I feel that Hooper should be a big priority for the Falcons this offseason. Yes, he'll be expensive. Yes, the Falcons already have a lot of money tied up in offensive players. But good teams don't just let good, homegrown players walk out the door.

TE is a position with a notoriously long development time, and letting Hooper walk after spending four seasons developing him would simply be foolish. We know how big of a role TEs have in Dirk Koetter's offense, and Hooper is the only legitimately good one we've had since Tony Gonzalez retired. I understand that a lot of fans would like to see the money that would go to Hooper spent on the defense, but I have zero faith in Dimitroff and Quinn to bring in a top-tier defensive free agent or put together a truly good unit in 2020.

The only way for the Falcons to be competitive this season is through a great offense, and I have a hard time seeing that happening without Hooper.  

Remember when we placed doubt upon the team giving Julio Jones an extension prior to the season last offseason? Or how about the anxiety we developed as Grady Jarrett’s deal was getting very little traction? Remember when we kept saying that Jake Matthews was likely out the door also?

As much as we have our gripes with GM Thomas Dimitroff, the man has made a habit of re-signing players that we all felt at one point in time would be former Falcons. This is one aspect where I believe Dimitroff can display his wizardry. He knows Hooper is a key piece to the puzzle and I believe he will get SOMETHING done to ease the worrisome fan base.

This is an interesting scenario for the Falcons. Hooper has progressed into a good Tight End, and, more importantly, a trusted target of Matt Ryan’s. However, letting Hooper even hit the open market will signal the end of his stint as a Falcon.

Do I want Hooper to be a Falcon? Absolutely. Do I expect he will be? Not likely.

Hooper will command a lot on the Free Agent market, and I’m not so sure the Falcons will match or even exceed any offers that will be placed in front of Hooper. They’re working with limited cap space as it is, and they have to really hone in on getting some help on the defensive side of the ball before the draft. I’m a big fan of Hooper, but this, I believe, is one of the tough decisions Thomas Dimitroff was speaking of earlier.

The Austin Hooper situation has become the biggest story of intrigue for the Falcons this offseason. After denying trade offers for Hooper at the deadline, I thought re-signing him would be a foregone conclusion. However, the closer we get to free agency the more of a toss-up it becomes.

With word that the team could part ways with Devonta Freeman after denying trade requests for him as well during the deadline, it makes me question what the front office is even doing. Nonetheless, parting ways with Freeman would free up an additional $3 million in cap space, some of which could be the difference between Hooper staying or leaving.

I'm generally not in favor of letting young Pro Bowl talent walk for nothing more than what would wind up being a comp. pick, especially not when the team has a waning window with Matt Ryan and Julio Jones getting closer and closer to their twilight years. Hopefully the Falcons work out a long-term contract with Hooper, who's one of Ryan's most reliable targets.

I think it's also important to note that if the Falcons let Hooper walk, but then use his money on a big-time defensive free agent, those two deals will almost certainly cancel each other out in the compensatory formula.

So the Falcons will have let Hooper leave for literally nothing after turning down (reportedly) Day 2 picks in a potential trade.

I want him back, but it sounds like all signs are pointing to him leaving.

If he does indeed leave, what do you all think will happen at the tight end position? Luke Stocker is likely gone and Jaeden Graham looked good but has extremely limited action. 

The Falcons haven't been good enough at drafting tight ends to let a great one walk, period. I'm holding out hope that the team realizes that as well.

We can all point to the costs of keeping Hooper, but those can be spread out in an intelligently-structured contract. We can all point to Hooper's uncanny excellence in short-to-mid range but not deep, but the reality is this offense still needs an option who is great at exactly that. And we can all talk up this year's draft class and Jaeden Graham, but there's nobody who is going to do as well as Hooper in this critical year, and chances are nobody's going to come particularly close. 

This is just not the year the Falcons wanted to lose Hooper in, if indeed they had to do it, and I'm still holding out hope that their relative lack of movement so far is due more to the lack of a CBA than anything else. The Falcons can get by on offense with Hooper if they have to, but they'll have to make significant upgrades elsewhere with those dollars for that to be worth it. It's fair to say I no longer trust them to do so.

Young player improves 4 straight years. Spends his off-season developing a great rapport with your franchise QB, who will be in his mid-30s. Letting him walk at this point is the height of idiocy. By the time Ryan develops that rapport with another young TE, he may be thinking about retirement.

To save - what - 11M per year?

This is dumb and I want to set things on fire now.