On a miserable, rainy, cold, crummy, gray day at the Falcons’ headquarters where the weather matched the season, the subject of tanking came up Wednesday, which was perhaps both predictable and surprising.
And the Falcons tried to fight it off.
NFL teams don’t so much throw in the towel as in the NBA, where a single sublime player can turn a team away from an iceberg like a snap of fingers and the crapshoot of a draft lottery leaves more than a dozen teams every year to dream about cashing a potentially huge payout.
That doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, so head coach Dan Quinn fielded the question as if he expected it, although players didn’t seem to see it coming the same way. They were stumped or non-plussed when asked about the value to be gained in Atlanta’s final two games at Carolina (6-8) and Tampa Bay (5-9).
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It was no shock when Quinn said, “Every chance you go you better say we’re going after it in all ways and in all phases . . . I recognize the other side of the question, but for the team and the guys who are playing, [they] have earned that right to go after it as fast as possible.”
Leave it to a rookie to set the reaction meter, for linebacker Foye Oluokun is new at this.
He’s a bright guy, as a degree from Yale may suggest, and he was like, ‘What?’ when asked what is left to be obtained.
So, he said, “Personal gain, just getting better at football.”
That might seem easy to say for a rookie, who in theory would be playing for his NFL future, but then aren’t most NFL players?
Quarterback Matt Ryan isn’t going anywhere else next season, not with his value to the organization, let alone the incalculable salary cap damage that would incurred if he were cut.
But what about guys who aren’t under contract next season, and even some who are?
Here’s what: they’re trying to get or keep jobs, and unlike the NBA where players can flame out and then go play pro in other countries and earn a nice wage, the NFL remains it for football players even with teeny leagues jumping up like popcorn.
Defensive tackle Grady Jarrett might not be the best example as his free agency looms, and he would seem a lock to be back with a bigger paycheck, yet his thoughts might be Quinn’s default, which is to say, always play your butt off and try to win.
“There’s a lot to be gained . . . always have a never-fold mentality no matter what the circumstances and do your best,” said the reigning NFC Defensive Player of the Week who had seven tackles and two sacks last Sunday against the Cardinals.
“With it being the last two games in the [NFC South], I guess you could say yeah [there’s extra incentive], but with it being the last two games, you want to win them no matter who they are.”
There’s fresh history of top 10 draft picks making immediate and dramatic impacts, like, say, Baker Mayfield this year in Cleveland after being No. 1 last spring, and the Browns by the way drafted Denzel Ward No. 4, and he’s a baller. The Colts drafted guard Quenten Nelson No. 6, and linebacker Roquan Smith has been a big part of the Bears’ success since going No. 8.
The 2016 draft was crazy loaded at the top, where Jared Goff went to the Rams, Carson Wentz to the Eagles, Joey Bosa to the Chargers and Ezekiel Elliott to the Cowboys 1-2-3-4.
Most of these teams turned hard in the season following their selections, although it took the Rams and Chargers coaching changes and another year, and they’re all now in playoff contention.
Atlanta is not lined up to draft top five, although the Falcons might be able to get there by tanking.
Besides that, immediate game changers drafted that high tend to be offensive players and the Falcons aren’t in need of offensive players once you move past the line. And offensive linemen are rarely – although not never – drafted so high.
This year’s draft crop is good along the offensive line, and super deep on the defensive line, especially at tackle.
The Falcons have need there, too, and if they ended up drafting 8-12, which is becoming likely, they’ll be in a spot to add value, like, say, when the Rams drafted tackle Aaron Donald No. 13 out of Pittsburgh in 2014.
That’s a generational defensive player, perhaps like Houston defensive tackle Ed Oliver or Alabama D-tackle Quinton Williams, who may be off the draft board by the time Atlanta drafts.
The Falcons’ draft strategy may be influenced by what they’re able to acquire in free agency in the six weeks or so before NFL commissioner Roger Goodell starts rattling names on stage.
So, Quinn wasn’t caught off guard by the question asked Thursday by Jeff Schultz of The Athletic, late of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
He was ready to confront the idea of tanking for benefit of draft position.
It should be noted that Quinn also acknowledged that the Falcons may deploy some players in the final two games for sake of evaluation as opposed to winning, much as they have the past couple weeks in looking at Ty Sambrailo at right tackle in place of Ryan Schraeder and by working both Zane Beadles and Ben Garland at right guard.
Running back Jeremy Langford, signed off the practice squad this week after rookie Ito Smith was placed on injured reserve following arthroscopic knee surgery Wednesday, may get a turn in the backfield along with journeyman Brian Hill.
“We’ve done that to a certain degree . . . I think we’ve done a good job of moving guys up that we want to take better looks at,” the coach said. “But at the same time find the best balance that says this gives us our best chance to win.”
In the midst of the Falcons' misery, in a season that began with the team widely projected to compete for a Super Bowl berth, wide receiver Julio Jones suggested that he's not interested in talking about anything like tanking.
He’s got a bum hip and sore ribs, and yes, with the Falcons being out of the playoff chase that might be more likely to impact his playing time than if Atlanta were still in the hunt, but it doesn’t appear that his playing time will be curtailed so that the Falcons might lose.
“The season is what it is; we’re a 5-9 team. It is what it is. We’ve got to keep battling, keep fighting . . . ” Jones said. “Don’t want to put anything bad on film . . . The playoffs might be done, but our season is not over with . . . It’s a fighting team. We don’t run away from nothing, shy away from nothing.”
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