The Falcons dealt with injuries at several positions during the 2018 season and those injuries helped color the team’s approach to the offseason.
Both of the team’s starting guards were lost for the year, which led to both an underwhelming performance by the offensive line and a need to address the unit once they hit free agency in March. The team signed guards Jamon Brown, James Carpenter and Adam Gettis before selecting guard Chris Lindstrom and tackle Kaleb McGary in the first round of the draft.
General Manager Thomas Dimitroff said the quantity of moves at the position was designed to make sure nothing like last year ever happened again.
“I personally felt I would never put this team in that situation again where, God forbid, we had injuries [and] that we were limited in overall depth at the position, especially interior,” Dimitroff said, via the team’s website. “That we were going to make sure we had a rotation there that was going to be legitimate and accomplished.”
The Falcons went to the playoffs while winning at least 10 games in 2016 and 2017. Better health would be the quickest way back to that kind of success, but better depth in the event of injuries is a decent backup plan.
