My Thoughts On The Falcons 2011 Draft

It’s been two weeks since the Falcons made one of the biggest draft day moves in recent memory, as they traded up in the first round to grab Julio Jones. When you make a move like the Falcons did, there is a price to pay, and for the Falcons, they had to surrender their first round pick, second round pick, fourth round pick and next year’s first round and fourth round picks.

When I first heard about the trade, I was a little shocked that the Falcons would make a move like this. General manager Thomas Dimitroff and head coach Mike Smith are about building through the draft and not making any risky moves. So as a result, they have built this current team though the draft while adding key free agents.

But now that I think about it and let the trade sink in, I like the move. There are times where a franchise has to make a bold move in order to take that next step. The Falcons were 13-3 last year and won the NFC South Division as well as having the best record in the conference. But Smith was clear that they needed to be more explosive plays on offense. The Falcons did score a lot of points last year, but the reason for that is they were able to control the clock and make little to zero mistakes.

They did have more dire needs on draft day, especially when it comes to the defensive line, offensive line and linebackers. But the organization felt Jones was the right fit for the Falcons in terms of what they want to do on offense moving forward.

So here’s what the Falcons should look like. You have Matt Ryan at quarterback, Michael Turner at running back, Roddy White and Jones at the wideouts and Tony Gonzalez at the tight end spots. All of these players made it to the pro bowl except for Jones, and if everything goes according to plan, Jones should be making trips to Hawaii on a yearly basis.

Did the Falcons give up a lot to get an unproven player? Yes. But the reality is they had a chance to get a player with a huge upside and they seized the moment. Since 2008, the Falcons have been sitting back and not making any bold moves. Now, with the Saints looking to get back to the Super Bowl and Tampa Bay being a team on the rise, the Falcons had to make sure they stay on top and they felt like this was the way to do it.

Now, all this is pending because the NFL is still in its lockout, but If Jones becomes the player we all hope he can be this year, the Falcons will have another legitimate shot to win the Super Bowl this year.

But what if he doesn’t pan out? What if he struggles and the Falcons are 8-8 when the 2011 season concludes? How much heat will Dimitroff have on him if Jones does not perform?

New football leagues for 2009

At this time last year, the Arena Football league was just getting their 2008 season kicked off. Now due to the economic crisis, league officials and players decided to take the year off and come back in 2010. Unlike the majority of people in the United States, I'm a big fan of the Arena Football league and I was disappointed to hear that there will be no games played this year.

However, their are a couple of professional football leagues that are slated to start this year. The first organization that I want to mention is the United National Gridiron League which will kick their season off on May 3 with eight teams. The UNGL is more of a developmental league which will consists players from the arena league, college players and players from the NFL that were on practice squads. They held their inaugural draft in early January and former Kentucky quarterback Shane Boyd was selected first to the Georgia Stallions. Now before I go any further, Georgia is one of the eight teams that will play, but the UNGL will not officially release the team name and the rosters until mid-April. So I'm not sure what city they will play their home games but rumor has it that they will play in Columbus. Other than Boyd, the list of former college and NFL stars that will play in the UNGL is limited but I think it will be successful because they are not competing with the NFL. In fact it's slogan is "Developing tomorrow's stars of the game".

The other league that will start in the fall but will play their games on Fridays is the United Football league. This league has gotten more media attention because of the NFL ties that will go along with the UFL. For example, in their inaugural season, four teams will play and the four head coaches have coached in the NFL. Dennis Green will coach the San Fransisco team, Jim Fassel will coach the Las Vegas team, Jim Hasslet will be the head man for the Orlando team and the New York team will be coached by Ted Cottrell. They will start play in October and the games will be aired on the Versus Network they haven't had their draft yet so players and rosters should be announced within the next couple of months.

Honestly, as a fan of football, I love this. It's give young players and opportunity to hone their skills and prepare them for the NFL. The thing that I don't want to happen is the AFL getting lost in the shuffle which could happen. Arena football has been around for over 20 years and is the only professional football league that is not the NFL has thrived. But with the UNGL, the UFL and the All-American Football league which will start play in 2010 will more likley take players from the AFL which will leave the AFL scrambling for players. But the one thing I will say is this, because of the new leagues, the NFL draft, mini camp and training camp, football season is all year long and that's the way it should be.