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Last offseason, the Atlanta Falcons scored a pair of lucrative free agent pickups in center Alex Mack and wide receiver Mohamed Sanu, both of whom proved worthwhile additions to their respective positions in the team's run to the Super Bowl.
This offseason, the franchise believes they've made another, signing former Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Dontari Poe to a one-year contract worth $8 million.
What did Atlanta get? Most of all, someone with a lot of good play behind him. The 26-year-old enjoyed breakout campaigns in 2013 and '14, grabbing more than 40 tackles in each and a total of 10.5 sacks, fairly good numbers for an interior rusher. His immense stature (6-foot-3, about 340 pounds) was a tremendous aid in the middle for the Chiefs in building an athletic pass rush on either side of him.
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Poe's productivity has taken a hit in each of the last few seasons, however. Though twice named to the Pro Bowl in the last three years, Poe recorded a career-low 27 tackles in 2016 with Kansas City, and since the start of 2015 has logged a mere 2.5 sacks. Last season, Poe was featured on 876 defensive snaps, the seventh-most among interior D-linemen, compared with Grady Jarrett, Atlanta's most-used middle tackle (762).
That overuse has taken its toll. Poe had surgery on a herniated disk in his back two years ago this month, with the thought among experts being that the procedure would have a long-term effect on his play. Judging by the numbers, it appears they were correct.
Ideally, Falcons coaches would prefer for Poe to relive his glory days, when he piled up tackles and sacks, but the more likely scenario is that he'll serve a higher purpose for the team off the stat sheet. At all times during his career, injured or not, Poe has routinely attracted double- and triple-teams in the middle.
That's an advantage Atlanta would like to profit from: by occupying at least two opposing blockers on most plays, that affords their athletic rushers (Beasley and Jones, and now McKinley and Riley) more room to adequately rush the pass with more favorable one-on-one matchups against undersized reserve blockers.
"He just said he's going to let me play ball," Poe told ESPN of head coach Dan Quinn's plans for him this season. "He watched film of me and he saw the ability that I had. He just thought I could be a dominant player, so he's just going to let me play."
Already this offseason, Quinn has complimented Poe's "football intelligence" and said he hopes to use the player regularly in a four-man rush.
Was Poe worth signing? Ultimately, yes. The Falcons' investment is modest enough that should he not work out, the team would not suffer too greatly. Consequently, he gives them an important upside. Any good play he gives them comes at a bargain. His mere presence should be enough to suppress opponents' running the ball, last season an area of weakness for Atlanta, a team that allowed 4.5 yards per rush (the league's fourth-most) and surrendered 15 touchdowns on the ground in total.
