Falcons may not be tanking, but trades could have that effect anyway
FLOWERY BRANCH – This isn’t to say that the Falcons intentionally weakened their roster at critical positions to improve their probability of moving up in the 2027 draft.
But trading safety Jessie Bates III and center Ryan Neuzil at the trade deadline could well have that result.
And in the long run, that would benefit a franchise that needs to strengthen its roster as it closes in on a ninth consecutive season with a losing record and no playoff appearance.
It wouldn’t be the worst thing for the franchise if the season’s declining trajectory continues apace, with a top-10 or even top-five draft pick as compensation for their continued residence in the NFL’s bottom tier.
“That’s in no way the focus for me and us,” coach Kevin Stefanski said Wednesday. “We are worried about what’s in front of us and the game this week (against Kansas City). I know we talked about long term/short term, but that’s not really the focus for us.”
It doesn’t have to be the focus. Trading away one of the team’s most dependable playmakers and a locker-room leader (Bates) and the quarterback of the offensive line (Neuzil) may be all the triumvirate of president of football Matt Ryan, general manager Ian Cunningham and Stefanski needed to do, even if that wasn’t the intent.
On Wednesday, Stefanski declined to gauge how much more difficult it will be to win without them. “I don’t think of it that way,” he said. But comments he made earlier this season said enough.
Stefanski said of Bates two weeks ago, “What an unbelievable impact he has on our football team, on the field, of course, but throughout this building.”
After the Falcons rushed for 242 yards and three touchdowns against the Green Bay Packers in the third week of the season — the most rushing yards allowed by Green Bay this season by 101 yards — Stefanski applauded his center’s work.
“I give ‘Neuz’ a ton of credit there in getting everybody lined up, if you will, and making sure that we had hats on hats in the run game,” Stefanski said.
Before his trade, Neuzil had played every snap at center for the past season and a half. He’s hardly irreplaceable, but the Falcons trusted him and he played an important role on the line and, by extension, in the offense.
As for Bates, another quote — this one from defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich — further spelled out the All-Pro safety’s meaning to the defense and team.
“As long as you’ve got Jessie Bates on your defense, you’ve got a chance, because he’s going to make sure he’s going to touch every single human being from the front to the back and make sure we get the best version of them,” Ulbrich said.
And now they don’t have Jessie Bates on their defense.
And the defense hadn’t been doing the job with him.
That’s what the Falcons are losing from a team that already has been noncompetitive in its three losses in the past four games, falling behind 31-7 to the Chicago Bears, giving up 324 rushing yards to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and trailing by double digits for 30 of the final 34 minutes of the game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Madrid this past Sunday.
Further, new center Corey Levin is a career backup and the transition to Bates’ replacement – DeMarcco Hellams is a likely candidate – will be a much steeper drop-off.
“It’s definitely going to be an adjustment that has to be made,” left tackle Jake Matthews said Wednesday. “Jessie was a leader of that defense and all that and Ryan obviously at center had a huge role. I think you kind of have to fall back on your training.”
To their credit, the Falcons said the right things Wednesday and seemed to mean them. At 3-6, they’re a half-game out of first place in the crab bucket that is the NFC South.
“I truly believe we’ve got the team and the guys that are going to rally and flip the script because we’ve got a lot of guys that care,” said quarterback Michael Penix Jr. “Obviously, I feel like matchup-wise, I feel like our team is one of the top teams in the league. I feel like we’ve got guys that can make plays all over the field. We’ve just got to go out and do it.”
Of course, if they’d just been going out and doing it, they wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with.
A top-five pick?
A merciful end of the playoff drought?
What’s a Falcons fan to root for?
And what is that sneaking feeling that the Falcons will end up with neither?
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