Last week, I broke down Falcons free agent pickup in running back Steven Jackson. This week it’s time to look at the team’s other big off-season addition in defensive end Osi Umenyiora.

Umenyiora has big shoes to fill, because most are expecting him to take the mantle from John Abraham as the team’s top and most feared pass rusher. Abraham gave the Falcons six and a half excellent seasons, logging 68.5 sacks, which tops their all-time list among official stats. Claude Humphrey, unofficially has 94.5 career sacks in a Falcons uniform, but his career ended before sacks became an official stat in 1982.

Umenyiora is coming off a down year in New York with only 6 sacks, tying his career low since he became a starter in 2004. But the Falcons are optimistic that he can have a resurgence with a change in scenery, particularly given that Atlanta is the place that Osi calls home in the off-season. Similar to Abraham, a native of South Carolina, after moving down from the Big Apple, playing in front of friends and family was perhaps a factor in his success.

But first we should take a look at Osi’s skillset. Here’s my breakdown, with a grading system based on a ten-point scale: 1-pathetic, 2-poor, 3-weak, 4-below average, 5-average, 6-above average, 7-good, 8-very good, 9-excellent, 10-elite.

SKILLS

Strength: 5.5 – He knows how to convert speed to power in order to bull rush off the edge. He shows the ability to use that power move to work the unsuspecting tackle back into the quarterback. But he’s not overly strong and struggles to disengage from blocks, particularly in the run game. His lack of strength shows when he is facing bigger tackles that are also technically sound.

Quickness: 7.5 – Osi still possesses a good first step off the edge that is maximized when he can line up in wider techniques. When he can pin his ears back, he is a formidable speed rusher off the edge that does most of his damage that way. But he no longer has the explosive burst he once did and isn’t a threat to beat the better tackles in the league purely with his speed.

Pass Rush: 8.0 – He makes his money as a pass rusher that has an array of moves to get to the quarterback. As mentioned before, he shows he can bull rush from time to time. He also has showcased an inside counter move, which is often a spin. It’s not quite on par with say Dwight Freeney, but it can be effective from time to time. He’s at his most comfortable rushing the quarterback when his ears are pinned back and he can go out and hunt using his edge speed.

Point of Attack: 5.0 – Umenyiora is not particularly strong or good at the point of attack. While he can be effective using his hands to disengage from tight ends and make stops there, most of his plays against the run come in pursuit and out in space. He’s not a guy you want trying to hold or set the edge when teams run at him, because he rarely makes plays there.

Recognition: 6.0 – At times he seems to be a bit too dialed in trying to get upfield and will misread some plays, such as draws and screens. He has enough athleticism to drop into coverage and be effective in the flat and able to keep things in front of him, but he doesn’t have quite the experience or awareness to think he’d be very effective doing that to a large degree.

Motor: 5.5 – Osi’s motor seems to run hot and cold at times. There are times when he’s dialed in and he’s running all over the field, and there are other times where you see him jogging quite a bit and seems disinterested, especially when he’s asked to try and play the run a lot. It’s not to suggest his motor is poor, it’s just that he’s not going to be relentless and is more willing to pick and choose his spots.

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ESPN’s Adam Schefter first reported the Falcons signing of tight end Colin Cloherty to a two-year contract. Cloherty has played 8 games over the past four seasons since entering the league as an undrafted free agent out of Brown University. For his career, he has caught 5 passes for 59 yards.

He originally signed with the Indianapolis Colts in 2009, playing in their season finale and catching a single pass for 2 yards. In 2010, he played 2 games with San Francisco where he played predominantly on special teams where he had 2 tackles. In 2011, he joined the Jacksonville Jaguars, starting 1 games in 4 appearances and catching 4 passes for 57 yards. He also scored a touchdown on a blocked punt and added 3 stops on special teams. In 2012, he played in the Jaguars’ season opener, but was cut and out of football the rest of the season.

Cloherty could add depth at H-back for the Falcons, able to compete for reserve tight end spot in Atlanta. Having experience in Dirk Koetter’s offense, as well as being an adept special teams could potentially give him a leg up over some others competing for a spot behind Tony Gonzalez and rookie Levine Toilolo.

This past week, I posted a scouting report and a breakdown of why Falcons new running back Steven Jackson will be a key player for the team this season. I think this week I’ll do the same for the team’s other big free agent acquisition: defensive end Osi Umenyiora.

But in watching more tape of Osi’s 2012 season with the New York Giants, I keep coming away confused. Not because Osi isn’t a good player, since he is. But I just can’t understand why the Falcons think adding him is an upgrade over former end John Abraham.

It’s not really a knock on Osi, but I think at best he’s a lateral move. Last year, Abraham finished the year with 8 sacks, 18.5 pressures, and 6.5 hits according to Moneyball, good enough for 33 “positive pass rushes” or PPRs. That’s a really solid number. But there was a drop-off in Abe’s production as the season wore on, where he was essentially a non-entity in terms of production over the final month. In the first half of the season he recorded 22 PPRs. In the third quarter of the season, that number was 8.5. In the final 4 games, it was just 2.

So in that sense I get why the Falcons cut Abe. For whatever reason, it was clear he had lost a step by the end of the year, regardless of the injury that occurred in Week 17. I made this statement after reviewing the Falcons Week 16 win over the Lions:

My hope is that John Abraham’s slip in production is because he’s saving himself for the playoffs, not because he’s hit some sort of wall and/or has not adapted well to playing with his hand off the ground as he’s done for most of the past 10 games. But if the Falcons are going to have a deep run, they are going to need him to step up.

The Falcons probably figure that Osi will give them steadier production over the course of the entire season. For Osi, a year where he gets 25-30 PPRs is a solid season. 35 or more would be a very good season, and anything about 40 is extremely good. I wouldn’t put money on him reaching the latter benchmark, but even at my most pessimistic in regards to Osi I still think he’s definitely capable of getting 25-plus.

The reason why I call it a lateral move is because I think the Falcons potentially face the same problem they did in 2012, which is not getting enough production from the rest of the players.

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Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports tweeted late Saturday night that the Falcons and free agent defensive tackle Richard Seymour couldn’t agree on contract terms. This morning, La Canfora added the Falcons might resume talks later before training camp opens in late July.

Seymour has long been rumored to be a player that the Falcons were interested in. That interest began in March, but carried over to late May when rumors began to pick up. The Falcons were expected to wait until after June 1 to negotiate seriously with Seymour due to the money they would free up from the release of Tyson Clabo. Also reports indicated that Seymour’s signing would also have to wait until after the Falcons agreed to a contract extension with Matt Ryan.

Seymour has spent the past four seasons with the Oakland Raiders. Last year, he started only 8 games due to injury, but recorded 3 sacks. Prior to joining the Raiders in 2009, he was a long-time star with the New England Patriots. In his 12-year NFL career, Seymour has recorded 57.5 sacks and been voted to 7 Pro Bowls. He went to college at the University of Georgia and lives in Atlanta during the offseason.

This week, Allen and I are joined by Rashad James to talk about the latest happenings with the Falcons. Those include discussion of changes to the right side of the line and whether it will work in the Falcons favor … Addressing the depth and rotation at defensive end and which players might step up opposite Osi Umenyiora to help the Falcons pass rush … Concern over depth at linebacker and which young players might step up including Pat Schiller and Brian Banks … Falcons depth at safety and whether or not more usage of Mike Nolan’s Big Nickel is on the horizon … Roddy White’s future in Atlanta … Revisiting the Julio Jones trade and other potential options … NFC South Division Race talk … Offseason Grades … Falcons Mount Rushmore … Are the Houston Texans for real?

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Duration: 1 hour, 4 minutes

Allen writes for TJRSports.com as well as the Bleacher Report. His twitter handle is: @Allen_Strk.

Rashad can be found on twitter: @SaucedUp_Boss

If you have any questions and comments, you can hit us up on Twitter, post in the forums in the podcast thread, or drop an e-mail at: pudge@falcfans.com.

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The Falcons announced the signing of cornerback Robert Alford, their second round pick from this past April’s draft. Alford is the sixth of the Falcons eight rookies to sign a deal. Top pick and fellow corner Desmond Trufant and seventh round quarterback Sean Renfree remain unsigned.

Alford, out of Southeastern Louisiana, signed a four-year deal, although terms of the deal were not disclosed. Based on the deal signed by Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Kelechi Osemele, the 60th overall pick in the 2012 draft, Alford should receive a signing bonus of around $875,000.

Alford is competing for the open starting position at right cornerback opposite Asante Samuel. He has been working recently in OTAs with the first team.

Recently, I’ve discussed quite a bit the potential benefits that running back Steven Jackson could add to the Falcons offense in 2013. In doing so, I also made mention that third-year running back Jacquizz Rodgers could get lost in the shuffle.

Rodgers served as a key asset for the Falcons last year. While his production as a runner was not overly impressive, his value in the passing game was critical to the team’s success. Quizz’s quickness and ability in the open field made him a potent weapon on screen passes, and he showcased his abilities in pass protection when the Falcons went into their no-huddle attack. While even a diminished Michael Turner still proved to be the team’s top rusher for much of the 2012 season, the offense was at its most efficient when Quizz was on the field because of their ability to throw the ball, the clear strength of the team.

Jackson and Rodgers won’t have much animosity among them as they compete for reps. Both hail from Oregon State, and have known each other for a long time. But as Jackson is likely to get a significant amount of reps, it will likely be at the cost to Quizz. But the key for Quizz will be to take advantage of what limited reps he does get.

Rodgers will still be the team’s most potent weapon out of the backfield in the passing game. While Jackson is a capable receiver, Quizz’s quickness and explosiveness after the catch make him their best asset when it comes to screens and catching dumpoffs and checkdowns. He can make that first defender miss, and then it’s off to the races. His 17 missed tackles as a receiver (per Pro Football Focus) were second-highest in the league last year among running backs behind only Trent Richardson.

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Yesterday, I discussed the type of role running back Steven Jackson could have with the Falcons. Jackson hopes to show the world that he still has something left in the tank and will help add physicality to the Falcons ground attack that was lacking a year ago. The more the Falcons get from Jackson, the better served they will be in 2013.

I compared Jackson potentially in 2013 to running back Corey Dillon and what he provided the New England Patriots in 2004. Dillon looked washed up in Cincinnati, as years of playing on a bad team took their toll in 2003. He lost his starting job to Rudi Johnson that year and finished the season with 541 rushing yards on 138 carries (3.9 avg) and 2 touchdowns, all career lows. Dillon had a reputation then as being a malcontent, openly pouting over the Bengals losing ways for years. But he had a resurgence with the Patriots, rushing for 1,635 yards on 345 carries (4.7 avg) and 12 touchdowns, all of which represented career highs. And helped lead the Patriots to what currently is their last Super Bowl win in that year. The Patriots went from one of the weaker rushing attacks a year prior under Antowain Smith, who previously had been their workhorse in two previous championships, to one of the top rushing units in the league in 2004.

Jackson hopes to do the same in Atlanta. The major difference between Jackson and Dillon is the perception about their character. Dillon was seen as a risky gamble by Bill Belichick bringing in a player that had been labeled as a bad guy. There is no such risk with Jackson, who is considered one of the higher character players in the NFL. Jackson had moments of immaturity early in his career, but has since developed into the type of player that owners and coaches don’t mind fronting their franchise, as he did for years on bad St. Louis Rams teams in the post-Kurt Warner/Marshall Faulk Era. Jackson comes from a Rams team that has eight consecutive seasons where they missed the playoffs. The only time Jackson has smelled the postseason was his rookie season when he was a reserve behind Faulk. That gives Jackson great motivation here in Atlanta as he likely gets his first opportunity to showcase that he can add value to a winning team, not just be the lone bright spot on a bad one.

Similarly to the 2003 Patriots, the 2012 Falcons were one of the league’s worst rushing teams. That year, the Patriots ranked 27th in the league in rushing offense and 30th in average yards per carry. The 2012 Falcons were similarly bad in those categories, respectively ranking 29th in both last year. Dillon helped improve the Patriots to 7th and 18th in those respective categories in 2004, and the Falcons hope to get sparked by Jackson for similar improvement. The Falcons had to rely almost solely on their passing attack last year to effectively move the ball, rushing the ball on only 37% of their offensive plays, the seventh lowest percentage in the league. None of the teams that finished lower than the Falcons had winning records. In fact, the Falcons were only one of three teams (the Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts being the others) that were below the league average of having 42.3% of their total offensive plays being runs and finish with a winning record. It goes back to the old adage of “throw to score, run to win.”

The Falcons didn’t need to run the ball late in games when they held leads largely due to the prolific nature of their passing attack. Matt Ryan, Roddy White, Julio Jones, and Tony Gonzalez all played at elite levels in 2012 for much if not all of the year.  When you have your four best players all playing the best they’ve played in four or more years, the need for balance isn’t necessary. But despite the likelihood that all four continue to play well in 2013, the Falcons probably can’t realistically expect a repeat of that performance.

That’s where Jackson and the ground game should come in handy to try and pick up any lost slack. In an ideal world, the Falcons will be able to generate earlier leads in games, and then use Jackson late as a hammer to finish off their opponents with his physical, hard-nosed rushing style. Last year, in the second halves of games, the Falcons ran the ball on 38.8% of their offensive plays, a percentage good enough only to rank them 23rd in the league. The next lowest playoff team were the Indianapolis Colts at 42.7% and 18th ranked.

Jackson’s ability to contribute both as a pass protector and pass catcher will also make him valuable when building those early leads. The Falcons aren’t going to suddenly not be a pass-first team, but if there can be a couple of games throughout the year here and there where the Falcons can feed Jackson and get good production, it will greatly help. Michael Turner had only 2 100-yard games last year. He’s had 8 in the past two seasons, but in 5 of those games he had at least one carry for 40 or more yards, making up the bulk of his production. The Falcons would like to see a handful of games where Jackson reaches the century mark, particularly games where Jackson’s can rush the ball 20 or more times, indicating that the Falcons were able to effectively control the line of scrimmage and play with a lead.

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It’s time to look at the Falcons signature offensive free agent addition in running back Steven Jackson.

In fact, one could argue the Falcons made a mistake by not trading for Jackson at the trade deadline last fall, as the boost he could have potentially provided down the stretch could have meant the difference between the Falcons losing in the NFC Championship Game and going to the Super Bowl. The Falcons appear to believe that acquiring Jackson later is better than never. But let’s first look at Jackson’s skillset before talking about what exactly he could bring to the table in 2013. Once again, the grading system is based on a ten-point scale: 1-pathetic, 2-poor, 3-weak, 4-below average, 5-average, 6-above average, 7-good, 8-very good, 9-excellent, 10-elite.

SKILLS

Speed (5.0) – Jackson possesses good burst and hits the hole quickly. He however lacks the long speed to be particularly dangerous on the second level. He’s never been a back known for his ability to break long runs having 31 runs of 20 or more yards in his 9-year career. In comparison to Michael Turner, who had 45 in his 5 years in Atlanta and 29 between 2008-10. Jackson’s running style is more suited to being a volume back that can consistently get gains of 3-7 yards per run and wear down opponents over time.

Power (8.0) – Jackson runs with great authority, toughness, and physicality. He’s not afraid of contact and will consistently crave it. He consistently keeps his feet churning after initial contact and in traffic, allowing him to consistently add yards here and there. While not a player that is going to run over every defender, he does make it so that he’s not easy to bring down which can help wear down defenses. As a volume runner that can make him most effective in the fourth quarter.

Agility (6.0) – Jackson possesses good lateral agility and quickness, able to side-step defenders in the hole. He shows good burst out of his cuts, as he’s comfortable working inside and on the edge. His agility makes him an effective one-cut runner when working on stretch plays and other zone blocking runs. He is able to make a defender miss on the second level and bounce plays to the edge, although again his lack of ideal speed limits his ability to generate big plays in those instances.

Vision (7.0) – Jackson has good vision to the hole, able to run to daylight and due to his power, burst, and lateral quickness, he can exploit it. But his declining skill in those areas doesn’t allow him to always do so to the level he once did in the past. There will be many runs where he’ll run into traffic and use his size and power to make a hole where there is none.

Hands (7.0) – He possesses good hands and is comfortable catching the ball out of the backfield. He’ll drop some passes on occasion, but considering his relatively high volume of targets and opportunities, it’s a fairly low percentage. He is able to secure the ball and then square his shoulders to get downfield to run hard after the catch.

Blocking (7.0) – He is an experienced pass protector having served in that role for the Rams for a number of years. His reps were cut down last year in part due to the presence of Daryl Richardson, and also do to the Rams new offense preferring to spread the field and limiting how much backs were asked to block. His size and physicality makes him more than capable of squaring up a defensive linemen coming off the edge or up the middle.

OVERVIEW

Jackson isn’t the player he once was. Five years ago, he was in the mix for being one of the top backs in the league a notch below players like Adrian Peterson. Similarly, Jackson possesses all the tools you look for in a top back, size, speed, power, pass catching ability, quickness, and agility. And despite languishing on bad Rams teams for years, he was be able to showcase these skills. So even while his production never matched that of a player like Michael Turner in his heyday in Atlanta, I always considered Jackson to be the superior back.

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The media once again had access to the first of four days of the Falcons third and final offseason team activities. The Falcons will have a mandatory minicamp starting next week on June 18:

• As mentioned earlier, Desmond Trufant returned to practice today. He and fellow rookie Robert Alford were able to get extra reps due to the excused absence of veteran cornerback Asante Samuel today. Trufant at left corner, Alford at right, and both Robert McClain and Dominique Franks manning the slot. Matt Ryan was impressed with the Falcons top pick.
• Speaking of Ryan isn’t too concerned over his looming contract status.
  

  You know what, I leave that to my agents and the front office. Those guys will get that stuff done.

• Absent at today’s session were Samuel, as mentioned previously, Tony Gonzalez, and Levine Toilolo. Toilolo is expected to join the team tomorrow. Meanwhile, Chase Coffman stepped in for Gonzalez at tight end with the Falcons starters. Sean Weatherspoon and Stephen Nicholas still look to be on schedule to return for next week’s minicamps.
• Steven Jackson has improved his diet to try and defeat Father Time. Sounds like his plans are to be a “finisher” for the Falcons with most of his work on the ground coming in the fourth quarter. He’s focused on getting on the same page with Ryan in the passing game for the no-huddle offense earlier in games.
• Matt Ryan seems to admit the offensive line is a work in progress, but that strides are being made. And it looks like they might be incorporating more tempo which I suggested the other day.