Well, well, well. The Falcons finally inked an edge rusher, eh? And a former UGA star, no less!
Leonard Floyd’s one-year, $10 million deal is bound to make both fan bases happy — even if Atlanta has plenty more work ahead if it wants to field a competent defense in 2025.
More on the Falcons’ rangy new addition momentarily. First we need to talk about someone a bit … smaller.
Quick links: Falcons sign Floyd | Tech takes on Virginia | UGA eyes Oklahoma
OZZIE, IN CONTEXT
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Term: Short king.
Definition: A diminutive but self-confident male human.
Origin: This tweet and young people on the internet.
Example: Ozzie freaking Albies.
In fact, our beloved Braves second baseman is the epitome of a short king. Sure of his abilities, unabashedly himself — and 5 feet, 8 inches tall.
But do you realize just how good he is compared to other fellas of his stature? Our pal Ken Sugiura crunched the numbers for a recent story. Read the full piece for more, but here are a few that (ahem) stood out.
- Albies’ 141 career home runs are the 10th most all-time for someone 5-foot-8 or shorter.
- With 358, famously sage Yankees catcher Yogi Berra (5-foot-7) hit the most. That’s a lot.
- But with health on his side, 28-year-old Albies could approach Hall of Famer Joe Morgan’s second-place short guy total of 268.
Albies said he’s not chasing numbers. The context is nice, though!
“It means a lot,” he said. “When you’re growing up, they tell you, ‘Hey, you’re too small, you can’t do this, you can’t do that.’ Nobody knows what you can do. You’re the one that can work hard and show them what you really can do on the baseball field.”
That’s exactly the kind of energy we’re talking about.
But now I gotta ask: Who’s your favorite short Atlanta sports king of all-time?
I think I’m riding with Ozzie, recency bias be da(r)ned. But other options abound, including …
👑 Glenn Hubbard: Brought spunk, pop and that one baseball card where he’s holding a snake to the Braves of the ‘80s.
👑 Jessie Tuggle: At 5-foot-11, short compared to his linebacking peers. Tackled 4 million people anyway.
👑 Warrick Dunn: 5 feet, 9 inches equals 6,000 yards across six Atlanta seasons — plus a whole lot of good work in the community.
👑 Jacquizz Rodgers: Could zip-zap-zoop right around ya. And gets extra points for standing just 5-foot-6.
👑 Spud Webb: You didn’t think I’d forget a 5-foot-7 dude with a cool nickname and enough hops to beat teammate Dominique Wilkins in the 1986 slam dunk contest, did you?
So … who ya got? Shoot an email on over and let me know. Submissions not listed here encouraged, and remember — I said favorite, not necessarily best.
NO PRESSURE!
Credit: Darryl Webb/AP
Credit: Darryl Webb/AP
Leonard Floyd (6-foot-3, if you’re wondering) has bounced around a bit since being drafted ninth overall by the Bears in 2016. But the native of Eastman (about an hour southeast of Macon) has consistently put up numbers.
📈 His last five season sack totals, ending with 2024: 10.5, 9.5, 9, 10.5 and 8.5.
Floyd’s age (he’ll be 33 shortly after the start of the upcoming season) combined with last year’s slight drop-off are potential areas of concern.
📈 But consider this deeply depressing stat: The Falcons haven’t had a player record more than 6.5 sacks in that span. And their last double-digit sack performance came with Vic Beasley’s (fluky and unimpactful!) 2016 campaign.
The NFL’s new league year officially begins at 4 p.m. today. And yes, Kirk Cousins is still currently a Falcon.
SPRING FOOTBALL NOTES
- Georgia coach Kirby Smart said receiver Colbie Young is back in the fold after missing most of last season following an arrest.
- The Bulldogs will, however, be without a number of key players during the spring. Those include running backs Branson and Roderick Robinson.
- Georgia Tech, meanwhile, is enjoying its newfound depth at the running back position. (Jamal Haynes picked out a new number, too.)
HOOPS AHEAD
Credit: Rich Von Biberstein/AP
Credit: Rich Von Biberstein/AP
🏀 Georgia Tech men’s basketball kicks off ACC Tournament action today against Virginia (noon on ESPN2). I’m predicting a victory! Which would grant the Jackets a shot at top-seeded Duke and Cooper Flagg on Thursday.
🏀 The Hawks are on a homestand heater and hope to keep it rolling against the lowly Hornets (7:30 p.m. on FanDuel Sports Southeast).
🏀 UGA men’s basketball jumps into SEC Tournament action by taking on Oklahoma (9:30 on SEC Network). The (almost definitely) Big Dance-bound Bulldogs are riding the conference’s longest win streak.
NEW BEGINNINGS
I don’t write about high school baseball a lot in this space, but longtime Parkview coach Chan Brown — arguably the most recognizable face in the sport — is now at Gainesville.
And he’s looking to revive the Red Elephants’ history of excellence.
🗣️ Brown said this to the AJC: “It’s going to take some time, to be honest. We’ve got to change the culture and change the knowledge of the game, so there’s a lot of bits and pieces that we’ve got to chip away at to get Gainesville baseball back on the map like it needs to be.”
ALSO INTERESTING
- The Atlanta Dream’s home opener is set for May 22 at State Farm Arena — against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.
- Tiger Woods ruptured his Achilles tendon. Among other things, that means he won’t make it to Augusta for the Masters.
- Y’all see this crazy 4-point play the Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton pulled off to beat the Bucks?
PHOTO OF THE DAY
Credit: Stephen Dunn/Allsport
Credit: Stephen Dunn/Allsport
We didn’t have any good photos of that slam dunk contest involving Hawks Spud Webb and Dominique Wilkins — but it’s still fun to see a short guy get up.
And we do have this very good story from 2021, in which both men reflect on their roles in the historic occasion.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
That little son of a gun was secretly in the gym working on some dunks. I said to him, ‘You've been in the gym with somebody working on them dunks. I should knock the hell out of you right now.' We kinda laugh about it.
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of Sports Daily. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact me at tyler.estep@ajc.com.
Until next time.
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