Sean Weatherspoon

Weatherspoon has always shown big upside in coverage and as a blitzer, but durability issues have prevented him from capitalizing on his talents in his first four years. Weatherspoon ruptured his Achilles in June and will miss the entire 2014 season.

An ankle injury derailed a potentially productive 2012 for Weatherspoon, and if he stays healthy for 16 games, he should easily get to 100 tackles and offers more pass-rushing and turnover potential than most linebackers. Weatherspoon has seven sacks the last two years despite missing three games, and he also defended 12 passes over those 29 games. Weatherspoon has the athleticism to continue developing as a pass rusher while pulling in a few of those defended passes as interceptions.

Weatherspoon started to fulfill his potential as a first-round pick for Atlanta last year, finishing with 115 tackles, which tied for 13th in the league. He will more than likely breeze past those numbers in 2012, though, because former teammate Curtis Lofton left the Falcons in free agency, leaving a 147-tackle void in the Atlanta defense. Although he’s not as established as many top IDPs, Weatherspoon’ ceiling is probably second only to that of Patrick Willis. Weatherspoon is an athletic and disruptive playmaker who can make an impact in coverage and as a pass rusher, too. Despite playing in a strictly 4-3 alignment last year, Weatherspoon managed to finish with four sacks. An improvement in that category would not surprise given that the Falcons figure to run some 3-4 looks under the watch of new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, which should leave Atlanta more free to call blitzes for Weatherspoon.

Ankle and knee injuries disrupted Weatherspoon’s development as a rookie and limited him to only 11 games, but the 2010 first-round pick looked good before the bad luck struck. As a Day 1 starter at outside linebacker, Weatherspoon opened the season with 24 tackles (22 solo) and one sack in his first three starts. Weatherspoon is an aggressive and athletic linebacker who figures to hit the ground running in 2011, making him a good risk in fantasy drafts.

Weatherspoon studied both strongside and weakside linebacker positions during camp and will likely open the season backing up both starters, Stephen Nicholas and Mike Peterson. Peterson is 34 and the torch will be passed to Weatherspoon at season's end or sooner if Weatherspoon becomes the playmaker the Falcons hope he can.