Fly in the Ointment......Free Agency Most likely will occur after the NFL Draft

[g-dawg]

Does anybody else see this as a problem for the Atlanta Falcons?

I do.....

I think the way the free agency and the NFL draft sets up for the Falcons - they need more "star" players that are ready to come in, start and make an impact on Day#1 on the defensive side of the ball whereas Falcons need to "re-stock" on offense and improve depth on the offensive side of the ball.

To accomplish the above, the Falcons would be better suited to go after some high-profile Defensive Players - I say Defensive End and Cornerback - in Free Agency. I also think free agency would be a great place to get us a #3 WR who can come in and play the slot.

In the draft, I could see the Falcons going for offensive players if they are able to meet their defensive immediate needs in free agency.

At issue is the expiring CBA - I believe it expires on March 3rd. Given the prognostications in the media, the thought is the Owners/Players will probably come to an agreement hopefully by June 1st or thereabouts(just a guess). So, then you would be looking at possibly a 10 day window for teams to designate franchise/transition tags on their own players and get them re-signed. After that, you would figure the league-wide free agency would begin where teams can sign other teams players.

It seems to me, with this backwards thing going - NFL Draft First, NFL Free Agency 2nd - that teams will be more inclined more than ever to draft "needs-based" in 2011 NFL Draft because there is no guarantee on the back-end that the NFL teams will be able to get their top free agent targets.

From all indications, I get the sense from hearing Dimitroff on the local radio shows that the Atlanta Falcons will be aggressive in free agency. If so, I think the lack of a CBA and a delayed free agency actually hurts the Falcons somewhat.

What say you?