Thomas Dimitroff: Dante Fowler and Robert Quinn were two top Falcons pass rusher targets

It’s rare that the dots connect for the Falcons heading into free agency. The rumored targets usually don’t wind up in Atlanta, and the guys you never even thought about tend to find their way to the red and black. That’s just the way this secretive organization rolls, and it keeps us on our toes.

This year, though, the rumored pass rusher targets were the actual targets. Thomas Dimitroff confirmed today that Dante Fowler Jr. and Robert Quinn were the two guys the team zeroed in on to help fix their perennial pass rushing woes.

You’ll recall that we first started to hear rumblings about Dante Fowler wanting to join the Falcons—and potential mutual interest—all the way back in early February. Shortly before free agency opened, we were talking Quinn as a logical candidate. Those were two of the better pass rushers and better team fits available in free agency, so they were logical candidates. Quinn metaphorically flipped a coin and chose Chicago, while the Falcons got the younger, quicker, and less proven Fowler, a player Dan Quinn obviously loves.

I’m not unhappy about that, in the end. It’s just interesting to know that the Falcons didn’t throw a curveball this time out, though between the Todd Gurley signing, the Hayden Hurst trade, and the Desmond Trufant cut, they’re still plenty capable of doing so.