Last year, Terry Fontenot finally had the cap space to participate in free agency freely and brought aboard three defenders in Jessie Bates, Kaden Elliss, and David Onyemata.
They were met with polarizing reactions, but the Falcons were rewarded with an All-Pro campaign from Bates and two very good seasons from the other two.
This year brought about similar reactions. The Falcons gave Kirk Cousins $180 million and Darnell Mooney $39 million. Both deals have been criticized, and there are some fair points out there as to why the Falcons might have overpaid.
Cousins is 36 years old, coming off an Achilles injury and has never had much success in the postseason. In that same breath, Mooney is coming off campaigns in 2022 and 2023 where he failed to put up more than 500 yards of receiving.
However, it’s neither of those that made Ryan Fowler of Bleacher Report’s list of the worst free agent signings of the 2024 offseason. No, that honor goes to… Charlie Woerner???
Charlie Woerner is by no means a signing that will sway the pendulum of Atlanta’s offensive success. However, with three selections in the third and fourth rounds in this year’s NFL draft, GM Terry Fontenot could have opted to add fresh, more dynamic legs in space to play opposite of Kyle Pitts.
While Woerner remained one of the premier in-line blockers available on the market, the days of the run-heavy attack under Arthur Smith are long gone. Now, it’s not to say newly hired OC Zac Robinson won’t feed the likes of Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier, but Atlanta paid QB Kirk Cousins handsomely for a reason, and waiting to add spry legs at tight end via the draft could have further expanded the playbook.
Woerner has just three catches in the last two seasons and has yet to reach the end zone since he entered the league in 2020.
Terms of deal: Three years, $12M
When you have a tight end like Kyle Pitts on his rookie contract, I think it’ll be okay if the Falcons pay a blocking-first tight end *checks notes* $4 million per season.
I’m not even going to argue with this guy. I just had to point it out to you all. Bless this man’s heart for finding this deal in the depths of the league’s transaction wire.
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