Atlanta Falcons: Why They Should Keep Sam Baker and Peria Jerry Through 2012

The Atlanta Falcons should keep offensive tackle Sam Baker and defensive tackle Peria Jerry. This probably sounds absolutely nuts to some, including some of my professional colleagues who would think that Baker and Jerry not being cut is a huge mistake and that the Falcons will be hurt by keeping them.

Jeff Schultz of the AJC, thinks that Sam Baker was the biggest mistake of Thomas Dimitroff's four years in Atlanta:

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Mistake No. 1: Tackle Sam Baker: In Dimitroff’s first draft in 2008, he traded two second-round picks (34th and 48th) and a fourth-rounder to Washington for the Redskins’ first-round pick (21st overall), third- and fifth-rounder. Baker was taken with the first pick. The thinking: He would be the left tackle to protect the blindside of the just-drafted quarterback, Matt Ryan. It’s hard to know how much of Baker’s problems have been because of back injuries but we know he hasn’t been good. He got beat out this season by Will Svitek. Baker has one year left on his contract at $2.576,250. With option bonuses, his cap hit next year actually would be $3.7 million. The Falcons can find a cheaper backup. Easy call: Cut him.

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This is where the call is not so easy. Baker has had multiple issues with his back, and no one knows how the issues have affected his play. The Falcons only have a clue and Baker was very promising coming out of college with good athletic ability for his size.

Now, even I have been calling for Baker's head, but the Falcons are only counting $2.56 million towards the cap for him and have one more year on his contract. If Baker doesn't get it after this year, they can just let him walk. So why not keep Baker for a relatively inexpensive price for an offensive tackle and guard backup?

Schultz also makes a case against DT Peria Jerry, calling him big mistake No. 2:

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Mistake No. 2. Defensive tackle Peria Jerry: He was the Falcons’ first-round pick (24th overall) in 2009, getting a five-year, $10.35 million contract with $7.55 million guaranteed. He has two sacks in three seasons and, also partly because of injuries, he just hasn’t been good enough to make an impact and win a starting job. Jerry’s base salary next season is only $845,000, though he carries a cap hit of $1.95 million. Money’s really not the issue. It’s more like: How long can the Falcons wait? More than likely, they’ll see if they can do better in the offseason before making a decision. Tough call: Stall.

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The interesting thing here is that the cap hit isn't what would be hard about the Peria Jerry situation. He has got a light cap hit as well, but his issue has been his knee injury. Give Jerry one more shot to prove he was that first-round pick. He showed promise before the knee-shredding injury in 2009.

Jerry has to get more consistent and has always been able to get good penetration. People are calling for his head and think that he should be cut as well. However, he has aggravated the knee injury multiple times and it would be nice to see both Baker and Jerry healthy to see what they can do.

The X-factor in all of this is how the players fit into the new schemes being drawn up by Mike Nolan and Dirk Koetter/Pat Hill. Jerry and Baker could break out this year and truly turn into the players they were drafted to be.