Atlanta Falcons
Compared to Other Commissioners, Roger Goodell’s Salary Is Reasonable
Prior to the Super Bowl, NFL owners announced that Commissioner Roger Goodell had received a five-year contract extension through 2019. In the last years of the extension, the commissioner’s current salary will double, to $20 million per year.
Reaction to the news was mixed. The media were almost unanimous in their belief that Goodell had earned his huge paycheck and would continue to do so. A number of players, on the other hand, were outraged.
Goodell is the CEO of a $9 billion per year business that, like the commissioner’s salary, will likely double by the end of this decade. The NFL is not only the premier sports league in the U.S., it is also the most popular programming on television. Due in part to Goodell’s guidance, the league successfully weathered a labor dispute last year that resulted in no lost games and little, if any, lost revenue. Would the league be as successful as it is with someone other than Goodell at the helm? Perhaps, but that person would undoubtedly com…
Report: Falcons show interest in Stephen Garcia
Stephen Garcia was dismissed from the South Carolina team last season. (Associated Press)
Stephen Garcia, the disgraced quarterback formerly of South Carolina, is trying to make the leap to the NFL has talked to a scout from the Falcons, according to a report from Aaron Wilson of scout.com.
Garcia was dismissed from the South Carolina football program last season for drinking after five prior suspensions. Because of his checkered past, he doesn’t seem to fit the prototype of the players the Falcons have signed under general manager Thomas Dimitroff.
During after a all-star game in Florida, Garcia talked with a scout from the Falcons as well as several other teams.
During his conversation with the Falcons scout, all of Garcia’s transgressions at South Carolina were discussed. And Garcia said he didn’t leave anything out, to the scout’s approval
“I went down the list and he said he appreciated the honesty,” Garcia said. “He told me to stay on that t…
Burning question: Is it time for the Falcons to replace Michael Turner?
The age curve for NFL running backs is a brutal thing, and at the age of 30, is it finally catching up with Michael Turner?
Matt Ryan is carrying more and more of the offensive load, partly by design and partly by necessity as Turner rapidly disappears from the game plan. In Ryan’s rookie year, the Falcons’ running plays outnumbered their passing plays by 126. Last year, with Julio Jones bracketing Roddy White and Tony Gonzalez working the inside, their passing plays outnumbered their runs by 140. Do the Falcons get balance back into their offense? If so, who carries the rock?
The Falcons have skill on offense with quarterback Matt Ryan, tight end Tony Gonzalez, running back Michael Turner, and receivers Roddy White and Julio Jones, but the running game and the red-zone offense have wobbled at times.
They finished the 2011 season 10-6, but they beat just two teams with winning records, Detroit and Tennessee. They were clobbered on the road by New Orleans, 45-16, yet fou…
Will Dimitroff Take Risks or Play It Safe on Offense?
Time for Quizz to Get a Large Role? (AJC)
The Atlanta Falcons and their fans enter a very intriguing off-season. On one hand, this regime is by far the most productive in franchise history, making the playoffs 3 of the last 4 years. However, they are also 0-3 in the postseason, with the last two being embarrassing blowouts. Add to that the issue of 17 players set to become free agents, and this is by far the most unpredictable off-season in recent memory.
GM Thomas Dimitroff could decide that only a few tweaks are in order to get over the playoff hump, or he could take this opportunity to dramatically remake the Falcons roster for the forseeable future. In other words, Dimitroff could decide to “play it safe” or “take some risks” in regards to several positions on the roster.
Quarterback
This ones still a year or two away from making an assessment. Although the majority of fans still believe Matt Ryan is the franchise QB, there are some who think all that ai…
Three reasons why Jim Mora Jr. should stop talking about the Falcons.
The good thing about working for a site that is commentary based is that when you really want to, you can let it all hang out if you really feel the need to.
I try not to do that because I think a lot of times people such as myself forget that the players, coaches and administrators that we are discussing are people too. They have emotions and feel every bit of what we say when it comes across their radar; don’t let them fool you into thinking otherwise.
But you know what? Jim Mora Jr.’s recent comments about his former employers the Atlanta Falcons are still sitting out there like a bad rash.
Please click the link to read the extensive commentary on why Mora needs to get on with his life.
Falcons have key defensive players to re-sign
Since coming out of Oklahoma, linebacker Curtis Lofton has been a tackling machine for the Falcons.
As a rookie, he played on running downs. In his second season, he did not come off the field.
Lofton has registered 577 tackles, including 387 solo tackles. He has three career interceptions and returned one for a touchdown last season, but is viewed as a liability in pass coverage.
The Falcons are trying to work out a contract extension that will keep Lofton out of free agency, but it’s been difficult to set his value as the league is evolving into more of a passing league.
How much do you pay a linebacker that has problems in coverage appears to be the conundrum.
San Francisco’s Patrick Willis, who’s widely considered the top young middle linebacker in the league, signed a seven-year, 53.51 million deal in May of 2010. A total of 29 million was guaranteed.
The Falcons likely won’t try to put Lofton in Willis’ financial neighborhood.
On defense, the Falcons also have to address defensive end John Abraham, cornerback Brent Grimes and safety Thomas DeCoud. If they reach deals, that would keep the players from reaching free agency, which starts on March 13.
Abraham was acquired in trade with the New York Jets in 2006. Over the past six seasons, he’s racked up 58.5 sacks, including 16.5 in 2008. He had 9.5 sacks last season while slowed by his problematic groin.
Abraham, who has 112 career sacks and would be the league’s top career sacker if he plays next season, wants to play for the Falcons. Abraham made a base salary of 8 million last season. In 2009, Jason Taylor signed a two-year, incentive-laden deal with the New York Jets worth 13 million.
Abraham, who was on a snap count and got 3.5 of his sacks against hapless Jacksonville last season, turns 34 in May.
The Abraham camp can make a plausible argument that he’s still one of the top five pass rushers in the league.
Grimes played last season at 2.61 million.
The Falcons will be reluctant to slap the franchise tag – a 10.6 million commitment – on Grimes if they can’t work out a deal.
DeCoud, a third-round pick in 2008, moved into the starting free safety spot in 2009. He’s played well at times, but has a tendency to slide out of position. He fought off a challenge from James Sanders last season.
The Falcons may want to give him a modest deal and see if he can flourish in new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan’s scheme.
The Falcons currently have 47 players signed to contract and are 30.75 million under last season’s salary cap of 120.375. The cap for 2012 is expected to be announced by the league over the next week and is not expected to increase greatly.
Quarterback Matt Ryan (13.5 million), wide receiver Roddy White (8.025 million), cornerback Dunta Robinson (7.7 million), running back Michael Turner (7 million) and tight end Tony Gonzalez (5.9 million) have the top five-salary cap numbers for the next season.
NOTES, QUOTES
-NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock has been a big supporter of Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan.
When asked about the top quarterbacks taken in the last four drafts and Andrew Luck, the projected top quarterback selection for this year’s draft, Mayock had some interesting things to say about Ryan, who’s posted a 43-19 regular-season record to go with an 0-3 playoff mark.
The comparison group includes Ryan (No. 3 overall in 2008), Matthew Stafford (No. 1 overall in 2009), Sam Bradford (No. 1 overall in 2010), Cam Newton (No. 1 overall in 2011) and Luck.
“Matt Ryan needs to take the next step,” Mayock said. “To do that, he needs some offensive line help. Matt Ryan is kind of at the point now where he needs to make that next step and win some playoff games and become that next-level quarterback.”
-Falcons wide receiver Roddy White’s tweet about NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s salary caused a firestorm nationally.
White, who goes by @RoddyWhiteTV on Twitter.com, sent out a tweet with a link to a ProFootballTalk.com note that referenced the Sports Business Journal’s report on Goodell’s pending salary increase.
White’s tweet: “Roger Goodell is getting over never seen anything like it 20 million for looking over the league with tremendous help I guess the NFL is banking. The NFL is not a company it’s a nonprofit organization that makes a lot of profit.”
The commentators on ESPN’s Around the Horn fired some shots at White. Bill Plaschke pointed out that Goodell is the most powerful man in sports. Tim Cowlishaw ripped White and noted that he led the league in drops last season. (He also led the league in receptions in 2010.)
On Pardon the Interruption, Tony Kornheiser stated that Goodell was worth every penny of his salary.
“I hope he saves his money,” Kornheiser said of White. “He’s probably not going to rise in the hierarchy of the league office at this point. Players come and go. People root for the uniform. That’s the way it works in the NFL.”
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello wrote that White could not be fined.
White signed a six-year, 50 million extension with the Falcons in 2009.
-Falcons General manager Thomas Dimitroff was named to the NFL’s General Managers Advisory committee.
-While Jacksonville was able to raid the Falcons’ coaching ranks for their head coach and quarterbacks coach, the Falcons drew the line when they tried to land wide receivers coach Terry Robiskie.
Former offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey was hired as Jacksonville’s head coach and ex-quarterbacks coach Bob Bratkowski was hired as their offensive coordinator.
Mularkey said he and general manager Gene Smith agreed that Falcons wide receivers coach Terry Robiskie, along with (Jerry) Sullivan, who supposedly retired a season ago, were the top two candidates. But Atlanta denied Robiskie permission to talk to the Jaguars.
QUOTE TO NOTE
“Both Dave (Caldwell) and DeJuan (Polk) have been vital to our personnel department and have been tremendous assets to our organization. They have been essential in helping construct our team over the last four seasons. Dave has provided great leadership to our college scouting department and has been instrumental in our draft process. DeJuan started in college scouting, but has been a reliable member of our pro scouting department the last four years and has played a significant role in our evaluation of players.” — Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff on the promotion of David Caldwell (to Les Snead’s old spot) and DeJuan Polk.
Falcons ‘Reluctant’ To Franchise CB Brent Grimes
D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the Falcons are in the “early stages” of talks regarding a possible long-term contract extension for CB Brent Grimes but admits that the team is “reluctant” to use their franchise tag on him. The move would cost the team $10.6 million for the upcoming season and the team is already close to the cap with 17 soon-to-be free agents to address in the coming months. Grimes is said to be looking for a similar contract to the one that Atlanta gave Dunta Robinson last season (six-years at $57 million). The general consensus has been that the Falcons will allow Grimes to leave, not because they want to but more because of the financial difficulties that would create to keep him. If Grimes is willing to give the team a discount of some sort, it could change their approach but it will be hard for them to have to players at the before-mentioned price. Source: NFL Trade Rumors Attached Thumbnails
NFL Mock Draft: Atlanta Falcons
Atlanta has several needs going into the 2012 season. Many of them are DIRECT results of Atlanta letting key players slip into free agency (Grimes, DeCoud, Douglas, Abraham, etc.). Yet others were lackluster fill-in’s or depth issues. Here are the area’s of need (in no particular order):
QB – If Ryan gets hurt the Falcons’ season is finished…or is it? Houston pulled into the playoffs on the back of backups, so with Redman leaving, Atlanta needs a capable backup.
WR – DEPTH is the key word here. ATL doesn’t want to waste too high of a pick (because of the mistake they made last season), but with Douglas and Weems looking in other cities, Atlanta is lacking a 3rd option.
TE – Tony G will be moving from the field to the hall sooner rather than later. Atlanta needs to get a Graham/Gronkowski type of TE, but the Jones gamble might have cost them a chance at that.
C – With McClure old and an FA, Atlanta needs someone to step into the center role and start NOW!
DE…
MAYOCK: Matt Ryan needs to step it up
Patriots QB Tom Brady chats with Falcons QB Matt Ryan before Tuesday’s morning practice between the teams in Flowery Branch. Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com
NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock has been a big supporter of Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan.
When asked about the top quarterbacks taken in the last four drafts and Andrew Luck, the projected top QB selection for 2012 draft, Mayock had some interesting things to say about Ryan, who’s posted at 43-19 regular-season record to go with an 0-3 playoff mark.
The comparison group includes Ryan (No. 3 overall in 2008), Matthew Stafford (No. 1 overall in 2009), Sam Bradford (No. 1 overall in 2010), Cam Newton (No. 1 overall in 2011) and Luck.
“Matt Ryan needs to take the next step,â€* Mayock said. “To do that, he needs some offensive line help. Matt Ryan is kind of at point now where he needs to make that next step and win some playoff games and become that next-level quarterback.â€*
Mayock believes that Stafford and …
Business 101 for Mr. Roddy White
Oh Roddy White here we go again, once more you have opened your mouth and managed to stick both feet in. You and I have tweeted back and forth before the last time you spoke on some foolishness during the lockout. Once again you have given me material to point you in the direction of a little thing called business sense because judging by your comments you have very little. I don’t want to put words in your mouth so let me just post your tweets that I disagree with.
Business Sense
First things first my friend that leads the league in drop passes, let me ask you one simple question. Out of all the businesses in the world, what business do you know where the employees make more money than their bosses?
I’ll wait.
Is it always fair? … No, but that’s the way it is, now if you ran a business would you want your employees making more than you? The fact that he doesn’t deserve his salary because he doesn’t “run, tackle or catch” is j…
Roddy White Is Going To Get A Lot Less PI Calls
The Atlanta WR made the thoroughly reasonable point that the NFL’s commissioner, Roger Goodell, might not be worth $20 million a year by the end of his contract.Now, the fun part of this is how many people are going to bend over backwards and say that nope, no sir, no how, there’s no way that you can find anyone else on the planet that could run the NFL for less and do it worth a damn… or that the NFL isn’t going to remain the top five leagues in the country even if there were an absolute assclown running things.Which, um, I’m really not prepared to admit that Goodell, well, isn’t.Remember, this is the guy that, more than anyone else, almost gave us a lockout this year, and severely diminished the quality of ball that you saw last year. (Not that you cared, of course. More offense equals more ratings, and if you don’t like that you must be, like, old or something.) He’s also the guy that was in charge when the league decided to neuter kickoffs, turn ove…
Roddy White Isn’t Happy About Roger Goodell’s $20 Million Salary
Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White isn’t happy about the amount of money NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will be making towards the 2019-2020 NFL season.It’s being reported by Pro Football Talk that Goodell will be making around $20 million a year by 2019, something that isn’t pleasing White.In tweets, White expressed his anger over the report about Goodell HUGE salary increase:Isn’t this the same contract system, in the NFL, that allowed White to get signed to a six-year deal worth $48 million?
Falcons WR White vents about Roger Goodell’s salary on Twitter
Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White isn’t happy about NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s expected salary in years to come.After reading a link on ProFootballTalk.com that referenced the financial terms of Goodell’s new contract extension, White sounded off on his Twitter account Monday:”How in the hell can you pay a man this much money that can’t run tackle or catch…Roger Goodell is getting over never seen anything like it 20 million for looking over the league with tremendous help I guess the NFL is banking…The NFL is not a company it’s a nonprofit organization that makes a lot of profit.”Goodell will reportedly make $20 million per season with the new deal.White also responded to posts from followers of his account. One follower pointed out that Goodell is running the biggest sports league in the country.”Thats the stupidest thing i have ever heard the players make this league dont ever forget that,” White responded to the post.Falco…
Goodell’s contract irks Roddy White
It was recently announced in the past few days that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has signed a five year extension that is good through March of 2019. It was revealed that during his contract their …
Robiskie denied permission to join Mularkey in Jax
Atlanta Falcons wide receivers coach Terry Robiskie looks to hook the “big one” as players and coaches pay tribute to 18 wounded military veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan during a special fishing outing from Van Pugh Park North on Lake Lanier, Tuesday, June 8, 2010. Each veteran was partnered with one or more Falcons players, coaches, or cheerleader on individual boats for an afternoon of angling on the lake. Curtis Compton ccompton@ajc.com
While Jacksonville was able to raid the Falcons’ coaching ranks for their head coach and quarterbacks coach, the Falcons drew the line when they tried to land wide receivers coach Terry Robiskie.
Former offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey was hired as Jacksonville’s head coach and ex-quarterbacks coach Bob Bratkowski was hired as their offensive coordinator. Both were under contract, but the moves to Jacksonville were promotions and couldn’t be blocked.
Robiskie’s move was a lateral to the same position and could be blocked.
Vito …
