{"id":3828,"date":"2012-01-22T08:31:50","date_gmt":"2012-01-22T12:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/?p=3828"},"modified":"2012-01-22T08:34:26","modified_gmt":"2012-01-22T12:34:26","slug":"falcons-news-stay-4-3%e2%80%99ish-what-about-turner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/2012\/01\/22\/falcons-news-stay-4-3%e2%80%99ish-what-about-turner\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcons Stay 4-3\u2019ish.  What About Turner?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As I wrote when the hiring of <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.ajc.com\/atlanta-falcons-fans\/2012\/01\/16\/falcons-fans-shocked-by-dirk-koetter-hire\/\" onclick=\"__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/blogs.ajc.com\/atlanta-falcons-fans\/2012\/01\/16\/falcons-fans-shocked-by-dirk-koetter-hire\/', 'OC Dirk Koetter');\" target=\"_blank\">OC Dirk Koetter<\/a> was announced, he was not exactly an inspiring choice.  The same cannot be said for new <a href=\"http:\/\/espn.go.com\/blog\/nfcsouth\/post\/_\/id\/30570\/falcons-land-mike-nolan-as-dc\" onclick=\"__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/espn.go.com\/blog\/nfcsouth\/post\/_\/id\/30570\/falcons-land-mike-nolan-as-dc', 'DC Mike Nolan');\" target=\"_blank\">DC Mike Nolan<\/a>.  As a longtime <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tom_Landry\" onclick=\"__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tom_Landry', 'Tom Landry');\" target=\"_blank\">Tom Landry<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-central.org\/sports\/2005\/04\/12\/the_nfl_coaching_tree.php\" onclick=\"__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.sports-central.org\/sports\/2005\/04\/12\/the_nfl_coaching_tree.php', 'Dan Reeves');\" target=\"_blank\">Dan Reeves<\/a> fan, I think Mike Nolan is going to be a good fit.<\/p>\n<p>Nolan faces three major problems, listed in no particular order.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kffl.com\/static\/nfl\/features\/freeagents\/fa.php?option=By+Team&y=2012\" onclick=\"__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.kffl.com\/static\/nfl\/features\/freeagents\/fa.php?option=By+Team&amp;y=2012', 'Key free agents');\" target=\"_blank\">Key free agents<\/a> \u2013 John Abraham, Curtis Lofton, Brent Grimes, Thomas DeCoud.<\/li>\n<li>Poor secondary play.<\/li>\n<li>Abysmal pass rush.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Normally you would build via the draft, but without a 1st round pick, the Falcons cannot look to rebuild the defensive line or shore up the secondary.  The front office can look to build via free agency, but the Falcons cannot afford to overpay (see Dunta Robinson and Ray Edwards).<\/p>\n<p>Should be interesting to see how this turns out, but we will not know the full picture until after the pre training camp salary cap casualties.  Yes, the draft will carry a lot of weight as GM Thomas Dimitroff looks to add value picks, but expect the Falcons to plug in a few gaps via salary cap pick-ups.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The Future of Turner<\/span><br \/>\nUnder the topic of lack of draft picks and salary cap casualties, look for Michael Turner.  Speculation is growing that Turner could be shopped or even dropped.  It is true that Turner is hitting the magical train wreck for HB known as being 30.<\/p>\n<p>One key point in the Turner discussion that seems to be missing is that losing Ovie Mughelli impacted the Falcons ability (inability) to run effectively.  Not to mention poor offensive line play.<\/p>\n<p>The AJC\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.ajc.com\/jeff-schultz-blog\/2012\/01\/19\/falcons-question-no-1-should-michael-turner-be-kept\/\" onclick=\"__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/blogs.ajc.com\/jeff-schultz-blog\/2012\/01\/19\/falcons-question-no-1-should-michael-turner-be-kept\/', 'Jeff Schultz');\" target=\"_blank\">Jeff Schultz<\/a> points out that Turner has a significant cap hit that cannot be overlooked:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Turner is scheduled to make $5 million in salary next season, but has a cap hit of $7.5 million (factoring $2.5 million for his original signing bonus).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>True enough and Schultz didn\u2019t weigh in a strong opinion for keeping or moving (or dropping) Turner.<\/p>\n<p>ESPN\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/espn.go.com\/blog\/nfcsouth\/post\/_\/id\/30645\/pondering-michael-turners-future\" onclick=\"__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/espn.go.com\/blog\/nfcsouth\/post\/_\/id\/30645\/pondering-michael-turners-future', 'Pat Yasinskas');\" target=\"_blank\">Pat Yasinskas<\/a> points out that it is unlikely that ATL will get much return (in the way of draft pick compensation) for the aging Turner:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>If they went this route, you\u2019d like to see the Falcons get a nice draft pick in return. But, for all the reasons we covered above, I\u2019d have a tough time seeing another team give up an early draft pick for an aging running back. At best, the Falcons might be able to get a middle- or late-round pick for Turner. That team also would have to pick up a contract that would pay Turner $5 million in 2012 and $5.5 million in 2013, so I\u2019d say a late-round pick is a more likely scenario.<\/p>\n<p>Simply cutting Turner isn\u2019t totally out of the question. He\u2019s scheduled to count $7 million against the 2012 salary cap. But I just checked the specifics of his contract. The Falcons would take a $4 million cap hit if they cut Turner. But they\u2019d also free up $3 million in cap space.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I don\u2019t think it is realistic to talk about moving Turner until there is some decision made on Jason Snelling (also a Free Agent).  If the Falcons resign Snelling, I think that will point to a Turner move (one way or the other).  Of course they resigned Snelling last year, so I could be totally off base.<\/p>\n<p>I just don\u2019t see the Falcons getting anything in return for Turner, and it would be disappointing if they just dropped him, but freeing up $3 million in cap space may allow the Falcons to push for more pressing needs.<\/p>\n<div class=\"addtoany_share_save_container addtoany_content_bottom\"><div class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_ addtoany_list a2a_target\" id=\"wpa2a_1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/share\" onclick=\"__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/share', '');\" class=\"a2a_dd addtoany_share_save\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-content\/plugins\/add-to-any\/share_save_171_16.png\" width=\"171\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\nif(wpa2a)wpa2a.script_load();\n\/\/--><\/script>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As I wrote when the hiring of OC Dirk Koetter was announced, he was not exactly an inspiring choice. The same cannot be said for new DC Mike Nolan. As a longtime Tom Landry and Dan Reeves fan, I think Mike Nolan is going to be a good fit. Nolan faces three major problems, listed &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/2012\/01\/22\/falcons-news-stay-4-3%e2%80%99ish-what-about-turner\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Falcons Stay 4-3\u2019ish.  What About Turner?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"addtoany_share_save_container addtoany_content_bottom\"><div class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_ addtoany_list a2a_target\" id=\"wpa2a_2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/share\" onclick=\"__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'https:\/\/www.addtoany.com\/share', '');\" class=\"a2a_dd addtoany_share_save\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-content\/plugins\/add-to-any\/share_save_171_16.png\" width=\"171\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12,29],"class_list":["post-3828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3828"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3831,"href":"https:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3828\/revisions\/3831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}