Say what you want about them, but the Atlanta Falcons have a strong young core for their defense. Last year’s first-round pick went to strong safety Keanu Neal coming out of Florida. At the time a lot of people thought it was a reach (present company included) but they were all proven wrong in short order.

Neal had a magnificent rookie season and established himself as one of the NFL’s up-and-coming safeties.

According to Pro Football Focus, Neal ranked second at his position last year with 19 defensive stops in the pasing game:

Falcons rookie Keanu Neal ranked second among safeties last season with 19 defensive stops in the passing game. pic.twitter.com/YMOIY9s6nD — Pro Football Focus (@PFF) March 31, 2017

Neal played 14 games for the Falcons and finished the regular season with 106 tackles, five forced fumbles and eight passes defensed. During Atlanta’s postseason run to the Super Bowl, Neal added another 30 tackles.

For what it’s worth, the analysis team at PFF liked what they saw from Neal as a whole.

He was rated 80.8 overall for the season, which ranked him No. 32 among safeties who played enough snaps to qualify. Neal’s solid overall grade was boosted on the strength of his 86.3 rating in pass coverage. Only four safeties around the league (Reshad Jones, Eric Weddle, Devin McCourty and Eric Berry) ranked higher in that part of the game.

The one area where Neal has the most room to grow is as a run defender. He graded out at 48.1 there, which ranked No. 83 at his position.

With time and more tutelage from Dan Quinn and Marquand Manuel, Neal can easily become an elite safety in the NFL some day.