John Abraham's Big Payday Leaves Atlanta Falcons Treading Water

The Atlanta Falcons brought back a player who has been a core contributor to their defense over the past several seasons. While that statement may sound good at face value, once you peel back the layers of the signing of defensive end John Abraham to a three-year contract Friday, it reveals a reality that may leave many Falcons fans in tears.

Abraham has enjoyed a considerable amount of success in the National Football League over his 12-year career, amassing four Pro Bowl trips and 112 career sacks. Although Abraham had 9.5 sacks for the Falcons in 2011, the 33-year-old former South Carolina standout clearly isn't the player he once was.

That didn't stop Abraham from stating that he deserved to receive in excess of $12 million a season in his new contract, and those exorbitant contract demands made negotiations between the Falcons and Abraham contentious at times according to a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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The negotiations for Abraham to return were bumpy. The Falcons met with Abraham’s agent Rich Rosa in Indianapolis during the NFL scouting combine.

Two days earlier, Abraham, was a guest on the “2 Live Stews” radio show on 790 The Zone, sounded like he wanted to be paid “12 [million dollars]-plus” per season. Later, on his twitter account, he contended that he just wanted to get paid what he was worth.

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The $21 million over three seasons that Abraham reportedly received from the Falcons may not have been what Abraham was asking, nor was it an especially expensive signing relatively speaking given what free-agent defensive ends with his resume can garner on the open market.

However, it also isn't necessarily what Abraham is "worth" to Atlanta given his decreasing role in the Falcons defense last season and his increasingly suspect play against the run. Abraham hasn't topped 40 tackles since 2005, and that was on full display when the Falcons were dismembered by the New York Giants in the NFC playoffs last season.

While the Falcons were hoping to upgrade the defensive front in the offseason, the team to this point has only been able to tread water, bringing back Abraham and fellow end Kroy Biermann to a defensive line that was 20th in the NFL in sacks last year and saw Ray Edwards suffer through a miserable first season with the Falcons.

The lucrative extension for Abraham and franchise tag for cornerback Brent Grimes have made it increasingly unlikely that the Falcons will be able to bring back free-agent middle linebacker Curtis Lofton. That will leave the Falcons with a 151-tackle-producing hole in the middle of their defense in 2012. How that hole would be filled is unknown, and it's that uncertainty that should add concern for fans of an Atlanta squad that already had enough question marks surrounding them on defense entering the season.

The Atlanta Falcons have been a playoff-caliber team the past few years that just couldn't seem to get over the proverbial hump. If Friday's signing was any indication, Falcons fans may be in for another season of disappointment, as a team that seems one step forward away from being a serious contender may have actually taken a step back by keeping things the same.

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