What is the story with the Falcon's Mike Johnson?

[AHF]

He was inactive all season after being our 3rd round pick. Was he injured; does he have a future, etc.? As we look to the draft, I am curious if anyone knows whether this guy is part of our future or a bust.

[coachx]

He was inactive all season after being our 3rd round pick. Was he injured; does he have a future, etc.? As we look to the draft, I am curious if anyone knows whether this guy is part of our future or a bust.

I don't think he was injured. The Falcons had a pretty solid and healthy O-Line last year so the fact that he was inactive as a rookie does not worry me too much. He was basically a 4th round pick. I think we used the last "compensatory pick" in the 3rd round on MJ. Our true 3rd round selection went to Peters. Who earned a starting spot over last years 1st round Jerry.

This off season will speak volumes of how the organization feels about Mike Johnson and Joe Hawley. Johnson played all 5 positions at Alabama and was 4 year starter there. He should at least be a good back up.

Both Dahl and Clabo are free agents. If the Falcons let Dahl walk in free agency it would show confidence in MJ to take over......too bad we will not fond that out until AFTER the draft.

This year's draft will be so different from past years. Normally teams have already made their major free agent decisions BEFORE the draft. That makes drafting for need much easier. That will be impossible this year with no CBA probable. Teams will be drafting without knowing if they can land a big fish in free agency and without knowing if they lose some of their own free agents to other teams.

This will cause free agent bidding to be even more fierce since teams will not have the draft to fall back on as a safety net to fill holes incase they strike out on their main free agent targets. Without that safety net there will be panic when there are only 2 players at a given position with 5 teams bidding for their services without the draft safety net to fall back on.

Edited January 31, 2011 by coachx