Atlanta Falcons: Grade for Drafting Qadree Ollison

Expert Opinion

In this Draft Player Profile co-written by Joe Marino and Benjamin Solak of The Draft Network, Solak offers these thoughts about the newest Atlanta Falcons running back:

"Player Comparison: Matt Jones A powerful back with good decisiveness, Ollison is a handful for third-level defenders, given his combination of size and long speed. But Ollison’s poor explosiveness and change of direction limit his pro usage, as he has little to no role in the passing game, on zone style concepts, and can’t create for himself when things aren’t opened up by his blocking. Ollison is at his best behind pullers and a fullback, so teams with heavy power-style concepts may check on his ability as a depth piece, but he may be athletically unable to stick in the NFL. ROUND GRADE – 7 – PFA"

Advanced Statistics

According to Pro Football Focus, Qadree Ollison forced 19 missed tackles in 2018, and a whopping 72 in his four years of college football. 1700 of his 2865 yards as a Panther came after first contact. He finished sixth in the country in breakaway percentage, with 51.6 percent and number 21 in the country at percentage not tackled on first contact, with 36.1 percent. Ollison had a career best grade of 84.5 as a receiver in 2017 as a junior and his best pass blocking grade of 74.2 as a sophomore, showing that he is capable of doing well at all three.

Pro Football Focus Grades 2018:

overall: 82.4 run: 84.3 receiving: 51.1

pass block: 39.5

Role with the Atlanta Falcons

I’m a bit surprised that the Atlanta Falcons elected to take a power back, over more all-around running backs that were still available like Dexter Williams of Notre Dame and Trayveon Williams of Texas A&M. However Atlanta hasn’t has bruising runner since Michael Turner and a powerful change of pace runner, since T.J. Duckett was the backup to Warrick Dunn. Qadree Ollison should compete with Brian Hill for the opportunity to be the team’s short yardage back. In that role he would be tasked with helping fortify an area that has been an sore spot in Atlanta for years.

Qadree Ollison should play a prominent role on special teams. He could excel as a blocker on the kick and punt return units. He could also see time covering kicks. I must admit I am a bit concerned about the vision issues that Ollison has, but I respect the premise of what the Falcons are trying to do. They are trying to get that elusive one tough yard.

Grade B

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