Michael Turner who served as LaDainian Tomlinson's backup in San Diego for the past four seasons. Turner has 228 carries for 1,257 yards and 6 touchdowns in his career.
There are plenty of pros and cons with this deal. Let's start with the positive:
Package Deal
No, The Falcons aren't getting Tomlinson, or any of the spectacular blockers from San Diego alogn with Turner, but this gives the Falcons options at the third pick. If Jake Long the big OT from Michigan is available at #3 then he's the shoo-in pick there and it's hard to argue with the Falcons logic of signing a solid free agent back and drafting the best tackle. The Free Agent tackle class was weak this year so basically a Turner/Long combo is better than any combo you could come up with involving McFadden.
Flashes of brilliance
With Tomlinson ailing (and sulking) during the playoffs, Turner ran for 164 on 43 carries against Tennessee, Indy and New England, that's not a bad group of opponents at all. He also went for over 150 in a game against Denver this year and has three of the 11 longest rushes in San Diego Franchise history. The guy is 5'10, 235lbs with tremendous burst for a guy that big. A big/little combo of Turner and Jerious Norwood is pretty enticing.
Cons
Lack of PT
Despite those flashes of brilliance, you still just gave 15 million guaranteed to a guy with 228 career carries. That's nearly $66,000 per NFL carry. Yes, he was backing up the best back in the league, but there's no way of knowing how he'll handle being the primary back for a 16 season. He has little mileage on him, so that's a plus, but still it's risky giving a guy that much money who hasn't seen that much time on the field.
McFadden WILL be a star
I'm not the only one who feels that way and I feel pretty confident in saying it. All McFadden has done is dominate the best conference in America for the last couple of years. Michael Turner will now be compared to McFadden in Atlanta for the rest of his life. If Turner is just a solid to mediocre back in Atlanta and McFadden is the player a lot of people think he will be, then it's just further going to disenfranchise a fan base that has been continuously kicked in the nuts for the last 40 years. It will be the next "Marvin Williams/Chris Paul/Deron Willams" or "Shelden Williams/Brandon Roy" debacle.
This opens the door to draft Matt Ryan
If Matty Ice is there at #3 (Chris and Jake Long go #1 and #2 let's say) there is a very real possibility that the Falcons will take Matt Ryan. I'm sure Matt Ryan is a nice guy, but how a guy who completed less than 60 percent of his passes, threw 19 interceptions and was less efficient than 60 college quarterbacks last season is a sure fire top 5 pick is beyond me. There is this huge misnomer that turning around an NFL franchise is a long process. Long is a relative term. The Pittsburgh Pirates haven't been competitive in 16 seasons. The Atlanta Hawks haven't made the playoffs in this millenium. Every team in the NFL has made the playoffs in the last five seasons except Detroit, Miami, Arizona and Buffalo and those franchises have been the definition of pathetic this decade. In 2006 the New Orleans Saints went from hopeless to the NFC title game. The Falcons won't turn it around because they haven't revamped the offensive line in its entirety and don't have a pro-bowl QB like Drew Brees on the Roster. That being said, with smart drafting and free agent signings why can't the Falcons turn it around in three years?
You don't draft a quarterback in the top 5 unless you are certain that guy is Peyton Manning or Carson Palmer or because your roster is pretty solid but you're desperately seeking a decent QB to run the show. Matt Ryan might be the latter, but he's not the former and there are too many issues for the Falcons to worry about a marginal top 10 QB prospect. Draft Jake Long if he's there. If he's not, draft Glen Dorsey. If he's not there, see if you can trade. One of those two guys will likely be there for you so it shouldn't be an issue.
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