Which Carolina Panthers free agent would you welcome to the Falcons in 2019?

The Falcons are going to be players in free agency after sitting it out in 2018. They lost Dontari Poe, Adrian Clayborn, Taylor Gabriel, and a handful of other useful players and relied heavily on the draft and budget options to fill those gaps. That...did not work.

One of the teams they’ll want to sniff around this coming spring is this week’s opponent, the failing Carolina Panthers, who have a very good defense and at least some useful pieces on offense. Surely they have some players the Falcons would be interested in, yes?

Looking over their list of 2019 free agents does not do wonders for that idea. Julius Peppers is still preposterously a useful pass rusher at the age of 39, and the future Hall of Famer would be a great potential mentor and fourth defensive end for the Falcons if he wanted to keep playing. He’d also be 40 years old and would not exactly be the most inspiring addition for this football team.

Or maybe you want Eric Reid, who wouldn’t really have a place to play if all the Falcons’ safeties are healthy. Or Kyle Love or Marshall Newhouse, useful options as a reserve defensive tackle or swing tackle, respectively. Or David Mayo, who has a great name for a white linebacker.

But really, the only options worth really weighing are Peppers or Daryl Williams. The latter will be 27 years old in 2019 and was one of the lone bright spots on this Carolina offensive line before he suffered a season-ending injury early in 2018. Williams is a legitimate talent who would be an upgrade on just about anything the Falcons would consider trotting out at the position in 2019, assuming he was totally healthy, but isn’t likely to come cheaply. The opportunity to steal him away from a rival and add him to an offensive line that needs more beef and physicality would be pretty sweet, however, and the Falcons do need to prioritize the trenches.

Who would you take?