Falcons rookies improving in the trenches

The Falcons have needed better play in the trenches for years, and Arthur Blank hired the people he thought could improve that specific area. Arthur Smith is a former offensive lineman, and Terry Fontenot came from an organization with excellent trench play.

Free agency netted few solutions to the team’s need of big men; after all, Fontenot had pennies to spend in the market. The staff brought in Josh Andrews, Matt Gono, Jason Spriggs, Jonathan Bullard, Jacob Tuioti-Mariner, and Steven Means. Not a very encouraging group, if you ask me. Still, there were offensive and defensive linemen joining the team as rookies through the draft. Fontenot decided to spend three middle-to-late round picks on the trenches.

• Round 3, pick 68 – Jalen Mayfield, OT, Michigan
• Round 5, pick 148 – Ta’Quon Graham, DT, Texas 
• Round 5, pick 182 – Adetokunbo Ogundeji, DE, Notre Dame

The group of rookies have played at different rates but are all at similar points in their respective careers in terms of development. Graham and Ogundeji know how to use their length in the run game; the staff has steadily increased each rookie’s snap count over these first three weeks. Graham was left off the active roster in the season opener but has played well in limited snaps over the past two weeks, forcing the staff to keep John Cominsky a healthy scratch in back-to-back games.

Ogundeji has been the team’s third-leading edge defender in terms of snaps, and he’s held up well. So much so, I believe he should continue to chip away at Steven Means’ snaps. Dean Pees obviously trusts the veteran, but he’s a complete liability when defending the run. Pees also asks his outside linebackers to drop into coverage every so often, and Means looks like a fish out of water in these situations. His pass rush arsenal is clearly more advanced than the rookie, but he isn’t head and shoulders better than Ogundeji.

It is encouraging to see the two defensive linemen impress early when many expected them not to contribute much at all. However, the highest of the three draft picks has been the most fascinating to follow because he has been on the field for most of the offensive snaps thus far.

To say his NFL debut went poorly is an understatement. Mayfield was totally uncomfortable, and the Eagles interior defenders took advantage — pressuring Matt Ryan eight times, hurrying him four times, and sacking the less-than-mobile Ryan twice on Mayfield alone. He was regarded as the worst offensive lineman in Week 1.

I have to defend Mayfield, though. The Falcons gave him essentially zero snaps at left guard with the first team this offseason because the approach was clearly to start Josh Andrews. Mayfield not only got minimal preparation time, but he also played a completely different position than he did in college. Also, the competition — Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, Vita Vea, William Gholston, and Ndamukong Suh — was some of the best the NFL has to offer. Switching from right tackle to left guard cannot be easy under these circumstances.

Against the Buccaneers in Week 2, Mayfield struggled, but he was undoubtedly better than in Week 1. He took another step in this past Sunday’s matchup against the Giants. Though he faced Leonard Williams on only a few occasions, Mayfield was lightyears better in Week 3 than the previous two. He wasn’t just surviving; he was playing some really good football.