at the level he did in Houston which is why we paid a premium for him. I expect that Grimes will not be returning and Dom Franks will be the man on that side in 2012. The Nolan style will give up some really big plays, but over-all the defense should show improvement with the scheme change alone.

The Falcons are just behind the Saints at $100.2 million. But Atlanta’s situation isn’t as complicated as New Orleans’. The Falcons do have some free agents they want to keep, starting with linebacker Curtis Lofton and cornerback Brent Grimes. But those two combined won’t eat up as much cap space as Brees. Besides, if the Falcons do want to be big players in free agency, there are some moves they could make to create room and the first one I’d point to would be releasing left tackle Sam Baker.

Was really hoping this would be the year when he turned into a disruptive force in the middle, disrupting the pocket, forcing RB’s to try and bounce outside or QB’s to roll right into Abe’s waiting arms…but no.

Instead we got a guy who disappeared. There were times that people posted wondering if he even dressed for the game. All we heard durning camp was that he was flying around like a demon, 100% healthy, this is the year. When Babs went down, I thought, ok, this is his chance, this is when mwalex’s wish comes true and I stop crying about us not drafting Clay Matthews. Well, I still wish we had Matthews!

I never expected Rod Coleman numbers but I did expect him to be able to fend off a 7th round pick for a higher spot in our DT rotation. He’s basically a tackling dummy out there advanced stats be damned!!

But as far as value is concerned, Baker has been the worst because the Falcons spent a first and second-round pick on him essentially

But damn, I forgot Jerry was even on the team.

Peria Jerry came stumbling on the field. I had not seen him in a while since he rarely plays and the first thing that struck me is he looked like he had just gotten finish eating Thanksgiving dinner. Maybe the game was sometime at the end of November but he looked like he had just put some turkey bones in the trash can. Maybe they are asking him to put on weight if so he is definitely following instructions. I keep telling people when this guy was drafted he told the media the Falcons were the ONLY team that brought him in for an interview. Now we see why. This guy will be 28 yrs old when the season starts and has a total of 20 tackles and 2 sacks to his credit. I wont call him a bust yet because he was badly hurt but the bus is warming up.

By all I can tell on Sportrac, he is scheduled to make under 2m this season and if cut or traded, there is no CAP hit whatsoever. Not sure how they accelorated 11 of the 13 million his contract called for over the first 4 years. Are these numbers accurate? Anyone? Anyone?

I do think our Worst of Both Worlds defense- soft zone DBs and little blitzing or stunts hurt both Robinson and Jerry. Now if Nolan can’t get them to be effective then it’s time to chalk them up as busts. I am one of the optimistic ones about DR’s future. He at least has a good track record playing a more physical style. With Jerry, I just remember the way he looked when he first arrived. If anyone can get him back to that level of play, Coach Nolan can. I’m more concerned with our OL. They have to take a bunch of overperforming late draft picks and undrafted FAs and build them into a solid unit again. It’s going to take a good coach and some smart moves in the draft and FA to improve this line.