Veteran Atlanta radio personality John Kincade trusts the Falcons leadership — something he hasn’t always done with teams in the market.
Speaking at the Hacks vs. Jocks golf outing Tuesday morning Kincade, who can be heard on AM 680 the Fan and ESPN Radio (Sunday mornings) thinks the Falcons can contend in the NFC and are at a point where third-year General Manager Thomas Dimitroff can take a few chances in the NFL Draft.
The Falcons hold the No. 19 pick in the draft, which kicks off a week from Thursday.
“I’m thinking Thomas Dimitroff has something up his sleeve… I’m thinking he may be targeting someone higher than the 19th pick, which may mean a move up in the draft or considering a move backwards,” Kincade said.
Atlanta is coming off a 9-7 finish and a playoff spot in 2008. The team doesn’t have a second-round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft thanks to a pre-draft trade to acquire All-Pro tight end Tony Gonzalez last year.
“(Dimitroff has) shown he’s always thinking,” Kincade said. “He’s always shown he’s looking at what other teams are doing and trying to react…
“Moving back to me is the better option because of the fact there is such value. Second- and third-round picks this year may be better than we’ve seen in a long time.”
Kincade said the Falcons should take a look at defensive end in the draft because “getting the quarterback on his back” will help a secondary that finished 28th in the league in 2009. He likes the talent at cornerback and believes a pass rush will help improve their play.
It’s a targeted evaluation many wouldn’t expect from Kincade just two seasons ago.
But now the Falcons are moving in the right direction.
“I have never believed in the leadership of an Atlanta franchise — except the Braves — more than I believe in what’s going on in Flowery Branch right now,” he said.
17 Comments
Buc and Kincaid are my “ID-JUT’s” who I listen to daily. Kincaid’s an Eagles fan as we all know but this is not the first time he’s said something surprisingly flattering about the Falcons. Did you hear him sound off on the Thrashers on Monday?
Exactly right……TRADE DOWN, TRADE DOWN. Virtually all of the scouts and analysts agree, this is one of the strongest drafts in a very long time and the second round is especially strong. The Falcons could trade down out of their 19th pick and get a late first and third or 2 seconds. Check the trade value chart……it works. They could pick up 2 quality players at areas of need (OLB, DE, or OL) who could impact the team immediately and this would also spread the risk over 2 players instead of one. The Falcons are working out a very large number of guys slotted for the late first round and second rounds, so this could be a possibility.
Trading up would be a huge mistake. Too much risk on just one player. You have already given up your second (bad mistake……for a guy who will only be with you for one or 2 more seasons and is no longer the elite TE he once was). Why would you give up a third or more to move up a few spots? If this player bombs, you have lost much of this years draft……in one of the best years ever. HUGE mistake. I hope the Falcons are not so foolish. Trade down and fill 2 needs with quality players in the late first, or second rounds.
John is right for the first time. The Falcons will be an elite team with the great leadership from the top.
I am still very much of the opinion that the first pick of the NFL Draft this year should be the WLB as opposed to a defensive end! As starting linebackers of note, we only have Curtis Lofton and Stephen Nicholas. If we don’t address the WLB position, this would be the third consecutive season that we have not even selected a linebacker of note (high pick)! I thought that last year we would have at least drafter one of the linebackers in that rich draft, even if we had only drafted one of them. I will never get over the fact that we drafted JA98 in the first round the year prior, and missed out on drafting Patrick Willis (and we all know how that turned out)! This year, we have to find a way to draft Sean Weatherspoon at 19, and find a way to secure a 2nd round pick and draft Jerry Hughes as our DE.
he is right i think if we pick up a good DE like jason pierre-paul a big [ass rush guy our dB s will have a better season..but i think we our the team to beat this year anyways we r gonna dominate our division..FALCONS ITS SUPERBOWL YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m really wanting some feed back from falcons fans.Since I know other alt.fans…..I feel like many rookie DE do not make a instant impact on defense and since our pick of De could be the 4th taken the odds of a game changer seems slight!As to a OLB I feel that we need to get a guy for the future/back up and hope the old man still has some gas in the tank.I would be happy with either choise though!What I would like to see go’s againt the main stream…I would firt like to see atlanta get eitherM.Pouncy OG/C or M.Lupati OG to strenthn the run game or a WR to compete with jenkins
Lets try and deal for teddy ginn, by trading JA 98. or Jenkins?, what do yinz think?
Why did you censor my comments? There was nothing objectionable in my response. What a phony you are……you don’t like an opinion so you don’t allow it to be shared……………just part of the Obama era we are living in, I guess.
We hitched our wagon to Matt Ryan. He missed time in 3 (?) games last year due to injury. THAT CANNOT EVER HAPPEN AGAIN. The Falcons MUST invest draft picks into OFFENSIVE LINEMAN. I don’t care about the defense right now. All I care about is keeping Matt Ryan standing upright in the pocket and as clean as possible!!! He must have the BEST PROTECTION POSSIBLE in front of him and around him AT ALL TIMES. This will also help Michael Turner, Norwood, as well as Roddy, Jenkins and Gonzalez. Protecting the 72 MILLION DOLLAR FRANCHISE QB HAS TO BE THE FALCONS’ NUMBER ONE PRIORITY.
I FEEL WE NEED A DE AND LB THEN THE DEFENCE IS SET. THE REST OF DRAFT SHOULD BE ABOUT OFENCE. WHAT ABOUT THE CENTER THAT PLAYED WITH MATT? WOULD HE BE THERE IN THE THIRD?
i realy think that the falcons should draft spoon in the first then trade our 2 3rd round picks with probable ummm Buc’s and draft Everson Griffen from USC DE and fro our 4th round we should put more depht in our secondary cause you could never be to shore of they cause they haven’t even prove themselves yet 5th round go after a center and for our to 6th round spots LB and trade the other one for money!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thats wat i think(good idea ummm)
Pick a OLB with the 19th pick.
That takes care 1 of our needs and then on we can draft for depth with the rest of out picks.
We can pick up a DE in FA….I think Alex Brown from Chi is still out there. At least I think
He had 7.5 sacks and 2 fum
move back a few spots and pick up a second round pick to that way they can address every need or at least try
VINNY D it’s just me and you wanting O-linemen…Keep the KID safe give a little more time to throw& let the running backs punish other defense’s
The Falcons are clearly headed in the right direction and moving back, to pick up additional picks, makes sense. GM Thomas Dimitroff and Coach Smith are in their third year together and clearly have a plan and are implementing their plan. The Falcons will be serious contenders in the NFC this year and barring injuries, it will be a fun year to be a Falcon fan. GO BIRDS!!!
Saddle up partners.We need to get a DE–sorta like the vikings.Because thats the team to beat to get to the super bowl.They has a pass rushing attack that is awesome.Pick 1st in the draft –one awesome pass rusher –that will mack Abraham a more of a free pass rusher.We get that guy & we are in business.I guess Hayneworth is too much money & a troubled player,because few of you fans Have expressed interest.That’s all we need is another Vick problem.What about Taylor from Miami?He’s fast like Abraham–?Then go get a smash mouth lb–like weatherspoon.You can’t get weatherspoon if you don’t get a DE in Free agentcy.Trading down sounds like your trying to rebuild ? Nobody rebuilds–it’s a right now game.We need to do this next season –while we have Gonzaleze at TE. I was impressed that this team had back to back winning seasons !! So this is the team—HELLO!!
well who ever gets jason pierre-paul is gonna have a very good pass rusher…