Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 4/15/14. Staff MugsLike a vast majority of the teams stuck in the middle of the NFL draft, the Atlanta Falcons are torn between the franchise life stations of being competitive and being in a rebuilding mode.
These Falcons are certainly the former on offense; they are definitely the latter on defense.
So it goes in a salary-cap league in which you have to pick your battles and place your money where your path is.
With that, the Falcons and second-year head coach Dan Quinn were staring at a variety of defensive choices in Thursday's first round. They picked Florida safety Keanu Neal, a hard-hitting presence who does not have top-end speed, as per his 4.63 40 time.
It certainly fills the need for the Falcons, but the draft is about value as much as it is about filling needs.
Case in point, would the Falcons be in better shape with an elite edge player such as Shaq Lawson or Darron Lee and then look for Vonn Bell in round two?
Would that scenario be applicable? Who knows, because the ripples of each pick in the draft leave lasting impressions and create their own ripples that create their own ripples that create, well you get the idea.
With that thought - despite the commonly held belief that Neal was a reach - here's saying Quinn deserves the benefit of the doubt, and he loves Neal's ability to fit into the Falcons' scheme.
"You love to see the guy play in the zone defense, and he played in the middle of the field a lot at Florida, so it's not the same scheme that we employ here," Quinn told reporters Friday at the Falcons complex as the team introduced their first-round pick. "So we wanted to make sure the ball skills, the movement stuff - at the workout, you can ask him to have the exact movements he's going to have."
Yes, last year's first-round pick - undersized defensive end Vic Beasley - underwhelmed with 20 tackles last year despite starting all 16 games. But Quinn was part of the defensive mind-trust that built the championship unit at Seattle, and a big part of that Seahawks group was star-studded safeties Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor.
How Quinn continues to add pieces around Neal - and around an offense that includes Pro Bowl guys at quarterback, running back and wideout - will give the final grade for the Falcons' haul.
And it will go a long way toward determining whether they are picking next year in the land of mediocrity in the middle or in the blessed back end of round one that signifies notable improvement.
DRAFT's BEST AND WORST
While there's no way to determine actual grades or winners or losers from the first few rounds of this draft, the value and the potential of some of the notable moves by teams and people - there's good and bad. Here are some of the best and worst.
Best
- Jacksonville. Wow, what a haul. The experts had pegged the Jaguars either trading up to get Jalen Ramsey or staying put and drafting Myles Jack. Well, the Jags added both, and with the return of Dante Fowler, last year's first-round pick, the 2016 defense will add three prime-time defensive playmakers.
- Buffalo. The Bills landed a slew of contributors and may have added a 10-year starter in round two with the pick of inside linebacker Reggie Ragland. Add in the upside of QB-turned-wideout Braxton Miller and the Bills added value in almost every round.
- Cincinnati. The Bengals added impact players and addressed big needs with a well-planned - and fortunate - draft. They lost their second- and third-best receivers in free agency and took a big step to replacing them with Tyler Boyd in round two and a steal of former Ole Miss star Cody Core in round six. Add in future starters in William Jackson III at corner and Andrew Billings at defensive tackle - and the potential upside of Christian Westerman at guard - and the Bengals got better this week.
Worst
- Carolina. The Panthers reached the Super Bowl this past season, meaning they are a championship contender. So you'd expect the Panthers to address needs in the now to make another run, right? Well, nope. The Panthers added three mid-to-late round cornerbacks in an effort to replace All-Pro Josh Norman - which is like going to Match.com after breaking up with Kate Upton - and took a reserve defensive tackle in round one. And yes, despite having two tackles who were brutalized in the Super Bowl loss, the Panthers did not address the offensive line.
- The rookie quarterback class. Seriously, if you had to wager whether any of these 11 drafted quarterbacked were going to be All-Pro or not, you'd have to go no, right? Who knows, maybe one or three of them will shine, but we're not holding our breath.
- Roger Goodell. When the Chicago Bears fans are booing any person more than they boo the picks of the Green Bay Packers, well, there you go.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6343. Follow him on Twitter @jgreesontfp