Look, the Atlanta Falcons offense has all the talent in the world. We’ve said it a million times, and regardless of how untrue it looked at times in 2017, this roster is absolutely stacked with playmakers from Devonta Freeman to Julio Jones. Heck, they arguably upgraded at right guard and their third receiver spot, and there’s no reason they shouldn’t take the NFL by storm with Steve Sarkisian hopefully better adjusted.

They also kind of have to take the league by storm, considering they have the third-most expensive offense in the entire NFL.

Most expensive NFL offenses for 2018, via @spotrac:



1) 49ers: $120M

2) Raiders: $117M

3) Falcons: $111M

4) Saints: $106M

5) Steelers: $100M

6) Chargers: $96M

7) Bucs: $96M

8) Packers: $92M

9) Colts: $91M

10) Redskins: $90M — NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) May 21, 2018

The balance here is about to tilt, with the Falcons needing to pony up soon for Vic Beasley, Grady Jarrett, Ricardo Allen, and soon after that the likes of Deion Jones, De’Vondre Campbell, and Keanu Neal. The defense is loaded with young talent the Falcons have been fortunate enough not to have to pay big money to, but their rookie contracts will run out, and Atlanta will have to be younger and cheaper on the other side of the ball to accommodate that. In all likelihood, 2019 will be the final year where we’ll see the numbers weighted so heavily toward the offense.

That does underscore just how important it is for the offense to be great in 2018, however. That’s both because the defensive talent this team boasts should make them wholly unstoppable and because the offense is unlikely to be this loaded again once we move into 2019 or 2020 and Tevin Coleman’s off to other pastures, Andy Levitre’s on another team, and so on. As tough as the NFC is, and as much as people like to get those jokes off about the Falcons, there aren’t many teams in the NFL who can boast that they have such a strong roster, particularly on this side of the ball.

Strike while the iron is hot and the Super Bowl’s in Atlanta, I always say.