The Atlanta Falcons have some major free agent decisions coming up. Brent Grimes, John Abraham and Curtis Lofton could all walk if the Falcons can't make competitive offers, which lends this off-season considerable urgency. Let all three walk and you've just lost a ton of veteran talent and experience on this defense, talent and experience that will not be easy to replace.

We've talked about Grimes before. We haven't yet spent a ton of time on John Abraham, but his day is coming. I want to talk instead about the most likely free agent re-signing, Curtis Lofton, and why the Falcons might re-sign him and why they maybe shouldn't. A real argument with myself, if you will.

If you'll join me after the jump, we'll get right into the breakdown.

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Because there were two Julio Jones catches that made the nominations list, I feel I should mention that the one I'm specifically referring to is his crazy touchdown grab against the Colts. You may carry on.

It was interesting to see Chris Owens make a late charge for this one, because his play really personified the kind of grit and hustle we all heart so much. The fact that Jones ultimately won it should not be taken as a slight to Owens, I think, because this grab was so incredible.

In case you need a refresher, here you go:

It's an incredible display of body control and ability, and hopefully it portends the great seasons ahead. Hard to argue with the selection, ultimately, even if there were many worthy choices. Let's hope that we have an even better set of nominations in 2012, and a better end result to the season to celebrate, too.

Do weigh in.

Jonathan Babineaux has dominated at defensive tackle for so long that a year without that dominance seems awfully jarring.

It's not that the USS Babineaux was a bad player in 2011. Quite the contrary. It's just that missing three games, amassing your lowest tackle total of your career and only coming up with one sack can't be called an elite season, especially when you are Jon Babineaux.

In his best years, Babs is basically unstoppable. He's never had an overwhelming set of numbers at defensive tackle, but he's got a unique knack for getting into the backfield and being a disruptive force. His fingerprints are all over some of the team's best defensive plays since he was drafted, and he was quietly recognized as one of the better tackles in football. So what if he'll be 31 this season?

I think you'll be looking at a better year from Babs in 2012, which will help the rest of the line in turn. Part of that is a belief that his skills really haven't eroded all that much as he enters his 30's. I think you can draw a bright line between his injury and how long it took him to really get going in 2011, and the overall state of the line last year.

Why, if the Falcons might lose John Abraham, would Babs do better in 2012? Simply because I believe this will be a more aggressive scheme, one that will call for Babs to punch into the backfield the way he's so clearly accustomed to. Babs fared well in BVG's scheme in years past, but there was rarely a ton of time to rush the passer. That may change.

Also, Babineaux just has too much natural ability to be contained, assuming he's not entering a steep decline phase I'm not seeing. With the Falcons probably needing more of an interior rush with a little bit of a shaky situation at the ends, Babs will have to step up. I think he will.

Do you agree?

What was the single best play of 2011? These are the questions that keep us up at night, assuming we are already insomniacs.

There were plenty of worthy nominations for this one, in no small part because there were incredible plays throughout the year. Even during their most frustrating games, the Falcons managed to put up eye-popping stretches thanks to the strength of their players, the occasional clever scheme and dumb luck.

Onward, friends. Here's our nominees:

• Chris Owens runs down Percy Harvin in the Vikings game, tackling him just short of at touchdown on a return. This was one of the most athletic, persistent displays of determination I've ever seen from an NFL player. Owens didn't give up despite chasing down one of the league's deadliest and fastest returners.
• Julio Jones caught a 50 yard touchdown pass from Matt Ryan that involved him diving and coming up in the ball in the middle of three Colts defenders. It was a truly incredible play, and the moment when Jones truly arrived in Atlanta.
• Jason Snelling ran more than 20 yards for a touchdown against the Saints. That wouldn't have been totally incredible by itself, but Snelling also trucked over multiple defenders on his way.
• Julio Jones' 75 yard touchdown catch against the Panthers. Jones is amazing.
• Matt Ryan had his ankle stepped on by Svitek versus the Lions. It looked like he was going to miss the game, at minimum, but he returned and tossed a 49 yard pass.
• Jacquizz Rodgers caught his first NFL touchdown pass against the Panthers, reeling in a 31 yarder. It was a great play for the mighty mite rookie.
• In the second Saints game, William Moore tipped a pass that Dominique Franks intercepted. Hey, it was Drew Brees.
• Tony Gonzalez one-handed touchdown catch against the Philadelphia Eagles. That dude can still ball.

The Falcoholic tries to sort through the hype, the doom and gloom and everything in between to come up with reasonable expectations for some of the Falcons' young players. First up, the unstoppable Julio Jones.

It's impossible to write a post about Julio Jones without acknowledging that it's equally impossible to figure out Jones' ceiling. Receivers this big, this fast, this deadly after the catch and this capable of leaping six feet off the ground from a standing position just don't come along every day. I bet he can construct less awkward sentences, as well.

It's too easy to get caught up in the physical tools and predict 2012's numbers based solely on that physical ceiling. If Julio Jones played 16 games this year and dominated as he should, he'd probably catch 150 balls for 3,000 yards and 20 touchdowns. At least once a game, he'd rocket to the moon to brings rocks to the children of Georgia.

But considering that Roddy White, Tony Gonzalez, Jacquizz Rodgers and possibly Harry Douglas/Kerry Meier/whoever the Falcons sign will be contending for targets and will cut into his numbers. He may miss a game or two, because he is not an infalliable robot. And no one has ever reeled in 3,000 yards in a single season before, and the odds would seem to be against JJ being the first.

On the other side of the ledger, Jones is a truly special talent. Pro Football Focus compared the rookie campaigns of Jones and A.J. Green and found that Jones' YAC production was truly special, even if he's not yet as sure-handed as Green. Once he gets over his mild drop issues and refines his route-running a little bit, he's going to go from scary to fully terrifying.

So, all that considered, here's my best shot at a line for Jones in 2012, remembering that in 13 games in his rookie season he put up a 54 catch/959 yards/17.8 yards per catch/8 touchdown line.

80 catches, 1,300 yards, 16.3 yards per catch, 14 TDs

Maybe that's a smidge optimistic, but I think it's extremely attainable. I do think Jones will cut into White's numbers this year, and I think he'll establish himself as the #1 option in the passing game. And I think that his YPC will fall just a bit as Ryan finds him on shorter routes.

Now that I've said my piece, give us your projection.

That's our question of the day.

The Falcons are not locked in to bringing Eric Weems back. While kick returners tend to have seasons that wildly fluctuate—think relievers in baseball—Weems had a down year in 2011. The Falcons do like his familiarity with the system, and he had a Pro Bowl-caliber season in 2010, so I imagine this is being debated inside the organization as we speak.

The Falcons do possess other options. Dominique Franks is fast, powerful for his size and did well in limited looks in the 2011 pre-season. Antone Smith is a quality special teamer with terrific speed and agility, and if the Falcons think he's ready, it's one of his best shots of holding on to a roster spot in 2011. Both of them could be in contention for the returner gig, though Franks' will depend on where he winds up in the cornerback depth chart.

Let's debate this one and see what we come up with. Go go go!

There was a time when Ryan Broyles was one of the top receiver prospects in America. A catastrophic injury tends to ruin those projections.


Broyles is a mighty mite with quality speed, good hands and some pretty excellent route running ability, which combined to make him an easy second day choice for many teams. At 5'10", it's not like he's that small, and by and large he's just a terrific prospect. A coat of polish and he's at the very least a capable slot receiver.

Unfortunately, a torn ACL cost him his senior season from November 5 on, and it inevitably damaged his stock. Broyles, who is somehow running a 4.7 40 just four months after the ACL tear, now is widely projected to go somewhere between rounds three and five.

There are more pressing needs for the Atlanta Falcons, but Broyles is an intriguing prospect. If the Falcons could pick him up in the middle rounds—and this is assuming that Harry Douglas walks, of course—then he'd be a superb slot receiver of the future. The Falcons would just have to bring him along slowly to ensure he doesn't re-injure his ACL.

So why get him? As I mentioned, Broyles is an excellent prospect, a guy who can help your offense in a lot of different ways. If the Falcons could possibly get their hands on him in the late fourth or fifth rounds—possibly by re-shuffling some draft picks—it would be a worthy gamble. Having Roddy White, Julio Jones, Broyles and Tony Gonzalez/a young tight end going forward would give Ryan an embarrassment of weapons, not to mention some of the promising young guys further down on the depth chart.

It's not a necessary pick by any stretch of the imagination, but I could see Broyles fitting in well in Atlanta if he tumbles down the boards. Can you?

One of the great debates of the 2012 off-season is the future of Brent Grimes. Almost no one denies that he's an excellent cornerback and a good dude. What we all want to know is whether the Falcons will retain him or he'll walk.

I'm responding directly to the talented Jamie Kelly at Blogging Dirty, who made the argument that Grimes is the only Falcon deserving of the tag and that the Falcons should/probably will use the $10.6 million franchise tag on Grimey. I have disagreements with both those points, but more so with the latter than the former. Still, you need to go read Jamie's post, because it's a thoughtful argument for Grimey.

Here's where Kelly and I differ.

• I think $10.6 million is a lot to tie up in a cornerback, particularly when you're paying Dunta Robinson almost $6 million. I know that Grimes is more deserving of that money, but when you have some young talent at the position, tying up nearly $17 million in two dudes isn't necessarily the best use of your cap space.
• Brent Grimes is due for—and in my mind, will be gunning for—a big payday. Put yourselves in Grimes' shoes for a moment. He's a young father and husband who has busted his ass to go from Shippensburg to Atlanta, and once there, to go from a practice squad player to one of the best zone cover cornerbacks in the NFL. For all that work, he's repeatedly been denied a lucrative long-term deal from Atlanta for reasons that make sense from the front office perspective but have to rankle for Grimey. This is the first time he's truly been an unrestricted free agent, he's in the prime of his career and he wants to land a big deal that will take care of him for the rest of his life.
  
  Given that, do you really think he'll be happy to take a one-year tender? I seriously doubt it. Couple that with the rumors swirling around earlier this off-season and the Falcons have to be thinking long and hard about using the tag on a guy who may not want to return to Atlanta and certainly will not want to return for anything less than a long-term deal. If they don't use the tag, though, they have to know there's a good chance a team like the Buccaneers will outbid them. It's a tough situation.
• We don't know how well Grimes will fare in Mike Nolan's defense, which will probably feature more aggressive scheming and a heavier lean toward man coverage. I think he'd be fine, personally, but he may be slightly less effective and that might give the Falcons pause.
• The Falcons just don't use the franchise tag under Thomas Dimitroff. It's a potent cap hit to take for a single year for almost any player, and $10.6 million is a lot to put into a corner. Unless they believe they literally cannot afford to lose Grimes, I can't see them bucking that trend.

I truly hope the Falcons find a way to retain Grimes, because he's one of my favorite players and he's been an incredible cornerback for the last few years. But I have a feeling if they do, it won't be by using the franchise tag.

What do you all think?