The Falcons brought Oliver back on a one-year deal this offseason. It’s a move that made sense for the organization, as the Falcons are still working out of a salary cap bind, and can only offer veterans one-year deals. Because the nickel position is so crucial to Dean Pees’ defensive scheme it made complete sense why the Falcons would want to bring back a player who had experience in it. More so, a player who seemed to work well in it, too, even with a relatively small sample size.
Talking to Pees himself, the defensive coordinator said the Falcons missed having a true nickel after Oliver was injured. Pees liked Oliver from the start, saying early on he reminded him of some of his former nickels at Tennessee and Baltimore. Pees didn’t have to fit the scheme to Oliver. He already fit it. And even in the last month of the season, Oliver’s presence was missed.
“We had a revolving door (at nickel),” Pees said.
He went onto to say re-signing Oliver was an important move for this defense because of the weight this position holds in the scheme itself. The nickel in Pees’ defense has a significant role. It dictates alignments. It dictates coverages, and blitzing options. It commands a lot of attention.
Pees was right when he called the rotation at nickel post-Oliver’s injury a revolving door, too. Richie Grant, Darren Hall, Avery Williams and even Eric Harris took a shot at nickel in the 13 weeks following Oliver’s injury. No one really worked the way Pees thought Oliver did, though.
“If Isaiah was here,” Pees said at the end of December, “he’d still be in the slot.”
Deep into his recovery and rehab, Oliver saw the comment.
“Just to know that and to kind of understand that I was missed out there was good to hear. It sucks that it had to come the way that it did,” Oliver said. “I feel like it helped a lot of the other guys on the team, though, being able to get that experience, being able to get that play time going into this year. Guys like Darren Hall, Richie Grant. I feel…