Dee Alford should never see the field again for the Falcons

The Falcons season most likely came to an end on Sunday night against the Commanders, a game that will long be remembered for Raheem Morris’ abysmal clock management.

However, the Falcons head coach is far from the only person responsible for the loss. Cornerback Dee Alford was picked on early and often, allowing Olamide Zaccheaus to have a career game and giving up the game-winning touchdown to Zach Ertz. The Falcons nickel corner finished the game with the second-lowest grade of any player in the loss, with a putrid 33.3 mark, per Pro Football Focus, which was by far the worst of any starter.

Bottom 5 Defensive Players per #PFF Week 17

1.DeAngelo Malone(24.7)
2.Dee Alford(33.3)
3.Justin Simmons(45.8)
4.Matthew Judon(51.0)
5.Eddie Goldman(51.2)

— BroTalk (8-8) (@BKsquared7) December 30, 2024

Dee Alford was a nice story for a while in Atlanta. He was signed to a futures contract ahead of the 2022 season after being named an All-Star in the Canadian Football League. Alford went onto make the team out of camp and slowly worked his way into a starting role. For a while, he performed admirably, even making some game-changing plays, but he’s been the guy every offense has targeted this season.

According to Joe Patrick of 92.9 The Game, Alford has been targeted a remarkable 20% of the time over 466 coverage snaps. Comparatively, A.J. Terrell has been targeted just 10% of the time, while Mike Hughes has been targeted 13% of the time when in coverage.

Dee Alford has been targeted 95 times this year on 466 coverage snaps (20%).

That compares to…

AJ Terrell 62 targets on 630 cov snaps (10%).

Mike Hughes’ 57 target on 449 cov snaps (13%).

Other Falcons nickels:

Clark Phillips targeted 35 times on 216 snaps (16%).

Kevin…

— Joe Patrick (@japatrick200) December 30, 2024

 

Alford’s 52.0 coverage grade from Pro Football Focus ranks 169th out of 219 qualified cornerbacks, a grade that continues to spiral with each passing week. What happens in Week 18 likely won’t have any bearing on the Falcons postseason standing. For Atlanta to even have a shot at the playoffs, they’ll need the Bucs to fall to the Saints, who are two touchdown underdogs.

The Falcons should go ahead and get a deeper look at what they have behind Dee Alford and then re-evaluate the nickel position in the offseason, a spot that has cost them on more than a few instances this season.

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Photographer: John Adams/Icon Sportswire