Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
These recent defensive additions are going to force opponents to take the Falcons defense seriously.
The 2024 Atlanta Falcons went into the offseason with a clear mission to improve an offense that couldn’t bust a grape in 2023. With no quarterback of import on the roster, Atlanta signed Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million deal with $100 million guaranteed, and then selected Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the eighth overall pick in the draft, as if to say, “We are NOT going through another season with Desmond Ridder, Taylor Heinicke, and Logan Woodside mucking up the most important position in football.”
With that quarterback situation, and a ton of underutilized first-round weapons, the team appears to be set on that side of the ball. On defense, 2024 Falcons forecasts were much murkier. Before the last week or so, the team had very little to boast in terms of proven edge rushers in their primes, the linebacker corps was filled with decent options, and there were two members of the secondary who could be considered franchise guys: Safety Jessie Bates III, and cornerback A.J. Terrell.
Moreover, there’s an overall philosophical and schematic change afoot. Last season, per Pro Football Focus, no team played more press coverage than did the Falcons, who had at least one cornerback in press on 84% of their snaps. Terrell benefited the most from it, as he’s one of the NFL’s best press-man and match cornerbacks in the game, with a league-high 413 press snaps. Bates ranked second in the league behind Quandre Diggs of the Seattle Seahawks (now of the Tennessee Titans) with 943 snaps as a deep safety.
In the transition from Ryan Nielsen as the team’s defensive coordinator to the new think-tank of head coach Raheem Morris, defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake, and assistant head coach/defense Jerry Gray, there will absolutely be changes. Morris spent the last three seasons after his stint with the Falcons in multiple coaching roles as the Los Angeles Rams’ defensive coordinator, and Morris historically doesn’t prefer press coverage. Perhaps that will change given Terrell’s specific abilities, but the 2023 Rams had no cornerbacks in press coverage on 53% of their snaps – more tilted to the league average than Atlanta’s “Press or Bust” philosophy from last season.
You can also expect fewer snaps of aggressive single-high coverage, and more of a focus on Cover-3, Cover-4, and Cover-6. This will be as much about execution as scheme, so Morris and his coaches need the kinds of players who can be where they need to be at a high level.
It was late in the process, but the Falcons did exactly that twice over recently, and with potentially season-altering returns. On Aug. 14, they sent a 2025 third-round pick to the New England Patriots for veteran pass rusher Matthew Judon. One day later, they signed former Denver Broncos safety Justin Simmons to a one-year, $8 million deal.
And with that, Atlanta’s 2024 defensive profile became much more defined.
Judon suffered a torn right biceps in Week 4 of the 2023 season, which ended his year far too soon, but when he was out there, he was making life absolutely miserable for opposing quarterbacks as he had in seasons before. Judon’s short-term production in 2023 wasn’t that far off from his 2022 season, when he totaled career highs in sacks (17) and total pressures (69) in 480 pass-rushing snaps.
Before the right biceps injury that ended his 2023 season in Week 4, Matt Judon had four sacks and 16 total pressures… in just 94 pass-rushing snaps. Has every move you want — dip-and-rip, bull-rush, spin to the pocket. Could be a monumental deal for the @AtlantaFalcons. pic.twitter.com/JznfrwOzbK
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) August 15, 2024
“Anytime you can add a dog, really, to your group and have him be able to come be a part of that, that is exciting,” Morris said of Judon after the trade was made. “I think we have excitement for that. I think he has excitement for that. I think a couple of our players that actually know him personally have excitement for that.
“His reputation precedes himself.”
Morris went so far as to compare the Judon acquisition to the season-altering move the Rams made on Oct. 1, 2021 – trading 2022 second and third-round picks to the Denver Broncos for Von Miller. That season ended with the Rams bagging their second Super Bowl championship.
“You get a guy with the ability to come in here and be a game wrecker for you right now, you figure out those things,” Morris said. “I have one real key factor. We did that out in L.A. with Von. Got him middle-season doing a trade, he was able to come in (and) turn into a game wrecker. I got a chance to see playoff Von. Got a ring because of it. Got a lot of success.”
As for Simmons, while he’s termed a safety, he’s really a multi-position wild card. Last season for a Broncos defense that started off at a historically inept pace before figuring a few things out, Simmons (a rare standout performer in the Mile High City) allowed 23 catches on 36 targets for 324 yards, 95 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, three interceptions, five pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 85.9. He also had a sack, 59 solo tackles, 16 stops, and two forced fumbles. And he did it all over the place – 594 snaps at free safety, 230 in the box, 144 in the slot, and 10 along the defensive line.
Simmons’ play style can be termed “Chaos within structure.” He freelances to a point, but the ninth-year man from Boston College has enough football acumen to make those plays into wins. And his versatility gives Bates the freedom to stick with the deep stuff, where he’s at his best.
Justin Simmons is a fascinating box/slot/free player. I’d almost call him an adventurer or a roamer; he has enough on-field acumen to do things in structure with anarchy that not a lot of safeties can get away with.
You have to want that, but if you do… he’s a nice fit. pic.twitter.com/7gIMN2ZdSK
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 8, 2024
Judon’s addition, along with the constant threat of defensive tackle Grady Jarrett blowing up half an offensive line, should make things easier for Atlanta’s other pass-rushers – especially third-year pass-rusher Arnold Ebiketie, who put together seven sacks and 28 total pressures in just 175 pass-rushing snaps in 2023.
“We’ll never apologize for acquiring good players, when you get a chance,” Morris said on Saturday, after Atlanta’s preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens. “You’ve got a guy like [general manager Terry Fontenot], who is constantly churning the bottom of the roster, churning the top of the roster [and] churning the roster just in general. The elite communication that we’ve had in our building, I think it’s been awesome. It’s been awesome with the guys within the building, the coaches within the building [and] our players; everybody is involved. Anything that needs to be talked about will be addressed openly, honestly [and] with clear communication, so [that] we don’t have any mistakes or anything that happens the wrong way.
“I’ve got so much confidence in this organization – in how we handle our business and how we do everything we do the right way – that it’s just fun to be able to get those players. And people want to be here. Let’s just flat out say it. When you’ve got a guy like Kirk Cousins leading the way, and you’ve got a chance to go do something special, which I believe we do, people want to come and be here.”
In one 24-hour period, Fontenot and that new Falcons culture completed two transactions that took Atlanta’s defense from clear liability to possible strength. Nice work, if you can get it.
