FLOWERY BRANCH — Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot gave a sure sign of what to expect out of his team’s pass rush in his address to media members Wednesday.
“We do look at it like we’re talking about the whole front seven,” Fontenot said. “Yeah, it’d be great to have a specific outside (linebacker) that’s an impactful rusher, it’d be great to add a guy, but we look at it as a whole, and we like our front seven.”
Don’t expect for the Falcons to have a monster who can use his speed or power or both to overwhelm offensive tackles and sack quarterbacks on a regular basis because it doesn’t look like they have such a player on their roster.
Once again.
It’s the choice that the Falcons made and one that will be a defining facet of the season ahead. The two biggest player-acquisition moves of the offseason – signing quarterback Kirk Cousins to a four-year deal with $100 million guaranteed and drafting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 pick – stocked up the sport’s most important position.
But the moves limited the team’s abilities to address arguably the second most important position, either by signing a big-ticket edge rusher on the free-agency market or adding one of the top defensive ends or outside linebackers in the draft.
And this is for a team that tied for 21st in sacks last season in the NFL (with 42) and lost its top two leading sackers (Calais Campbell and Bud Dupree) in free agency.
Thus far in training camp, Lorenzo Carter, Arnold Ebiketie, third-round pick Bralen Trice and free-agent signee James Smith-Williams have shared snaps on the edge with the first-string defense. That’s a rookie and three veterans who had a combined 10 sacks last season.
“They’re all on the right track,” defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake said Wednesday of his edge rushers. “I’m not going to say anything that they’re going to do. We’re going to have to do it, and then when we do it, then you guys will be able to write about whether they’ve arrived or not.”
In Wednesday’s 11-on-11 periods in the team’s full-pads workout, they were not the most daunting quartet, even as the No. 1 defense worked against the No. 2 offense. It hardly is the final word, but it didn’t do much to quell concerns about where the pass-rush pressure will come from. The answer, as Fontenot said, will come from the entire defense.
“It’s going to develop as the season goes, but really, pass rush is all 11,” Lake said.
Lake went on to say the task might require the secondary to apply tight coverage to give the linemen more time to reach the quarterback. It could be a nickel back or safety Jessie Bates III coming on a blitz. It occasionally will require edge rushers like Carter or Trice to confuse quarterbacks by dropping into coverage – which they did Wednesday – rather than attack off the edge.
“And that’s how our pass rush will really start to heat up,” Lake said.
It sounds fine in theory, but it also is a variation on what Falcons defensive coordinators have been saying since Vic Beasley’s 15.5-sack total in the 2016 Super Bowl season. In following years, the lack of a threat off the edge has complicated the job of stopping opponents’ passing games.
Just like a franchise quarterback is a virtual requirement for a team to consistently contend for the postseason, a defensive end or outside linebacker who routinely can bring pressure – the most obvious antidote to an effective quarterback – also is hard to do without.
The best teams usually have one. Of the past 10 teams to appear in the Super Bowl, seven had at least one player with double-digit sacks. The other three teams’ leading sack producers had 9.5, 9 and 7.5 sacks. In the Falcons’ six-year playoff drought, the most sacks a Falcons player has accumulated in a single season is eight (Beasley in 2019).
That’s why, of the 10 players with the highest base salary this season, three are edge rushers (second most after quarterbacks), according to Spotrac. The Falcons’ highest-paid edge rusher by base salary is Carter, who ranks 26th among players at the position. If the Falcons have the 26th best edge-rushing group in the NFL this season, no one should be surprised.
The Falcons did want defensive end Danielle Hunter (16.5 sacks last season for the Vikings) in free agency, but were outbid by the Texans.
This is not to say that’s the wrong approach. But the Falcons have made their choice about how to formulate their roster and allocate their salary-cap budget and now will have to make it work as they try to end their six-year playoff drought.
After wandering the post-Matt Ryan wilderness for the past two seasons, the Falcons have made it abundantly clear that having a franchise quarterback in Cousins and then a successor in Penix were the highest priorities.
At least six practices into training camp, Cousins looks worth the investment. Stringing completions in 11-on-11 drills, showing touch and accuracy in one-on-one competitions with receivers and cornerbacks, Cousins has been lighting up the practice field. Tight end Kyle Pitts looks like he could join the elite at his position. Offensive coordinator Zac Robinson’s mind races over the myriad ways he can utilize Pitts, wide receiver Drake London and running back Bijan Robinson.
On defense, Fontenot has amassed size and power in the middle, where Grady Jarrett returns from a torn ACL. The inside linebackers (Kaden Elliss, Troy Andersen and Nate Landman) probably will form one of the better position groups on the team. Bates is a returning Pro Bowler.
“If the right player comes available, we can add him at any position, but we do look at our front seven as a whole as very strong,” Fontenot said.
The biggest question remains at the edge (along with the No. 2 cornerback position across from A.J. Terrell). Lake, a first-time defensive coordinator at the NFL level, carries the burden of making it all work.
One early endorsement for Lake’s schemes: On more than one occasion, Cousins has mentioned that the defense’s pass coverages are hard to decipher in practice, calling them “muddy.”
Lake spoke of his scheme being “very, very complex” to opponents but simple for the defense to execute.
As Lake said, they’re going to have to do it.
