Freddie Falcon
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- Mar 16, 2019
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Matt Ryan‘s already feeling more comfortable, which is something he rarely was last year.
The Falcons signed a pair of guards in free agency, and then used two first-round picks on offensive linemen, giving their quarterback what they hope is a better grade of protection this season. He was sacked 42 times last year, the second-highest total of his career.
“He texted me, and actually, he just said, ‘Thanks, I appreciate that a lot, wow,'” Falcons General Manager Thomas Dimitroff said, via Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com.
“Make no mistake about it: We knew what we needed to do this offseason and that was to continue to fortify that line and make sure that we were protecting Matt. And we weren’t going to run into what we ran into last year.”
The Falcons used the 14th pick on Boston College guard Chris Lindstrom, and then traded up to the 31st spot to take Washington right tackle Kaleb McGary. If they win starting jobs, they’d join left tackle Jake Matthews, center Alex Mack, and guard James Carpenter in an all-first-rounder line.
Carpenter and Jamon Brown were picked up in free agency.
The Falcons needed the influx of talent. They used six different combinations of starting linemen last year, and five guys who started games for them are gone this offseason (Ryan Schraeder, Andy Levitre, Zane Beadles, Brandon Fusco, and Ben Garland).