The Falcons have a modus operandi when it comes to free agency, which I would boil down to this.

Get in, get out.

The Falcons tend to land one major free agent, sign a couple of players to fill essential holes and then move on to draft preparation. There are exceptions to that, of course, but the Atlanta Falcons under Thomas Dimitroff have embraced swiftness. There's little sense in getting involved in bidding wars when you don't have enough cap space to win them, after all.

My expectation is that you will see the Falcons striking quickly, then. They've been heavily linked to Steven Jackson, who is a possibility to fill that hole left at running back by Michael Turner. They still are probably negotiating with Sam Baker, at minimum, if not Vance Walker and Brent Grimes. And they need an established pass rusher like I need a comically oversized bucket of coffee to get through the average day.

The best way to get quality players for a little less is to get them either early or late, before their markets develop or after they've failed to gain significant traction. You can bet the Falcons will try to lock up the big names early, but they may gamble on getting a couple of players cheaper later on.

So don't be surprised if by the time the sun goes down, there's a few faces new and old who have fresh contracts. Who do you think they'll be?