Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, and get to know the Mouth of the South, the defending Twitter champion, Sean Weatherspoon!
Obviously, I'm thrilled to finally get our first round pick under contract, just a day before the official start of training camp. There won't be any animosity here, and 'Spoon can really get enough work under his belt to challenge for a starting job. This is what I've been eagerly anticipating.
As commenter LORD91 noted, he received an indication from 'Spoon himself via (what else?) Twitter earlier this off-season, saying he'd be signing in late July. While that seemed like a good guess to begin with, it's nice to know that he was never planning a long-term holdout.
But that aside, the question that I keep seeing people ask is where he's going to play. No-brainer.
A disturbing number of publications are confidently predicting that 'Spoon is going to unseat Stephen Nicholas. Some of those act like it's the only outcome that makes any sense, turning Nickels into a super-sub. Others suggest he may not even start. We've covered this.
He's probably going to take some snaps away from Stephen Nicholas, but he's likely to really cut down on Mike Peterson's snaps by the end of the season.. He may struggle in his rookie campaign, but Peterson's Veteran Guile and Moxie don't make up for his declining skillset. 'Spoon is ridiculously energetic and talented, and now that he's to camp on time, he's going to make a real push for significant playing time immediately.
The biggest roadblock to Wizardspoon ripping out opposing players' livers and eating them with fava beans and a nice Chianti? His ability to stop the run, something Peterson still has a reputation—albeit a not completely accurate one—for being able to do. He may also want to avoid Tweeting after every tackle, but we'll take this thing one step at a time.
Oh, and so you don't think I forgot about the terms of the contract, it's extremely reasonable. If Little Spoon performs as well as I think he's going to, five years and $17.5 million is an outright steal, and we may not get all the way to the end of that without a re-negotiation. If he manages to maul a few quarterbacks on his way there, I'll be happy to see the Falcons give it to him.
Talk 'Spoon!