All we really want is for the Atlanta Falcons defense to be one of the league’s most feared units. They’ve only been top ten in terms of preventing scores and yardage twice in the last 30 years, the profoundly weird 2017 season and back in their possibly best-ever year in 1998. In between those and after them, the defense has swung wildly between decent and horrible.
The hire of Ryan Nielsen and a big offseason spending spree is, we all hope, the reason that finally changes. The Falcons have a few foundational pieces, the cap space, and the draft capital to finally put together a good defense—we’re not expecting greatness in 2023—and it just can’t be more of the same with that much change.