The Atlanta Falcons have been making noise over the last 24 hours by acquiring a pair of key players to bolster their defense.
On Thursday, they sent a 2025 third-round pick to the New England Patriots for one of the NFL’s premier pass rushers in defensive end Matthew Judon.
In a post to his Instagram account, Judon said, “Thank you for everything, New England. Atlanta, we ready.”
It’s been nearly a decade since the Falcons had a pass rusher record double-digit sacks in a season (Vic Beasley in 2016). Now they have Judon, who had 12.5 sacks for the Patriots in 2021 and 15.5 in 2022.
The 32-year-old Judon was limited to four games last year when he had 13 tackles, nine QB hits, five tackles for loss and four sacks. In 2021, he recorded 60 tackles, 25 QB hits, 14 TFL’s, one fumble recovery and one pass broken up.
In 2022, Judon produced 60 tackles, 28 QB hits, 14 TFL’s, three PBU, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. He garnered his fourth Pro-Bowl selection in a row as well.
Judon was taken in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens. He spent his first five seasons in Baltimore, cracking the starting lineup in 12 of 16 games during his second year with the club.
In 2017, Judon contributed 61 tackles, 19 QB hits, 17 TFL’s, eight sacks, three PBU, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. He had another solid season in 2018, racking up 44 tackles, 20 QB hits, 10 TFL’s, seven sacks, three PBU and one forced fumble.
Judon earned his first Pro-Bowl selection in 2019 when he produced 54 tackles, 33 QB hits, 14 TFL’s, 9.5 sacks and four forced fumbles. In 2020, he recorded 50 tackles, 21 QB hits, nine TFL’s, six sacks and two PBU.
Judon played in four postseason games for Baltimore from 2018-2020, contributing 13 tackles, seven QB hits, three TFL’s, one sack and one forced fumble.
Judon has started 82 times in 114 career regular-season games during his eight NFL seasons. He has 369 career tackles, 165 QB hits, 87 TFL’s, 66.5 sacks, 14 PBU, nine forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries.
According to multiple reports, Atlanta is working on getting a long-term contract with Judon signed before the start of the season. The Grand Valley St. product has one year remaining on his current deal that he signed for $56 million over four years back in March of 2021.
“You get a guy with the ability to come in here and be a game wrecker for you right now, you figure out those things,” Atlanta first-year head coach Raheem Morris told reporters Thursday. “I have one real key factor. We did that out in L.A. with Von [Miller]. Got him middle season doing a trade, he was able to come in [and] turn into a game wrecker. I got a chance to see playoff Von. Got a ring because of it. Got a lot of success.”
Atlanta’s front office came under heavy fire during the 2024 NFL Draft. Zero defensive players were taken with the first seven picks, giving the Falcons the option of taking the best pass rusher on the board with their #8 overall pick.
Instead, just six weeks after committing $100 million in guaranteed money to quarterback Kirk Cousins over the next two years, GM Terry Fontenot selected QB Michael Penix Jr. out of the University of Washington. Fontenot tried to address the team’s pass-rushing needs in the third round by selecting edge rusher Bralen Trice. However, the University of Washington product went down with a season-ending knee injury in Atlanta’s preseason opener last weekend.
The Falcons also saw safety DeMarcco Hellams go down with an ankle injury in South Florida last week. Hellams is expected to be out for a “significant amount of time.”
With a pressing need in the secondary, Atlanta signed veteran free agent safety Justin Simmons to a one-year deal worth $8 million on Thursday. The 30-year-old Simmons spent his first eight NFL seasons with the Denver Broncos, who released him in March in a cost-cutting move.
Since going to Denver as a third-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, Simmons has more interceptions (30) than any other NFL player. He was a Pro-Bowl selection in 2020 and 2023. The Associated Press has named Simmons as a second-team All-Pro four times (2019 and 2021-23).
In 15 games for the Broncos last year, Simmons had 70 tackles, eight PBU, three interceptions, two TFL’s, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and one sack. In 2022, he led the NFL in interceptions with six and was sixth in forced fumbles with three.
Simmons has started 108 times in 118 regular-season games, producing 604 career tackles, 64 PBU, 30 interceptions (for 442 return yards and one TD), 19 TFL’s, five forced fumbles, five QB hits, 4.5 sacks and three fumble recoveries.
For the last several months, most books have had the Falcons listed at around -120 to -125 odds to win the NFC South. As of this morning, FanDuel had Atlanta at -135, while DraftKings had it at -130.
FanDuel has Atlanta with a season win total of 9.5 (‘over’ -142, ‘under’ +116). The betting shop has the Falcons with 26/1 odds to win Super Bowl LIX.