Safety Chris Hope says he decided to sign with the Falcons last week for one reason more than any other: He wants to win a Super Bowl.
Hope, who played on the Steelers team that won Super Bowl XL and then left Pittsburgh as a free agent and played six years for the Titans, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he believes he can be on another Super Bowl winner in Atlanta.
“They have the makings of being a Super Bowl team,” Hope said of the Falcons. “I think that they are right there, knocking on the door. I feel like, for where I’m at in my career, I want to play for something. I don’t want to play for a check. I want to play for an opportunity to win another ring.”
After missing just five games in the previous seven seasons -- and starting every game he played -- Hope had a rough year in 2011. He suffered a dislocated shoulder and a forearm injury that forced him to miss six of the Titans’ first eight games, and when he returned to the field he had lost his spot in the starting lineup. It remains to be seen whether Hope will start in Atlanta, or whether safeties William Moore and Thomas Decoud will get the starting jobs. But Hope says he just wants to help in whatever way he can in the Falcons’ secondary.
“I feel like they have a great secondary with the addition of Asante Samuel, [Dunta] Robinson, [Brent] Grimes and all of those guys are highly touted and elite corners in my opinion,” Hope said. “The safeties that they’ve had the last few years are real good and they are young. With my leadership and my veteran experience, I can just come in and help them out with whatever I can. I feel like I can still play at a high-level. But again, I’ll just do whatever they ask me to do.”
And Hope isn’t shy about sharing what he thinks the Falcons can do: Win the Super Bowl.
