A recent ESPN article by Pat Yasinskas suggests that Alge Crumpler may be staying in the South Division of the NFC and heading to the Carolina Panthers. Crumpler has allegedly expressed interest in playing for the Panthers in the past and who couldn’t use an All Star tight end? It is a landing spot for the Falcons that could hurt them more than it already is. What is even worse than just losing him is if he heads to a team we have to play twice a year.
I’m not exactly ready to attack the new administration in Atlanta but it seems hard to defend these early moves. Especially if the team ends up cutting Warrick Dunn, you’ve gotten rid of 3 players who have done a lot for this team in the past handful of years. I know it’s important to start anew and to establish power, but teams have, or should have, a responsibility to take care of the players who have been good to them. Crumpler has been a Pro Bowl tight end and Rod Coleman has been a Pro Bowl defensive lineman for the Atanta Falcons and it is hard to understand why you would cut players like that unless for some reason they were extremely detrimental to the team. If that is the case, then I have no basis to be angry right now. I don’t know the whole story, but I do know what they have done for this team.
Now Crumpler has been outspoken at times in the past, and there is a chance he was being a problem in and out of the locker room. I’ve always been a Coleman fan, so I may have forgotten times when he was trouble too. I am glad to see Leftwich go, because that was just a waste of money and it’s good to see the team won’t be wasting any more losses on him. I was afraid because a former Jacksonville man came in he was going to want to build around Leftwich, but maybe Smith wasn’t very impressed with him while they were together the first time around. He was my favorite name off the list, no offense to him but I’m glad to see him go.
So the question is where does Atlanta turn now? What are the big moves coming in free agency? There is a little money to work with now that some cap space has opened up, and the team could know their draft position as early as Friday. As of now, the possibilities are even more numerous than they previously were, and this is a team ready to start taking steps in the right direction. The decisions made in the next few months could definitely define this franchise for the next 5 years or more.
Coaches keep coming in and players keep going out. Pretty soon this team will have to bring some players in to turn things around. I’m excited to see what happens but honestly some recent moves have made me a little hesitant as well.