Rod Coleman

Coleman is coming off a down season in 2006, in which he played in 15 games but battled injuries throughout the season and only recorded six sacks. The sack total is much lower than Coleman's previous two seasons, in which he recorded double digit sack totals and earned his first Pro Bowl selection in 2005. Unfortunately for Coleman, he will most likely miss the beginning of this season as well. He is recovering from a ruptured quadriceps but is on pace to return no later than Week 4. When Coleman returns, he will be a part of a pretty good defensive line for the Falcons. If his recovery goes well, he could still have a solid season and notch sack totals somewhere between his 10.5 in 2005 and the six he had last season. If your league uses individual defensive players instead of team defenses, you could do a lot worse than picking Coleman in the later rounds and stashing him on your bench until his health returns.

Most defensive tackles aren’t worth drafting, and if they are it’s with the expectation of obscene numbers of solo tackles (see Orpheus Roye’s 65 solos and three sacks last year). Coleman, however, has been indifferentiable from an end for a few years now. In the past four seasons, he’s turned in three years with low-30s solo tackles and 10 or more sacks. Those numbers won’t blow anyone away, but they will always buy you a spot in the year-end top 20. Always. The one other year in that group was a more tackle-like 44 solos and 5.5 sacks, mere points from making it four years in a row in the top 20 instead of three out of four. Coleman helps anchor a line with Patrick Kerney at one end and newly acquired John Abraham on the other. They’re all capable of double-digit sacks. Which one do you double-team?

In the past three years, Coleman one way or another has done something to get into the lineman top 20, or close to it. In 2002 it was 32 solo tackles and 11 sacks. Come 2003, 44 solos and 5.5 quarterback crunches. Last year, with a move to Atlanta, he was a big part of the NFL’s leading sack team by returning to double digits. Oh, and that pick and touchdown didn’t hurt, either. In six pro seasons, Coleman has played 16 games just once, but save for his rookie season, he has always played at least 13. The team had 19 sacks with him on the field in the first five games of last year, but had just one during the three games he missed after that, so his importance to the team shouldn’t be underestimated.

Will play "under tackle" in the team's 4-3 defense.