We all kind of assumed John Abraham would be gone this off-season. Either that or his contract demands ($12 million a year?!) would have to come down considerably before the Falcons ever seriously entertained discussions of re-signing him.
As usual, we (maybe just me?) were wrong.
Adam Caplan makes an off-hand mention of the Falcons working to re-sign The Predator, who is apparently set to visit with the Tennessee Titans soon. Either the Falcons know they've missed out on Mario Williams already, don't love the options on the market or had planned to go after Abe all along. Hard to get through the cone of silence on this one.
At this point, I'm going to go ahead and assume that Mike Nolan was a fan of the defensive personnel the Falcons had in 2011, potentially minus Curtis Lofton. How else to explain franchise tagging Brent Grimes, re-signing Vance Walker and Kroy Biermann and trying to get John Abraham? Clearly, the new defensive boss likes the pieces he has.
Ultimately, Abe is a rotation guy at this stage of his career. When he's fresh and especially when he's playing against a shaky offensive line, he can still bring the pass rushing heat, and the Falcons don't have a lot of proven quarterbacking killing ability on the roster. He's not really an asset against the run, bu the team has other players for that. I would love to bring him back on a one or two year deal if the price is right, but if he's going to stick to his prohibitive demands I'd prefer the Falcons spent their time on a rotational guy like an Andre Carter or Mark Anderson who will probably be considerably cheaper.
What do you think of Abe and the team's chances of re-signing him?