2017 Atlanta Falcons Defensive Line Preview

By: Ricardo Russ (@1788sports)

According to my evaluation of the Falcons defense last year, I found that the defensive line was the most impactful unit on the defense as their ability to eat up blockers and create an effective pass rush while only rushing 4 allows the back 7 to play conservative coverages, keep the ball in front of them, and swarm to the ball and create turnovers.

This was particularly evident during the Falcons’ defensive surge during the playoffs, as the D-Line’s effectiveness allowed the Falcons’ defense to contain and control the explosive offenses of the Seahawks, Packers, and Patriots in the first half of the Super Bowl.

Unfortunately the lack of depth along the D-Line became a major issue during the Super Bowl as I, along with Andy Benoit of Sports Illustrated, found that the biggest single reason for the defensive collapse during the final stages of Super Bowl LI was the exhaustion of the defensive line from having to compete for 93 snaps against the quick tempo of the Patriots which in turn allowed Brady to have time to pick apart our young secondary in the second half and overtime.

In order to alleviate the issue of depth on the line, Thomas Dimitroff and the Falcons’ braintrust went out and acquired new talent for the defensive line, including free agent nose tackle (and occasional wildcat QB) Dontari Poe and first-round draft pick Takkarist “Takk” Mckinley, an edge rusher out of UCLA, while also signing Jack Crawford from Dallas. The Falcons also released Tyson Jackson, Dwight Freeney, and 11 year Falcons veteran Jonathan Babineaux to make space for the new acquisitions. I am confident that the new acquisitions will help this unit continue their level of play in the playoffs, and will be the catalyst for what I believe will be a much improved Falcons defense.

Depth Chart*:

Defensive End	NoseTackle	Defensive Tackle	Defensive End
Brooks Reed	Dontari Poe	Grady Jarrett	Courtney Upshaw
Adrian Clayborn	Jack Crawford	Ra’shede Hageman	Derrick Shelby
Takk McKinley	Taniela Tupou	Joe Vellano	Chris Odom
J’terius Jones			Martin Ifedi

Breakout D-lineman of the season: Dontari Poe

In fact, it is one of these new acquisitions who I believe will be the most impactful defensive lineman on the 2017 Falcons Defensive line. Poe’s sheer bulk as a nose tackle in the middle of the defensive line will serve as an anchor that will allow the rest of the defensive line to face and beat single blocks in the pass and run game as shown by the prolific sack totals of his Kansas City linemates such as Justin Houston and Tamba Hali. In particular, Poe’s size and strength will likely free up Grady Jarrett to have more dominant games like his 3 sack performance in the Super Bowl as a 3 tech tackle. While Poe had been at the center of some average to below average run defenses in KC, I am confident that he can only improve the Falcons 28th ranked according to Football Outsiders’ DVOA rush defense by freeing up linemen and linebackers like Deion Jones and Devondre Campbell to run to the ball.

I also believe Ra’shede Hageman will play a bigger role this season, as he showed flashes of dominance during the end of the regular season and the playoffs, also including the only time I’ve seen a quarterback get sacked by an ankle tap. However, Hageman was recently placed on the Commissioner's Exempt list and is unavailable until he is removed as he is currently under investigation for domestic assault charges.

Final Outlook:
Given the offseason acquisitions and overall level of play during the postseason, I am confident that the Falcons defensive line will be even better during the 2017 season, and will be a top 12 defensive line.