Why Falcons were willing to trade Ruke Orhorhoro to Jaguars
Why were the Atlanta Falcons willing to trade Ruke Orhorhoro to the Jacksonville Jaguars?
Liam Coen recently explained why the Jacksonville Jaguars were comfortable moving on from Maason Smith and wanted to bring in Ruke Orhorhoro to help bolster the defensive tackle position. But on the flip side of that, why did the Falcons want to acquire Smith and part with Orhorhoro? Falcons' GM Ian Cunningham recently explained why Atlanta had their eyes on Smith.
“We’ve evaluated him for a while, since his time at LSU,” Cunningham said, via Falcons on SI . “Obviously, everybody knows the measurables, but it's a player that can play nose tackle and the three-tech for us. We really are excited about him in the attacking front and being able to get upfield.
He is strong. He's physical. We're excited about his upside and getting him with Coach [Jeff] Ulbrich and Coach [Nate] Ollie to see him take that next step.
” Smith is listed at 6-6, 315 pounds, while Orhorhoro measures in at 6-4, 295 pounds. That size difference, which favors Smith, better suits him to "work inside," as Atlanta head coach Kevin Stefanski said, whereas Orhorhoro is more of an "inside to outside" defender. Stefanski adds that the usage of Smith and Orhorhoro does differ.