Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweeted earlier that the Falcons were among 11 teams represented at the private workout of Florida State defensive end Tank Carradine today. Reedy reports that Carradine ran a 4.75-second 40 time. Carradine suffered a torn ACL in November after a breakout senior campaign where he recorded 11 sacks, 80 tackles, and 13 tackles for loss.

Carradine met with the Falcons for a private workout on April 2 according to reports. Carradine, who’s first name is actually Cornellius, transferred to Florida State after two seasons at Butler Community College. His career at Butler came on the heels of current Falcon defensive end Jonathan Massaquoi, who spent two years at the Kansas-based community college (2007-08) before transferring to Troy in 2009. In his first season at Butler in 2009, Carradine recorded 90 tackles, 20 tackles for loss, and 10 sacks. He would earn All-American honors as a sophomore with 119 tackles, 29 for loss, 16 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, and 5 recoveries. His sack total led the nation among junior college players. He transferred to Florida State the following season where he served as a backup to Bjoern Werner and Brandon Jenkins. He had 38 tackles, 8 for loss, and 5.5 sacks. When Jenkins went down with a foot injury before the start of this most recent season, Carradine stepped into his spot at right defensive end. Carradine went down with his injury in the team’s final regular season game against the Florida Gators on November 24.

Recent reports suggest that Carradine is ahead of schedule on his rehab and is widely considered to be one of this draft’s premier pass rushers if not for the untimely event of his injury could have been a Top 15 pick. Carradine measured at 6-4, 273 pounds at today’s workout.

Atlanta’s FOX 5 News reports that Falcons safety William Moore was arrested Thursday in Fulton County on simple battery charges. Details of his arrest have yet to be disclosed. The Falcons issued a brief statement indicated their awareness of the situation and no further comment due to the legal nature of the matter.

Moore signed a brand new five-year deal worth nearly $30 million with the Falcons as a free agent in March. Moore is coming off his first Pro Bowl season, serving as an injury replacement for the NFC squad. Moore is coming off a season where he had a career-high 75 tackles, along with 4 interceptions, 2 forced fumbles, and a sack.

The league announced the 2013 regular season schedule tonight. The Falcons will open their season on the road against division rival New Orleans Saints on September 8, the first Sunday in the season. The following week the Falcons will get their home opener against the St. Louis Rams on September 15. The schedule features five primetime matchups (tied for most in the league), beginning with a home game in Week 4 against the New England Patriots on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. They will then follow that up with a Monday Night Football matchup on ESPN the ensuing week with another home game against the New York Jets on October 7. The Falcons bye week will be the following week.

After the Saints, the Falcons next NFC South divisional opponent follows their bye week with a home game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After that the Falcons begin an eight game series that will have the team at home for only three games. The Falcons next primetime game will come in Week 12 on October 21 at home on their Thursday Night game on NFL Network. The Falcons will go on the road to Lambeau Field to face the Green Bay Packers in Week 14 on December 8 on Sunday Night Football once more. The final primetime game will be against the team that ended the Falcons 2012 season in the NFC Championship. That game against the San Francisco 49ers will come in Week 16, December 23 on ESPN’s Monday Night Football. The Falcons will close out the regular season with a home game against the Carolina Panthers on December 29.

Five of the Falcons six divisional games will follow their Week 6 bye week. Four of the team’s first six games will be played at home in the Georgia Dome. The Falcons schedule also features two significant breaks. The first of which follows their Monday Night game against the Jets, due to the bye week, the Falcons next game won’t come until 13 days later. Following their Week 12 Thursday Nighter against the Saints, they will have the typical nine-day layoff until they go on the road against the Buffalo Bills. That game will be played in the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada.

Click here to see the rest of the Falcons 2013 schedule.

2013 Atlanta Falcons Schedule

Preseason
Week	Date	Opponent	Time	Result	Score	Stats
1	Aug. 8	Cincinnati	8:00
2	Aug. 15	at Baltimore	7:30
3	Aug. 24	at Tennessee	8:00
4	Aug. 29	Jacksonville	7:30
Regular Season
Week	Date	Opponent	Time	Result	Score	Stats
1	Sep. 8	at New Orleans	1:00
2	Sep. 15	St. Louis	1:00
3	Sep. 22	at Miami	4:05
4	Sep. 29	New England	8:30
5	Oct. 7	N.Y. Jets	8:40
6	Oct. 13	bye
7	Oct. 20	Tampa Bay	1:00
8	Oct. 27	at Arizona	4:25
9	Nov. 3	at Carolina	1:00
10	Nov. 10	Seattle	1:00
11	Nov. 17	at Tampa Bay	1:00
12	Nov. 21	New Orleans	8:20
13	Dec. 1	at Buffalo	4:05
14	Dec. 8	at Green Bay	8:30
15	Dec. 15	Washington	1:00
16	Dec. 23	at San Francisco	8:40
17	Dec. 29	Carolina	1:00

Stats are provided by NFL.com‘s Gamebooks, which are in PDF format. You can find a PDF reader here.

Click here to see the results of the Falcons 2012 Season.

The Falcons are picking thirtieth in the 2013 draft, and rumors continue to gain momentum that the team is looking to move up and get an earlier pick. D. Orlando Ledbetter of the AJC recently discussed the possibility of the Falcons moving up in the first round based off a year-old study of Falcons drafts under GM Thomas Dimitroff. Yesterday, SI.com’s Peter King and then today, CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora, cite sources that suggest the Falcons desires to trade up are real.

The Falcons last went through a blockbuster trade-up in the first round in 2011, where they moved up 21 spots to select wide receiver Julio Jones. The team sent their first round pick (27th overall), second and fourth round picks in the 2011 draft along with first and fourth round picks in the 2012 draft to Cleveland in exchange for the sixth overall selection. In 2012, the Falcons did not trade up in the draft, however they did move back seven spots in the third round via a trade with Baltimore.

La Canfora reports that the Falcons are eyeing either Oregon defensive end Dion Jordan or Alabama cornerback Dee Milliner, according to his sources. Both have been projected to be potential Top 5 picks in the majority of mock drafts.

Today during an hour-long press conference, Dimitroff indicated that the team was open to maneuvering in the draft, whether that mean moving up or down.

It’s now less than two weeks until the 2013 NFL Draft kicks off on Thursday night, April 25. In past years I would have for the top prospects in the draft. I have not done that this year. My job had me traveling a lot in the fall, so I didn’t watch as much college football as normal. Once the winter hit, and now that we’ve rolled into spring, I have a lesser workload but not by a huge margin. And since I typically do a poor job managing my time anyway, I did not get to make up for lost time as much as I would have liked.

So this year, there aren’t going to be many scouting reports on draft prospects. At least not before the draft. After the draft, I intend fully to dive into breaking down the players that the Falcons draft. Although again, because my workload is likely to be hectic that might take a month or so especially if the Falcons wind up making eleven picks.

But I do hope that in the next ten days that I will put a few scouting reports online of some of the players that the Falcons are potentially targeting in the early rounds of the draft. I really want to look at some cornerbacks as well as some pass rushers because I feel that these are the most likely players the Falcons will come away with in Round One.

We have five years of drafts under Thomas Dimitroff to gauge in order to try and guess who the Falcons are taking with their top pick this year. Frankly, that’s all it really is: educated guessing, because none of the many bloggers around the interweb that cover the Falcons really know what is going to happen.

To be honest, I’m not very good with guessing who the Falcons will take with their top pick. In 2008, I was split on Glenn Dorsey and Matt Ryan. That was understandable to a degree because it was Dimitroff and Mike Smith’s first draft, and their tendencies were unknown. In hindsight, it’s obvious why they ultimately chose Ryan but at the time it seemed like a toss-up. Mike Smith was a defensive coach, and Dorsey was widely hailed as the best interior pass rusher since Warren Sapp. And many weren’t high on Ryan. I can proudly thump my chest, and say I wasn’t one of them. I wrote this about Ryan in that 2008 draft guide:
Read more…

Updating a previous report, the Falcons will hold their pro day for local prospects tomorrow, Wednesday, April 10. D. Orlando Ledbetter of the AJC mentions several prospects that are confirmed to be working out for the team. Among them are defensive tackle T.J. Barnes (Georgia Tech), cornerbacks A.J. Bouye (Central Florida) and Branden Smith (Georgia), running backs David Carter (Morehouse) and Kenny Miles (South Carolina), offensive linemen Edmund Kugbila (Valdosta State) and Jamaal Johnson-Webb (Alabama A&M), and tight end Philip Lutzenkirchen (Auburn).

Most of the confirmed prospects and any others aren’t likely to be high picks. Among the confirmed players, Barnes figures to be the most likely to be taken in the draft. CBS Sports projects him as a fifth round pick and he is their 15th-ranked defensive tackle. The massive nose tackle (6-6, 369) did not start until his final season at Georgia Tech, where he posted career highs with 28 tackles, 5 for loss, 1.5 sacks, and 3 passes broken up.

Smith might also be in the mix for a late round pick, as he is the 37th ranked cornerback on CBS Sports. He impressed at Georgia’s pro day, clocking a 4.38 40 time. He started 25 games over the past three seasons, tallying 4 interceptions and 17 pass breakups in that span. He was arrested for possession of marijuana last spring. He was invited to the East-West Shrine game this past January, where he managed an interception, but also was beat for a touchdown.

Bouye is coming off his best season at Central Florida, recording 53 tackles, 3 interceptions and 11 pass breakups. He has a nice combination of size (6-0/186) and athleticism, clocking a 4.55-second 40 time and having 36.5-inch vertical jump at his pro day. He is the 66th ranked cornerback prospect by CBS Sports.

Carter likely will move to fullback given his size (5-9/229) and his slower speed (5.03 second 40 time). He earned conference player of the year as a junior after rushing for 1,495 yards and 19 touchdowns. A hamstring injury limited him as a senior, and his production fell to 841 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Miles led the Gamecocks in rushing as a redshirt freshman with 626 yards and a touchdown. He would serve as the backup the past three years behind Marcus Lattimore, but log 8 starts due to injury. As a senior with six of those starts, he finished the year with 104 carries for 359 yards (3.5 avg) and 2 touchdowns. He also caught 52 career passes. A smaller back at 5-8, 192 pounds, he clocked a 4.50 second 40 time at his pro day. He is the 40th ranked RB prospect at CBS Sports.

Kugbila was invited to February’s Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, where the 6-4, 317-pound guard ran a 5.31 second 40 time, bench pressed 225 pounds 23 times, and had a 22.5-inch vertical jump. He would improve on those numbers (5.13/24/26.5) at his pro day. He’s started the past two seasons at guard after beginning his career at tackle. The Ghanan native is the 26th ranked guard by CBS Sports.

Johnson-Webb was another Combine invitee where he measured in at 6-5, 313 pounds with nearly 36-inch arms. He began his career as a guard before moving to left tackle. At the Combine, he ran a 5.37 second 40 time, did 17 bench reps, and had a 23-inch vertical jump. He is graded as a guard by CBS Sports, where he is ranked 22nd on their list.

Lutzenkirchen entered the season fairly highly regarded as he was CBS Sports’ 8th ranked TE in their preseason rankings. But a hip injury sidelined him in October. In six games, he caught 15 passes for 139 yards (9.3 avg) and no touchdowns. That after two seasons where he was a valuable asset in the redzone, combining for 12 touchdowns on only 39 catches. His 14 career touchdown passes is currently the school record for tight ends. He was able to participate at the Combine, running a 4.94 40 time with 21 bench reps, 30.5-inch vertical. He doubled at times as a lead blocker and fullback showing his versatility. He is currently ranked 24th by CBS Sports among tight ends.

They say you can’t judge a draft until after three years. I would generally agree with that statement. It’s unfair to judge a draft until at least three seasons have gone by. But I really think you have to wait five years before it’s really an accurate judgment.

By that point, most if not all of a team’s original picks have finished their rookie contracts and hit free agency. And you can really determine the strength of a draft based on how many players lasted long enough to hit free agency, and how many of them managed to earn second contracts.

For grading drafts, I have come up with a fairly simple grading system that after five seasons assigns a grade of A, B, C, D, or F to every player drafted. I’ve added examples from the 2008 class.

A – An elite or near elite player. Mike Lombardi would call these “blue chip” players. For quarterbacks, it’s modified to players that are good franchise quarterbacks. Example: Matt Ryan, Ray Rice.

B – Mike Lombardi would call these “red chip” players. They are universally considered among the better players at their position and definite impact players. They are typically among the best players on their respective teams, and would be considered so on any team. Examples: Chris Long, Jamaal Charles.

C – Solid starters. Guys that are fairly entrenched as starters and could start on a significant percentage of NFL teams. Examples: Sam Baker, Cliff Avril.

D – Backups or low-level starters. They are role players or may be starters, but are widely considered to be very underwhelming starters: Examples: Felix Jones, Early Doucet.

F – These are players that are out of the league. Examples: Kentwan Balmer, Chevis Jackson

I try not to overemphasize their most recent performances, trying to look at a player’s five-year career as a hole.

So far I’ve looked at the 2007 and 2008 draft classes, looking at where they were at the end of 2011 and 2012 seasons, respectively. After this upcoming season we should be able to judge the 2009 class. Here’s how they stack up with number of players with each grade.

Grade	2007	2008	2009
A	5	6	1
B	10	10	9
C	46	40	55
D	80	90	108
F	114	106	83

It’ll be interesting to look at what the 2009 draft looks like after this season when we reach the five-year deadline. But it’s interesting that the 2007 and 2008 have very similar numbers. That simply could be a coincidence, but if we see the 2009 draft shift towards similar numbers, it would be hard to argue that is still merely a coincidence. And we could start to assume that in general drafts produce roughly the same amount of talent. What differs is not the overall talent brought into the league, but which teams do the best jobs finding that talent.

You could use this rating system to assign a Grade Point Average per team to judge how well they drafted by assigning four points for an A, three for a B, etc. For 2008, the Saints wound up with the highest GPA, averaging 1.50 points per pick. Carl Nicks was their A-level player, and Sedrick Ellis and Tracy Porter were C-level players. DeMario Pressley gave them credit for a D-level player as he was on injured reserve with the Bears this past year. Taylor Mehlhaff and Adrian Arrington were Fs. What’s interesting is that none of those players (assuming Ellis is not re-signed) are currently with the Saints.

If you’re curious to how the Falcons 2008 draft graded out, it placed 7th with a GPA of 1.18 points. Jacksonville had the worst draft with a GPA of 0.20. The only player that did not receive a F grade among the Jaguars five picks that year was Quentin Groves, who was a backup with the Cardinals last year before signing with the Browns last month. Read more…

Adam Caplan of The Sideline View reported last week that the Falcons were scheduled to visit with Clemson defensive Malliciah Goodman, while Tony Pauline of TFY Draft Insider said that his former teammate and center Dalton Freeman visited with the team this past week.

Goodman is coming off his best season at Clemson, recording 7 sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss. He certainly has excellent NFL measurables, standing 6-4 and 276 pounds at the Combine, with arms that measure over 36 inches and 11-inch hands. He did 26 bench reps at the Combine with a 4.87 second 40 time and 31.5-inch vertical jump. He is projected by CBS Sports to be a third round pick.

Freeman measures in at 6-5, 291 pounds and is a rising prospect that is getting late round grades. He is a four-year starter that was not invited to the Combine, but made up for it with a strong performance at Clemson’s pro day last month. He ran a 4.91 second 40 time, benched 225 pounds 34 times, and recorded a 34-inch vertical jump.

Matt Fortuna of ESPN reports Notre Dame safety Jamoris Slaughter is likely to be a candidate to work out at the Falcons local pro day this month. Aaron Wilson of Scout.com reports that fellow Golden Domer Zeke Motta had a visit with the Falcons this past week.

Slaughter a native of Stone Mountain, GA will be allowed to work out with prospects from nearby high schools and colleges at the Falcons facility. An exact date for the Falcons local pro day is not known, but in past years has been scheduled a few weeks before the draft. Slaughter missed nearly all of this past season with a torn Achilles tendon. In 2011, he had 45 tackles, 4 for loss, 1 interception, and 3 pass breakups. He is unlikely to be drafted given his injury, but could be a nice pickup as an undrafted player if his rehab continues to progress.

Motta could be looked as a late-round pick for a team. He has good size (6-2, 213) with run-stopping ability. While he did not pick off a pass this season, he did have 77 tackles which ranked second on their team behind Manti Te’o. He could potentially carve out a role on special teams in Atlanta.