The Falcoholic
Sunlight is a great disinfectant, as the saying goes, and in the harsh light of the morning a great many truths can be seen. The Atlanta Falcons have been hesitant to let that light in, given that in the darkness they’ve been mired in, slumbering shadows of the past and the dancing shadows of what might be have mingled in a way that has proved enthralling.
But the fact is that this team is at yet another point where they must either embrace what the light might reveal or continue to lock the shutters, a decision that will determine the course of the franchise for years to come. Very simply, this team must decide if they’re ready to embrace the full-scale rebuild they’ve repeatedly tried to take shortcuts through, or if they really believe they’re close and need to be patient with a squad ready to cap off their eighth straight losing season.
The latter is the more tempting thought. Wasn’t the 2008 Falcons team just a quarterback and a few quality additions away once they added a new head coach and front office? Wasn’t the patience shown with the 2015 squad rewarded in 2016, after young pieces and quality signings had a chance to gel under a great staff? Isn’t this roster, with its potential home run 2025 defensive draft class and handful of genuine stars, a good enough foundation to build on? For an owner who has to be more impatient for success than ever before, these whispers will turn to cacophony in the coming weeks. We can only wait to see whether he indulges them.
There is ample reason to believe he will, of course, because the alternative is painful. The alternative is saying that all the work of the past five years under Terry Fontenot, Arthur Smith, and Raheem Morris has been for very little, and that only a handful of players currently on this roster will be around for the next great Falcons team because it will take time to build that roster and some of them will need to be moved to acquire the resources necessary to do that building. It would be admitting that the era is lost, the decisions have mostly been wrong, and the Falcons have slowly settled into being the laughingstock they were throughout much of their history. Whether you believe all that is true or not, considering a real teardown figures to be extremely painful for those who were involved in building the Falcons as they exist today.
It means at least hedging against Michael Penix Jr. being the future at quarterback. It means genuinely considering whether Kyle Pitts, Drake London, and even Bijan Robinson are going to be Falcons for the long haul. It means potentially blowing up the hard-fought gains at inside linebacker, cornerback, and safety in the service of getting cap space, picks, and opening spots for younger players to shine. It means confronting a world where all the defiance that has characterized the last decade...
