Atlanta Falcons: It’s Time to Move on From Cornerback Robert Alford

Replacements

Not only am I an advocate of replacing Robert Alford when the season ends, I’m in favor of demoting him immediately. The Atlanta Falcons have a couple of good in-house candidates, to play the outside cornerback position.

Isaiah Oliver who was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons out of the University of Colorado in the second round of this year’s draft, is the newest attempt to get a bigger cornerback. He is 6’1″ tall.

Oliver is known for his press coverage and has done a decent job in limited snaps this season. PFF grades Isaiah 66.0 overall and 65.7 in coverage. That’s significantly better than Robert Alford with 50.3 and 48.0. He’s also yet to commit a penalty in 160 snaps.

In 122 coverage snaps, Isaiah Oliver has been targeted 17 times. He’s allowed 11 catches for 117 yards, a 64.7 reception percentage. He’s allowing 11.5 yards per reception. His four pass breakups in limited playing time are impressive.

Isaiah is still a work in progress though, as he has allowed a touchdown in the two games he’s played a lot in this season. Isaiah has allowed three touchdowns overall, including a game winning score to A.J. Green of the Cincinnati Bengals. Green is a University of Georgia alum.

Isaiah Oliver is also allowing a quarterback rating of 126.7. Not great, but still nearly 20 points better than Robert Alford. It’s time to let the young draft pick play more. There is no better way for him to develop than to face adversity on the field.

Blidi Wreh-Wilson is another player who can take snaps away from Alford. Blidi is a six-year pro from the University of Connecticut. He was signed by the Dirty Birds in November of 2016 after being released by the Tennessee Titans. He is currently on a 1 year 720,000 dollar contract.

Wreh-Wilson who stands 6’1, has the ideal length for the scheme that Dan Quinn runs. His play has been surprisingly good for the limited playing time he has received.

Blidi has only played a total of 30 snaps over three games. Yet amazingly he has career best overall and coverage grades of 90.1. He also had a single game best grade of 91.5 in week nine against the Washington Redskins.

Blidi Wreh-Wilson has only been targeted four times allowing just one catch for 11 yards. He has two pass breakups and zero penalties. He’s yet to allow a touchdown and quarterbacks have a microscopic rating of 39.6 when targeting him.

In fairness Wreh-Wilson’s stellar play doesn’t come on a large sample size, but it’s certainly worth seeing if he can perform in a similar fashion with more snaps. An extended look, would also allow the Falcons front office to make a better informed decision on rather to keep him long-term.

There are a plethora of cornerback options that will be available in the 2019 NFL draft. Georgia’s Deandre Baker and Greedy Williams of LSU are the top two cornerbackd in the draft and could be available for Atlanta should they have a high enough first round draft pick.

The Atlanta Falcons have made their task of becoming the only NFC team to make the playoffs for three consecutive seasons, a daunting one due to a current two game losing streak.

The Atlanta Falcons might have to finish the season with a six game winning streak, in order to reach the playoffs. It’s possible a 5-1 finish could make the post-season, due to the NFC beating up on each other.

Any record other than 6-0 or 5-1 is probably not going to get it done. Particularly with the fact that the Packers and Vikings both have ties on their resumes and both are amongst the teams competing for wildcard spots.

If the Atlanta Falcons are to have a shot, Dan Quinn must continue to make lineup changes. Benching Robert Alford against New Orleans on Thanksgiving, is a great place to start.

Do you think Robert Alford should be benched? Please vote in our above Twitter poll. Do you agree that’s its time to move on from Alford in the offseason? Please leave your comments below.

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