He wore a Falcons pin on the left lapel of his suit jacket, a gift from the man, Arthur Blank, who now signs his paychecks.
“It’s kind of like being knighted,” Steven Jackson said Friday.
King Arthur. Sir Steven. It works.
Which way to Camelot?
Jackson’s signing not only fills a need at running back, not only completes the NFL’s premier Round Table of offensive stars, not only positions the Falcons to win a Super Bowl, it says something about where this franchise is at.
Great players want to come to Atlanta. They are willing to postpone retirement plans (Tony Gonzalez) or opt out of more lucrative contracts (Jackson’s $4 million guarantee with the Falcons is less than the $7 million he would’ve earned in St. Louis) for the chance to play for a champion.
The Falcons can’t yet be compared with historically strong organizations like New England, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Baltimore and the New York Giants because those franchises have won Super Bowls. But they’re similar in this way: They’re now a destination team for players such as Jackson.
Six years ago: a grease fire.
Now: a destination.
Six years ago: “How many gold bricks will it take to get you here?”
Now: “You’ll come for what?”
“Particularly early in your career, your first thoughts are to secure yourself financially for your family,” said Jackson, who played nine seasons for mostly miserable teams in St. Louis. “If you’re not lucky enough to inherit being on a good team, that’s the next thing you look for. I’ve accomplished a lot. The one thing I can’t say is what I write on my visual board and that’s: NFL champion. I’ve always wanted to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. I’ve come to realize you need a very supportive group around you and people who have the same goal I mind.”
So he came to the Falcons.
Gee. It’s amazing what a franchise can do even without a new stadium, isn’t it?
Building a winning team is difficult. Sustaining success is even more difficult. Winning franchises face salary-cap problems that mediocre ones don’t. Even just-good players on great teams command significant raises on the open market because they’re suddenly deemed as difference-makers by average teams. The premier teams can’t keep everybody.
Consider the Ravens. They won a Super Bowl and rewarded quarterback Joe Flacco with a $120.6 million contract. The ripple effect was saying goodbye to several significant contributors: Anquan Boldin, Dannell Ellerbe, Paul Kruger, Bernard Pollard, Cary Williams and, probably soon, Ed Reed.
Jackson knew that only teams such as the Falcons, Green Bay and maybe New England presented him with the opportunity to contend for a Super Bowl. He watched the Falcons’ NFC loss to San Francisco — ironically, from the couch in his aunt’s living room in Atlanta.
A thought rolled through his mind, a thought he shared in a TV interview last week: “The Falcons are one good running back away from winning the Super Bowl.”
The Falcons have done a lot right since the hiring of general manager Thomas Dimitroff in 2008. It’s not a coincidence that two of Dimitroff’s former top lieutenants in the personnel department, Les Snead and Dave Caldwell, have been hired as general managers in St. Louis and Jacksonville, respectively.
“I’m proud we’re considered a coveted organization,” Dimitroff said. “We have great ownership, a leader for a head coach in Mike Smith and a city that has our back — the total package. We’re very proud of the fact that players want to play here. It speaks volumes to how we’re perceived. People believe we can be legitimate contenders, year in and year out.”
Dimitroff still has holes to fill, primarily on defense. But the Falcons still are $4 million to $5 million under the salary cap, so there is room to add a pass rusher or cornerback in free agency, as well as the draft.
“I like where we are,” Dimitroff said. “No one likes to sit back and go back into the next season with the same old tools.”
Jackson referred to himself similarly in a Friday news conference. He has been the bell cow throughout his career, he said, but now is fine with “just being another tool in the toolbox.”
Welcome to both his and the Falcons’ new reality.
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