Welcome to 2019 Matt Bosher Jersey 2019 , Falcons fans. to accomplish in the coming months to enjoy a successful year and put the bitter taste of 2018 far, far behind us.OffenseLet Tevin Coleman go. It’s painful because Coleman has had some genuinely special moments as a Falcon, and was a great complement to Devonta Freeman. But the Falcons already paid top dollars for one running back, and both Ito Smith and Brian Hill showed they’re at least capable backups throughout the course of 2018. Paying Coleman upwards of $4 million per year—and perhaps north of $6 million per year—would be a huge mistake for a team that is going to have tight dollar years coming up with Matt Ryan’s contract, Julio Jones’ impending contract, and big deals for Grady Jarrett, Deion Jones, and Keanu Neal ahead. They just can’t pay everyone, and Coleman is one of the most expendable pieces they have at the moment, as good as he is and can be.Fix the offensive line. I’m not hugely concerned about the depth at receiver or tight end—Eric Saubert looks at least capable and Alex Gray is waiting in the wings at TE, while Marvin Hall and Russell Gage are fine wide receiver depth—but I am concerned about the line. It’s telling that the Falcons got considerably better along the line when they signed Zane Beadles and got Ty Sambrailo in the lineup, and that says nothing good about the likes of Brandon Fusco, Ben Garland and Ryan Schraeder. The Falcons can’t close their eyes and hope that they can get by with a motley assortment of options, not with Alex Mack getting older, Fusco returning from injury, and Andy Levitre unlikely to return. You’d hope Atlanta would invest a Day 2 draft pick in either guard or tackle to shore up one spot, and allow Wes Schweitzer, Ty Sambrailo, Fusco and a free agent signing to duke it out for the remaining guard spot. It’s not going to be possible to completely overhaul this unit in one offseason, but standing pat would be a colossal failure on Atlanta’s part.Go get a creative, dynamic offensive coordinator. The Falcons drew the wrong lessons from Kyle Shanahan’s success and tried to continue with a familiar scheme in the hands of a frankly lesser coordinator. Steve Sarkisian’s tenure in Atlanta wasn’t all bad, but you can reasonably argue that he did not get the most out of a talented offense, even if the offensive line badly limited him at times in 2018. The Falcons need to avoid drawing the wrong lessons again from this season and assuming they just need a more experienced coordinator, because placing this side of the ball in the hands of a Darrell Bevell or Greg Knapp is unlikely to push this team forward at all. DefenseDo something with Vic Beasley’s contract. If the Falcons think Beasley’s late season flashes were indicative of improvement around the corner, fine. If they love his locker room presence or think he’s an essential man going forward, given his youth and obvious physical tools, then that’s great. But they can’t, with the contracts they have now and the contracts they have coming, commit $12. 8 million to a player with ten sacks over the last two seasons, only one season with eye-popping production as a pass rusher, and a justified reputation as one of the worst Falcons defenders of 2018 for at least the first half of the season. The Falcons would be wise to try to find a way to get Beasley under contract for a couple of seasons at a much more reasonable price as a complementary pass rusher until proven otherwise. If he bristles at that, which is well within his rights, they should probably move on and try to find their next useful pass rusher in the draft. I like Vic a great deal and it pains me to say it, but the Falcons can’t go into 2019 with Beasley opposite Takk McKinley and just dust their hands. While you’re at it, re-tool the defensive end position entirely. Takk remains a building block despite his shaky production in 2018, but there are no other indispensable men here. It would be nice to get Bruce Irvin back and fine to bring Beasley back on a new deal Black Matt Bosher Jersey , but Brooks Reed is set to cost this team $5.4 million and hasn’t played up to that level. The team could release him and save $4.4 million to go toward Irvin and other needs.That’s not even to mention Derrick Shelby, who has been a colossal disappointment since signing with the Falcons a couple of years ago and should be on his way out of Atlanta. The Falcons should try to keep Irvin and Steven Means around as useful rotational pieces and use a Day 1 or Day 2 pick on a promising pass rusher to get this thing righted, and if they move on from Irvin and Means in favor of some interesting free agent options, so be it. They’re really only a single defensive tackle away from having a very good rotation there, so I hope they focus more time and energy on DE. Sort out the secondary. The Falcons have an abundance of quality options at safety—you could even say they’ll be spoiled with Keanu Neal and Ricardo Allen returning next year—but that leaves them with a logjam at the position. They’re less deep and rich at cornerback, where Robert Alford just struggled through his worst year since 2014, Isaiah Oliver is not yet a proven commodity, and Brian Poole remains an incredibly useful player but far from an elite nickel cornerback when it comes to coverage. Kazee might get some time at cornerback, Alford may or may not be here, but the Falcons will have to get that figured out to ensure they’re putting a winning group on the field.Get Dan Quinn some help. This isn’t truly under defense, but since he’s the new defensive coordinator and still the head coach, it just makes sense. Quinn’s largest struggles to date as a head coach have come in effectively managing time and making good situational decisions, something every NFL coach struggles with to an extent. But some of his worst calls have been so egregious that having another voice in his ear saying “we should absolutely not call a timeout here” would be extremely welcome, and would benefit the entire team.There are plenty of head coaches who are going to be grappling with the same thing this offseason—Mike Zimmer’s drawn plenty of criticism for his handling of the clock, for example—but Quinn hasn’t taken concrete steps to address that via the addition of staff or like, enrolling at coach clock school. That second set of eyes doesn’t solve everything—you saw Sean McVay make some puzzling choices even with Jedd Fisch to help him—but it would help to ensure those gameday decisions aren’t being made solely by a man with sometimes shaky aptitude for them. Special Teams Settle the kicker position. The Falcons somewhat absurdly carried two kickers through a large part of the year, partly because Matt Bryant was dealing with a balky back and partly because Giorgio Tavecchio clearly intrigues this organization. Bryant hit a career high percentage of field goals (20 of 21, 95.2%) and the second-lowest percentage of extra points (33 of 35, 94%), while Tavecchio was a perfect 5 for 5 for field goals. Tavecchio, then, was excellent in a limited sample size, while Bryant was typically fantastic.Bryant is going to be 44 years old in 2019, and while he’s shown no signs of slowing down, the Falcons would save $3 million (with about $1 million in dead money for 2019) by moving on in favor of Tavecchio, who is under contract next year for about $645,000. The Falcons obviously did this to give themselves flexibility this offseason, but Bryant remains excellent and it’s extremely likely that Tavecchio will prove to be a downgrade from him if Atlanta moves on. I hope the Falcons keep Bryant around for one more year, but it’s true that at age 44 there are no certain things, and the Falcons will weigh that carefully. You just hope their choice works out, whatever it may be.Get me a return game, goodness gracious. Marvin Hall was fine as a kick returner and should be competing for both jobs in 2019, but Justin Hardy was not effective as a punt returner. The return game under Keith Armstrong has been anemic for a little bit now, with Andre Roberts looking awful in 2017 and then going on to great success this year. Whether it’s a change of philosophy and personnel to try to get more effective blocking, or bringing in a more high-upside option as a returner, it should happen. It’s not the highest priority Limited Julio Jones Jersey , but I am tired of being aggravated by returns, as I suspect all of you are.There are many other changes to be made, big and small, but if the Falcons nail these big picture items I think they’ll be in very good shape for 2019. Add yours to the pile, if you would. ATLANTA (AP) — Once again, Ray Lewis and the Super Bowl intersect in Atlanta.Lewis isn’t ducking from the bad memories of his career low point in 2000, when he and a pair friends were charged for the stabbing deaths of two men outside a nightclub hours after the last Super Bowl played here.Now a Super Bowl champion, an NFL Hall of Famer and a broadcaster, Lewis has spent the last 19 years rebuilding his reputation after that night. The most serious charges against Lewis were dropped, and he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor obstruction of justice.This Super Bowl, Lewis is back in Atlanta to promote hope and healing, using his celebrity spotlight to bring exposure to his Ray of Hope Foundation, which gets celebrities and athletes to send inspirational personal video messages for those in need.The goal of the big-ticket event, dubbed Gold Jacket Party for a Purpose, is to raise money for the foundation. The event is expected to attract dozens of sports and entertainment celebrities.“Purpose is forever,” Lewis told The Associated Press. “The game comes and goes but purpose is forever.”It seems a long way from 2000, when the prevailing image of Lewis was him in an Atlanta jail with handcuffs and shackles.Lewis, Joseph Sweeting and Reginald Oakley were charged in double murders that happened after a party in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood following the St. Louis Rams’ win over the Tennessee Titans. The victims were stabbed to death and one victim’s blood was found in Lewis’ limo.Murder and aggravated assault charges against Lewis were dropped with his misdemeanor plea. He also agreed to testify against the other defendants, who were acquitted.Lewis received a year of probation by the court and was fined $250,000 by the NFL. He settled two lawsuits for undisclosed amounts with family members of the victims, Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar. Baker and Lollar are buried in Akron, Ohio — only a short drive from the Hall of Fame in Canton, where Lewis was honored last year.The killings, Lewis’ arrest and the ice storm that disrupted Super Bowl preparations nearly overshadowed the big game. The NFL didn’t agree to have another Super Bowl in Atlanta until the Falcons built a new $1.5 billion stadium.Lewis, 43, has moved on and believes others have as well. He frequently returns to the city. He says he organized another Atlanta Super Bowl party two years ago when the Falcons lost to the Patriots’ in Houston.“My sisters live in Atlanta,” Lewis said. “I’ve been in Atlanta for years, all over Atlanta.”Atlanta-based financial adviser Rob Vaka, who leads the Ray of Hope Foundation with Lewis and ESPN’s Sport Science host John Brenkus, said his wife had apprehensions about him working with Lewis until she researched the details of the case.“My wife is a native” of Atlanta, Vaka said. “She had her apprehensions. She did her own research. She’s the supreme skeptic. She did more research than me and she came back to me and said ‘What I heard is not accurate.'”Vaka added, “At some point you have to make a decision I’m going to move on and I’m going to forgive, whether I have all of the facts or some of the facts. … I believe he’s a terrific human being.”Others also share that opinion.Among the former NFL greats expected to attend are Jim Brown, Deion Sanders, Ed Reed and Eddie George and many current players, including Grady Jackson and Austin Hooper of the Atlanta Falcons.Sanders said Lewis “is a wonderful Julio Jones Falcons Jersey , inspirational, caring, thoughtful individual which I Iove like a brother.”“I’m not going to go into the incident that happened, but Ray, but that’s not Ray,” Sanders told AP on Thursday. “That wasn’t Ray, and I know that for a fact, so I’m thankful. He worked his way out of it.”Lewis said purpose was the theme of his stirring speech at his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony last August.The theme carries over to next week’s party, with tickets priced from $750 to $2,500, before the Feb. 3 Super Bowl between the Los Angeles Rams and New England Patriots.The foundation’s roster of athletes, coaches and other celebrities provide short, uplifting personalized videos for those in dire need, including sick children.Among those who make the videos are former NFL players Takeo Spikes, Merril Hoge, Trent Dilfer and George, golfer Dustin Johnson, Atlanta Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff and Olympians Michael Phelps, Summer Sanders and Apolo Ohno.“We built a really good roster and we’re looking at this event as a springboard to do some much bigger things,” Vaka said.Vaka said the foundation, only two years old, needs a new website, new technology and support but already has impacted dozens of lives. Lewis draws the most requests.“It’s a really simple thing, but it’s more important than you could ever imagine,” Lewis said. “Messages of hope connect people from all over the world that are experiencing some sort of pain. You take an influential role model to inspire them for a lasting impact.”Lewis said he realizes he has power away from the playing field.“That’s the glory of it, man,” he said. “That’s the excitement of where I’m starting to move in the second half of my life, figuring out my greatest ability is access because of my reputation, because of my name, because of my brand. I want to use it to bring people together, so I use it.”Lewis said he is consumed by his passion to instill hope in others. He relishes the joy he receives from making a positive impact.“You can make a lot of money,” he said. “You can be successful. You can be a lot of things. But when someone references you and they say to you, ‘You changed my life’ that’s a different conversation. Every time. Every time.“Oh my gosh, it’s just exciting, man.”
