FanPost

What the Falcons could have been...

Before I start I would like to say this is my first FanPost. All you long time Falcons fans out there remember the 2001 NFL Draft that ultimately changed the franchise for years to come. I got thinking about this because Ladainian Tomlinson retired a while ago and the Miami Heat winning the NBA championship and the talk about the Dream Team in the olympics. In this post I'll be examining what the Falcons roster could have looked like if the drafted LT instead of Michael Vick and the Chargers drafted Vick. I'll start with the beginning of an era....2001. In 2001, the Falcons start the draft off taking the best running back on the board LT, and the Chargers settle for Michael Vick with the number 5 pick in the draft. And in the second round since the Chargers already filled their QB need they skip out on Drew Brees, letting him slip to the Falcons with the 4th pick in the second round instead of Alge Crumpler.(Who was a pretty good pick I thought for a while, thought he was a little underrated) I'm not going to try and predict how the Falcons would have done during the Michael Vick era with LT and Brees. So I'll skip to right before the Matt Ryan era...the 2007 NFL Draft. In 2007, the Falcons have an early draft pick that in reality they used on Jamaal Anderson....sorry if I made you cringe a little bit. But for this post we are changing that, the Falcons with use the pick on one of two future pro bowlers, Patrick Willis or Darelle Revis. I'll make the executive decision to take Revis with the pick upgrading the secondary. The Falcons had two picks in the second round of this draft which they used the first on Justin Blalock with the second pick of this round for the Falcons instead of taking Chris Houston the Falcons could have taken LaMarr Woodley DE out of Michigan. But in the 3rd round instead of using their pick on Laurent Robinson they use the pick on Marshal Yanda filling a need on the O-line. (He was the next linemen taken so it isnt too far fetched) In 2008, the Falcons used an early pick to draft Matt Ryan but lets pretend they didnt have that pick and they just have the 21st pick in the first round. But, the Falcons will trade back into the early second round and snag another lockdown corner Brandon Flowers. With their actual pick in the second round they use it to take Curtis Lofton, making up for not picking PAtrick Willis(not really but solid replacement for Keith Brooking)In the third round they again have two picks but instead of taking Chevis Jackson with the first third round pick they take the next apprentice for LT in Jamal Charles. With the other third round pick they take Harry Douglas, or they could take Mario Manningham who was the next WR taken but I'm not sure who I'd rather have. In the 5th round they could have taken Brandon Carr and Carl Nicks but I will leave them off of this to make it A LITTLE more realistic. In 2009, the Falcons had the Falcons used their first round pick on Peria JErry but I'm using the pick on the LB taken two picks later, Clay Matthews. Other than taking William Moore in the second round not much else happens in this draft so we will move on...From there on out the Falcons will draft exactly as they did. So lets take a look at the depth chart that could have been. The defense will run a 3-4 now. QB- Drew Brees HB- LT, Jamal Charles, and Jacquizz WR- Roddy White, Julio Jones, and Harry Douglas/Mario Manningham (still not sure who I would have taken) TE- Tony Gonzalez LT- Marshal Yanda LG- Justin Blalock C- Todd McClure/Peter Konz RG- Harvey Dahl (I'm bringing him back because he should still be a Falcon) RT- Tyson Clabo RE- John Abraham DT- Babs/Corey Peters LE- Ray Edwards LB- Clay Matthews, Curtis Lofton, Sean Weatherspoon, and LaMarr Woodley (scary) CB- Revis, Brandon Flowers, and Brent Grimes FS- DeCoud SS- William Moore Yes I know the Falcons would never have the money to keep all of these guys but lets pretend there was no salary cap.(: This is just showing what the Falcons team could have looked like if they could have all these guys. Obviously I could have made the team drastically different if I did the drafts from 2002 to 2006 but thats for another day. What do you guys think? And I was thinking about writing a post in a couple of days about what would have happened if the Falcons kept Favre. Time to go do some more research.

<em>This FanPost was written by one of The Falcoholic's talented readers. It does not necessarily reflect the views of The Falcoholic.</em>