Where Do 'Rebuilding' Falcons Stand in Power Rankings? - PFF

Despite general manager Terry Fontenot stressing it's not a rebuild, at least one analyst disagrees.

With free agency and the NFL draft in the rearview mirror, rosters around the league are starting to take shape. Of course, each team will experience some movement, and there will be surprise cuts at the end of camp, but for the most part, teams have a rough understanding of what they'll be rolling out Week 1.

Unfortunately for the Atlanta Falcons, the latest power rankings don't reflect much confidence in the roster that's been assembled by general manager Terry Fontenot. PFF's newest rankings place the team in 30th, and in the "rebuilding" category.

"Atlanta jumped into the bidding war for Deshaun Watson only to come up short and effectively end relations with Matt Ryan as their starter. Trading him away creates a devastating blow to the salary cap in terms of dead money, but it represents the start of a franchise reboot. Marcus Mariota is a fine stopgap at quarterback and the team had a very good draft, but we may be a year away from these moves paying real dividends." - Sam Monson, PFF.

Fontenot has been staving off questions about a potential rebuild since his time in Atlanta began. 

"(Rebuilding) is not something that we ever want to say," Fontenot said earlier this offseason. "The reason we hate the word rebuild is that when we are talking to players like Casey Hayward, he's excited about coming home and competing right now. "It's not fair to the players here. We have 17 games, and we are going out to compete in every single one of them."

Competition each and every day across all position groups has been a mantra stressed by Fontenot and head coach Arthur Smith. The Falcons fully intend on turning this day-to-day competition into wins during the season.

"It's more of a team philosophy in the players that we have here competing every day and the coaches," said Fontenot. "So I understand you're talking about the big-picture, and I'm not dismissing that. But I'm just talking about your charge when you're in the National Football League: Our objective is to win football games."

The Falcons will have an opportunity to start that objective off strong on September 11th at home against the New Orleans Saints. Until then, Fontenot, Smith, and the rest of the Falcons' brass will be busy trying to improve the roster that landed them in the "rebuilding" category in these power rankings.