Jessie Bates and Chris Lindstrom make Pro Football Focus’ Top 50 for 2024

The Atlanta Falcons have a lot to look forward to in the 2024 season despite the results of the last few years. If they want to be as successful this year as we hope, Jessie Bates and Chris Lindstrom will be the driving forces of this team.

Bates and Lindstrom, the crown jewels of 2023 free agency and the team’s first pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, have proven to be leaders and important men on their respective sides of the ball. Bates had a career season in his first year in Atlanta, cementing his reputation as one of the NFL’s best safeties, and Lindstrom endured a few rough patches but put together another great year overall. If Bates is great and Lindstrom is his usual self, it will be a huge step forward for the Falcons. Finally to get back on track as a team.

This year’s edition of Pro Football Focus’ Top 50 Players in the League has already been revealed at 31-50, with Bates and Lindstrom appearing at No. 37 and 38, respectively.

Here is the Bates report:

Jessie Bates III, a true ball-hunter at safety, showed last season that he can bring his talents to a new defense and still give it his all. He recorded six interceptions for the Falcons and posted a PFF coverage grade of 90.2, just surpassing his Bengals career-best mark right off the bat. Bates is a top-notch coverage safety with the range to punish ill-advised passes.

And here is Lindstrom:

After the last few seasons, it’s getting harder and harder to argue against Chris Lindstrom as the best guard in football. He followed up a spectacular 2022 season with an almost equally good 2023 season, allowing just 15 pressures and earning a PFF run-blocking grade of 87.5. He was one of only two guards to earn grades above 74.0 as both a run blocker and a pass protector.

Both deserve it, not only because they stand out from their peers – Lindstrom, for example, is often cited as one of the best guards in football on PFF – but because of their importance to this football team. Atlanta won just seven games last year for a variety of reasons, but if you trade Lindstrom for a generic right guard and Bates for a weaker safety, they probably won’t even come close to that total. Bates, in particular, has more or less single-handedly won multiple games with herculean efforts. They are among the 50 or so best players in the league. And is one of the Falcons’ most important and talented players.

The hope is that there are other Falcons on this list, if only for vanity. The bigger hope is that these players will be higher on the list next year. Because Somehow they’re reaching new heights on an up-and-coming Atlanta team.