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Who are the three best defensive ends in Falcons history?

Claude Humphrey and John Abraham are givens, but who else makes the cut?

By Dave Choate
New Orleans Saints v Atlanta Falcons Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Welcome to the defensive side of the ball in our ongoing series of posts about the best three Falcons at each position. We’ll start today with defensive end, a position where the Falcons have had some Hall of Fame-caliber talents and some standout players over the years. That’s nice.

Here’s my three:

  1. Claude Humphrey
  2. John Abraham
  3. Chuck Smith

This was extremely difficult to choose, and I suspect I’ll get some heat for it from all quarters. Humphrey is in the Hall of Fame and was a tremendous Falcon for nine seasons, which is enough to land him on the top of this list, while John Abraham owns the franchise sack record and was literally the team’s pass rush at times during his seven seasons. Then you come to the likes of Chuck Smith, Patrick Kerney, and Jeff Merrow, who all belong in this conversation. Smith and Kerney both spent eight years on the team, finished with almost exactly the same number of sacks, and so forth, but I’m going to give Smith a slight edge for his all-around ability.

How about you?

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