Team-by-Team Draft Review: Atlanta Falcons

Paul Perdichizzi Posted On May 20, 2015

coleman

Coming off a 6-10 season, the Atlanta Falcons decided it was a time for a change, firing Mike Smith and replacing him with Dan Quinn, former defensive coordinator of the Seattle Seahawks. Once the new coaching staff was in place, the Falcons started attacking their off-season plans and were aggressive during the free agent period, signing seven players who may contribute in 2015.

They looked to upgrade both sides of the ball with their signings of Adrian Clayborn, O’Brien Schofield, Justin Durant and Brooks Reed for the defense, in addition to Jacob Tamme, Tony Moeaki and Leonard Hankerson for the offense. While many of these signings were not major free agent acquisitions, a few of them will be starters this upcoming season and the rest will provide good depth. Following a productive free agent period, Atlanta backed it up with one of the best drafts this year, securing five players that will be given an opportunity to become future starters. Their first round selection (Vic Beasley, the edge rusher from Clemson), their second round selection (Jalen Collins, the defensive back from LSU) and their fifth round selection (Grady Jarrett, the defensive tackle from Clemson), all filled major needs and will help Quinn start to turn around their struggling defense. With their third and fourth round selections, Atlanta went to the offensive side of the ball and added a few skill players who could provide immediate and long term fantasy value.

Let’s take a closer look at each one below.

Tevin Coleman, RB (Round 3, Pick 73 overall)

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Coleman, who is 5’11” and 206 pounds, was drafted out of Indiana after a spectacular junior season. This past season he rushed for 2,036 yards and 15 touchdowns and also posted 25 receptions.. He is a strong, fast, physical runner who is a home run threat every time he touches the ball, due to his game changing speed. He displayed that straight line speed when he ran the 40 yard dash in 4.39 seconds at his pro day. Coleman is at his best running between the tackles as a north-south runner, but has shown the ability to make some good one cut reads and not lose any speed as he changes directions. He has been compared to Darren McFadden and DeMarco Murray by draft analysts, due to their similar upright running styles. One area of his game that concerned scouts was his vision and patience to wait for the holes to open up at the next level, especially on outside zone scheme runs. One last concern about his game was scouts questioned if he could be a bell cow running back at the next level because they believe his aggressive running style may make him more susceptible to injuries.

Coleman landed in an ideal landing spot for his career and for his fantasy football relevance. The Falcons have very little at the running back position with only Devonta Freeman, a fourth round pick last draft, and Antone Smith, the small speedster who will be 30 in September on the roster. Coleman will be given every opportunity to become the lead back as soon as this year, and no worse will be in a time share this season with Freeman. Since the draft a lot of concern has been put on the fact Coleman is best suited to play in a power gap running scheme and new offensive coordinator, Kyle Shanahan is known for his zone running scheme. I believe these concerns have been way overblown, as every team runs a hybrid between both schemes and Shanahan has had success with many different style running backs during his tenure coaching in the NFL. With such a deep running back class, Atlanta would not have drafted Coleman in round three if Shanahan and the rest of the coaching staff and front office did not believe he could fit their particular scheme. Rather than focusing on the particular scheme when examining his fantasy football value, fans should be looking at the fact Shanahan has constantly produced strong running attacks, Atlanta possesses a great passing offense with an elite wide receiver which will result in frequent red zone opportunities and that there is very little proven options standing in his way of becoming their top running back sooner rather than later.

Justin Hardy, WR (Round 4, Pick 107 overall)

Hardy was drafted out of ECU as one of the most productive college football receivers of all time. In the last three seasons, the stats he put up are nothing short of amazing when examined as a whole. As a sophomore he caught 88 passes for 1,105 yards and 11 touchdowns, then in his junior season he had 114 receptions for 1,284 yards with eight touchdowns, and this past season he improved those numbers to 121 catches for 1,494 yards and ten touchdowns. Hardy is 5’10, 192 pounds and was one of the better route runners in the entire draft class this year. He is quicker than fast, which was evident when he only ran a 4.56 in the 40 yard dash. While he lacks long speed, he possesses excellent change of direction skills, which was displayed in his excellent three cone drill at the combine. He is very smooth transitioning in and out of his breaks but some scouts question if he needs to be more explosive with his cuts to create consistent separation at the NFL level. Due to his size and athletic limitations, he figures to see most of his time inside as a slot receiver for Atlanta.

When analyzing the depth chart at the receiver position for the Falcons it is easy to see Hardy having fantasy value pretty quickly. After Julio Jones (who is one of the top five wide receivers in all of football), there is an aging Roddy White and unproven receiver options such as Devin Hester, who is best suited to be a return specialist and occasional vertical threat and Hankerson, who up until now has been a major disappointment since being drafted in the second round in 2011 by the Washington Redskins.. With the departure of Harry Douglas, there is an opportunity for Hardy to become their third wide receiver this year and be on the field in all three wide sets, giving him decent PPR value in deep leagues. Long term, the potential is even greater for Hardy, who has a chance to develop into the second option for Matt Ryan as White continues to slow down as he gets older.

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