The Falcons are a team with many needs. When your schedule is expected to get significantly more difficult and you were only an 8-8 team a year ago, them's the breaks. How well have the Falcons done at filling those needs thus far?
The answer is reasonably well, considering we're only on the second day of free agency, and considering they've been linked to players like Mohamed Sanu at receiver, Brandon Boykin at cornerback, and Jerrell Freeman and James Laurinaitis at linebacker, they could take care of a few more.
The good news is that center is solved, backup quarterback is arguably solved, and the Falcons have help at defensive end in Derrick Shelby and Adrian Clayborn. Here's our pre-free agency team needs list, updated.
Top Team Needs
- Linebacker
- Pass rusher/defensive end (Sort of!)
- Safety
Center- Guard
- Wide receiver
- Defensive tackle (Sort of!)
- Tight end
- Cornerback
Backup quarterback
My expectation is that the Falcons will head into the draft still needing at least one linebacker, pass rusher, guard, and tight end, while safety is a wild card given the team's genuine interest in free agent options and how quickly those options are thinning out already, plus the talent of Kemal Ishmael and Robenson Therezie. That's a lot to solve with only five picks, of course, but I don't think any of us expect these Falcons to be the perfect representation of Dan Quinn's visit no matter what they do between now and the summer.