Last week I had the opportunity to go down to Mobile, Alabama for the Reese’s Senior Bowl. I had the opportunity to meet tons of super cool, and plugged in, people out in the practices and out in other networking opportunities. But at the Senior Bowl things get leaked and rumors start swirling. So, naturally, I decided to take advantage of the rumors that were floating around about our Atlanta Falcons. Here they are! Enjoy and feel free to believe whichever you want.
Falcons are in on Cincinnati QB Desmond Ridder:
This might be one of the hotter rumors, but there are reasons to potentially believe this one. While in Mobile, one of the biggest rumors of the week was that the Atlanta Falcons were in on QB Desmond Ridder. Ridder has most draft analysts split on how to value him. But there are a couple reasons to believe this link.
One reason is that Ridder himself compared his style of play to Ryan Tannehill and attempts to model his game after him. Tannehill had the best seasons of his career under Arthur Smith, who could see Ridder as a similar type of quarterback to fit the offense.
Another big piece of this evidence comes from this tweet from Luke Fickell. While at the Senior Bowl, Arthur Smith was seen on the field talking with Coach Fickell next to the quarterbacks and wide receivers. Could it have just been a talk of all the players? Sure. But while this rumor was floating around that was happening.
UPDATE: Confirmed that Ridder did talk to the Falcons from Falcoholic Kevin
Falcons are in on Florida RB Dameon Pierce:
This was an Atlanta Falcons rumor I heard around the end of the week. Florida RB Dameon Pierce is a very powerful runner with his 5’9″ 220lbs frame. Pierce is very similar runner stylistically to what Falcons fans hoped Mike Davis would bring.
Adding Pierce would be one step closer to the Falcons establishing an identity on offense. Plus, after passing on Javonte Williams last season, Pierce could mend that bridge with some fans as he would give the Falcons a real bruiser out of the backfield.
Falcons are targeting a WR:
This Atlanta Falcons rumor comes first hand. Each day during the Senior Bowl during the National Team practice, you’d see a combination of Arthur Smith, offensive coordinator Dave Ragone, and another staff member eyeballing the wide receivers. This group for the National team had Christian Watson, Alec Pierce, Romeo Doubs, Khalil Shakir and others.
Watson had one of the best weeks of any player in Mobile and I hope that is who the Falcons could be targeting. But it seemed incredibly obvious about us targeting a wide receiver. Maybe even multiple ones.
Falcons want an EDGE or WR Early
I talked to one source about the Falcons and they said: “The Falcons will probably go with either a game changing EDGE or YAC Daddy wide receiver early.”
The two names that come to mind for me are David Ojabo, the EDGE from Michigan, and Treylon Burks, the wide receiver from Arkansas. Neither name has been super loved by fans when talking about potential picks, but both are worthy of that first pick for the Falcons.
Have been beating the drums for Treylon Burks for weeks now –
Has anybody seen his tape: seems like a very good scheme fit for this iteration of the Kubiak | Shanahan scheme.