Tevin Coleman staying in ATL?

[Prison_Mike]

I’ve seen a lot of speculation that both Tevin and the organization have mutual interest in keeping him in Atlanta.

Do y’all think there’s a strong chance that happens, or is it just a case of everyone trying to say the right thing?

i.e
Tevin: “of course I want to play here”
ATL: “of course we want him to stay here”

[bjd5211]

I don't see how they can justify spending enough to keep him along with what they are paying Freeman. One of them has to go, and Coleman is the easiest solution, even though he would probably be the better one to keep at this point.

[ArrylT]

https://overthecap.com/calculator/atlanta-falcons/

Overthecap projects they have about 23 million available atm I think

[Pantherbro13]

https://overthecap.com/calculator/atlanta-falcons/

Overthecap projects they have about 23 million available atm I think

And Grady Jarrett is going to take up a lot of that.

[Vcize]

I don't see how they can justify spending enough to keep him along with what they are paying Freeman. One of them has to go, and Coleman is the easiest solution, even though he would probably be the better one to keep at this point.

All true, but we were all saying the same thing about Jonathan Stewart years ago with DeAngelo Williams on a big contract already.

[ninotoreS]

Atlanta wouldn't mind retaining Coleman. That doesn't mean they're willing to be his top bidder, though.

Coleman probably wants to test the open market, and we can infer that Atlanta is content to let him do so since they made no effort to extend him before his free-agency.

[Jigga94]

Atlanta wouldn't mind retaining Coleman. That doesn't mean they're willing to be his top bidder, though.

Coleman probably wants to test the open market, and we can infer that Atlanta is content to let him do so since they made no effort to extend him before his free-agency.

This. Every team does this. "Sure we would love to keep him around" = yeah we will keep him if he costs 70% of what he does in FA.

Slim chance he's back there

[Phaded]

I could see him staying.
I do not think he is going to command much money on the open market, despite how this community feels about him.

Then again, all it takes is one team.

[Pac_Eddy]

I could see him staying.
I do not think he is going to command much money on the open market, despite how this community feels about him.

Then again, all it takes is one team.

This is what I was going to say. I don't think Coleman will have a strong market. It's easy to draft a RB for far less money and get similar production. Free agent RBs aren't going to get paid, so Atlanta has a real chance of retaining him.

[Cameron Giles]

I could see him staying.
I do not think he is going to command much money on the open market, despite how this community feels about him.

Then again, all it takes is one team.

Yeah, I'm starting to think Coleman is not going to be valued that highly. But, then again a Jerick McKinnon type of situation could present itself.

[ArrylT]

https://www.thefalcoholic.com/2018/11/7 ... gency-2019

This article suggests Coleman might consider staying in Atlanta

I'd agree with the speculation that if other teams did not offer much more than what Atlanta would pay him, that he could re-sign with Atlanta.

https://chiefswire.usatoday.com/2018/12 ... b-in-2019/

This article suggests KC could be a landing spot due to a connection on the KC staff.

[Prison_Mike]

https://www.thefalcoholic.com/2018/11/7 ... gency-2019

This article suggests Coleman might consider staying in Atlanta

I'd agree with the speculation that if other teams did not offer much more than what Atlanta would pay him, that he could re-sign with Atlanta.

https://chiefswire.usatoday.com/2018/12 ... b-in-2019/

This article suggests KC could be a landing spot due to a connection on the KC staff.

Yep, I saw that article a few weeks ago about the KC connection!

At first, I wrote it off as highly unlikely - despite him being a great fit.
But now (given his performance as the lead guy in ATL), maybe the price has been driven down enough that he could end up there.
NOTE: I think he gets a lot of unfair criticism about his performance considering he played behind an awful offensive line, with a terrible/injured defense affecting game script, and limited usage - tough to get rolling on 11 carries a game.

But again, maybe that's enough to drive his price down and get him to KC

[RB6]

I would be shocked if the Falcons re-sign Coleman. They're paying Freeman $8M+. It makes little sense to invest more capital in their backfield. This "mutual interest" speak is simply player and organization being respectful of each other.

[Servo]

The current FA crop of RBs is pretty ugly, and who are some teams that COULD look into the position?

- Philly: who knows if Ajayi is back but their ground game was pretty awful this year.

- KC: lack of any star power puts them on this list but we saw they can be a plug and play team.

- Oakland: Both Marshawn and Martin are FA and Richard is a RFA.

- Bucs: new coaching staff and Barber is a RFA so no telling if they'd want him back.

- Texans: maybe, just maybe, Lamar Miller did enough at the end of the year to save his job from a FA or in house replacement.

- Jets: Powell hurt bigtime, Crowell was WAY too hot and cold...McGuire meh

- Colts: seems unlikely they just throw in the towel on Mack...had a pretty good season.

- Ravens: what do they do with their backfield? Appears they are a plug and play team too.

- Buffalo: running offense outside of Allen was atrocious all year...even if someone big signed here it'd be hard to be very optimistic unless their line improves.

With all those teams in mind, who are the "top" FA:

I'd probably have to say: Bell, Peterson, Coleman, Barber and now CJ Anderson...maybe, maybe Ingram?

Next tier: Martin, Murray, Gore

Yolo tier: Mike Davis, Rod Smith, Yeldon, Blue

[ninotoreS]

I do not think he is going to command much money on the open market, despite how this community feels about him.

Then again, all it takes is one team.

Agreed, and agreed.

It's not at all implausible Coleman stays in Atlanta. I doubt he'll command a princely contract; we're talking about a soon-to-be 26 y/o RB that's only ever been a committee-back at a position of reduced value in the NFL because of how replaceable its production seems to be.

But like Phaded says, it only takes one team out of thirty-two to overpay. And it appears Atlanta has already made post-Coleman plans by drafting Ito Smith to back up Freeman. If they've decided they like Brian Hill too, then Atlanta has no need to throw 4-5 million at Tevin for '19.

The current FA crop of RBs is pretty ugly

I don't agree with this at all.

There's a superstar available in Bell, Yeldon/CJA/Ingram are capable of being solid lead-backs for any team, Coleman and Grant are exciting speed-threat toys that many OCs would love to use in a complementary fashion, Richard is one of the league's best pass-catching scatbacks, Davis and Barber can be cheap but reliable 3-down stop-gap starters. There's even Ameer Abdullah to consider, if some team that loved him coming out of Nebraska believes his failure in Detroit was more Detroit's fault than his own.

This is one of the deepest RB free-agent pools in years.