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Grady Jarrett, the son of Jesse "The Hammer" Tuggle, was Atlanta's tertiary member of the defensive tackle rotation in 2015. In 2016, Jarrett should see more playing time and could make a massive impact for the Falcons on the interior of the defensive line. He could also potentially have a shot as a 5-technique in the base defense playing the same role that Tyson Jackson played in 2015.
2015 Season in Review
In playing around 30-35 percent of the snaps, Jarrett might have been the Falcons most impactful player on the interior defensive line on a per-snap basis. His 24 tackles, two quarterback hits, one sack and two tackles for loss showed that Jarrett was one of the most highly productive players for the team as a whole. Atlanta used him as a 3-technique and 1-technique in both nickel and base packages.
He also saw playing time when the Falcons brought in goalline sets that included him, Paul Soliai, Rashede Hageman and Jonathan Babineaux up front trying to force teams to pass on the goalline instead of run. Atlanta has some talented players to play the interior and with Jarrett showing some flashes in 2015, the Falcons should be able to trust that Jarrett and Hageman are the future of the interior defensive line.
Contract Breakdown
Rookie contracts are amazing. Grady Jarrett has three seasons left of his deal that pays him an average of $700,000 per season over the last three years. That's less than one half of a percent of the cap. If Jarrett continues to develop, he'll be worth a huge pay increase once his deal is done.
2016 Projection
As Jarrett continues to learn how to play in the NFL, he'll continue to see more playing time. The Son of Hammer should take a leap during his second season as the Falcons continue to intersperse him into more packages. He's likely going to see snaps as a 1-technique in the nickel and as a 3-technique in base. The Falcons plans with Clayborn and Jackson will directly affect this, though. Those are the snaps he'd replace.