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In his 2019 NFL offseason rankings, NBC Sports’ Peter King has the Atlanta Falcons ranked at No. 17 out of 32 teams. The more interesting portion of his blurb was that Falcons’ owner Arthur Blank is apparently growing restless with the team’s lack of success.
“I keep hearing owner Arthur Blank is getting restless. In the Falcons’ last 35 games (the first one in that 35-game string is the Super Bowl loss to New England), they’re 18-17, and they’ve got a $30-million-a-year quarterback and a receiver, soon, likely to be a $20-million-a-year player. Yet a team in the Falcons’ division, New Orleans, scored 90 points more than Atlanta last year. Seems smart to reinforce an aging offensive line, which Atlanta GM Thomas Dimitroff did early in the draft with a new guard, Chris Lindstrom, and a tackle, Kaleb McGary, who could both start this year.” – Peter King
Blank made it a point to clarify the comment via Chris Mortensen of ESPN.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank says report that he's getting "restless about Falcons" is somewhat out of context. His response via text: "Not at all. Off base...I am always restless to be better. Good is the enemy of great."
— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) May 14, 2019
It makes sense that Mr. Blank is getting perhaps a little agitated with the team. Expectations have been high since the Falcons dominated during the 2016 season, but then blew a Super Bowl victory later that year. Not to mention Mr. Blank also owns the Atlanta United MLS team, which didn’t have to wait long to achieve the top honor in Major League Soccer. The United made the postseason in 2017, their first season of existence, then won the MLS Cup the following season in 2018.
Additionally, Peter King has the New Orleans Saints ranked 6th, the Carolina Panthers ranked 21st, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ranked 29th. You can check out his full rankings here.