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Go To: FlashUpdate / August Update Main Page
| Atlanta Falcons | ||||||
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Go To: Off-season Team Review
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| Most Recent News Updates: | ||||||
| ATL -- London Could Be An Overlooked Breakout Candidate (9/01/00:50 CT) | ||||||
| ATL -- Falcons Third Teamers Battle For Spots In Loss To Steelers (8/25/00:10 CT) | ||||||
| ATL -- Should We Be Careful Drafting Robinson? Really? (8/23/00:52 CT) | ||||||
| ATL -- Bijan Robinson Still Listed As RB3 Behind Patterson, Allgeier (8/21/13:36 CT) | ||||||
| ATL -- Robinson Flashes Talent In Exhibition Debut (8/19/01:06 CT) | ||||||
| ATL -- Setting Expectations For Allgeier's Workload Behind Robinson (8/17/19:26 CT) | ||||||
| ATL -- Smith Says He There Are Things He Still Needs To See From Ridder (8/17/00:05 CT) | ||||||
| ATL -- Patterson Likely To Miss The Rest Of The Preseason (8/16/10:24 CT) | ||||||
| ATL -- Robinson Will Make His Exibition Debut This Week (8/16/08:33 CT) | ||||||
| ATL-- Ridder Not Expected To Play In Preseason Opener (8/11/17:47 CT) | ||||||
| ATL -- Robinson Listed As RB3 On Initial Depth Chart (8/08/16:34 CT) | ||||||
| ATL -- Robinson Putting In The Study Time To Ensure His Role (8/08/08:53 CT) | ||||||
| ATL -- Initial Issues And Injuries Of Note (8/08/00:00 CT) | ||||||
Current News Updates
9/01 According to ESPN's Dan Graziano, we shouldn't be surprised if Drake London is the second-year breakout wide receiver of the season. Graziano went on to point out there's a ton of hype around Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave and Christian Watson, and all for good reasons. Those guys are all incredible receivers and bound for stardom if they aren't already there. But London was selected ahead of every other wide receiver in the 2022 draft. He got 117 targets (tied for 25th in the league) as a rookie in the run-heaviest offense in the NFL (51.1 percent of offensive plays) with Marcus Mariota at QB for most of the campaign, and he caught 72 of them for 866 yards. Graziano acknowledged the Falcons' offense is loaded with young skill position players, and rookie RB Bijan Robinson is the apple of fantasy drafters' eyes. But London was a favorite target of Desmond Ridder when Ridder got the starting quarterback job late last season, and I get the sense the Falcons don't want to be the run-heaviest team in the league again. If Ridder is a viable starter, London should become a superstar.8/25 As NFL.com notes, the Falcons third-stringers battled for final WR slots in Thursday night's loss to the Steelers. With the roster cutdown deadline looming Tuesday and the 53 spots being filled in, Thursday marked the final in-game chance for many bubble players to prove they deserve a spot on the active squad. While the offense overall struggled to get things going, a few of the new Falcons wide receivers on the edge of the depth chart made themselves seen. Rookie Keilahn Harris was the most visible pass catcher, becoming a top target of third-string quarterback Logan Woodside. Harris hauled in a team-leading six catches for 71 yards, including a 26-yard reception that was the Falcons' longest play of the night. Free-agent signees Mathew Sexton and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside had three receptions each for 29 and 27 receiving yards, respectively. Arthur Smith and the Atlanta coaching staff have some tough decisions to make at almost every position before Tuesday's deadline, and on Thursday those on the bubble in the WR corps gave their best effort at putting themselves in the conversation for the last few open roster spots. ... Arcega-Whiteside had a 14-yard catch on the opening drive of the second half before limping off the field later in the drive with an apparent leg injury. 8/23 NBC Sports’ Peter King said (via Rotoworld) fantasy managers should be “really, really careful” with drafting Bijan Robinson. King said there are “too many mouths to feed” in the Atlanta offense for Robinson to pay off as a top-10 player off the draft board. As Rotoworld notes, Robinson displayed his power and elusiveness in his first preseason action last week against the Bengals, totaling 26 yards on four rushes. He also caught a six-yard pass. Tyler Allgeier, who eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards as a rookie in 2022, will figure into the Falcons’ running game this year. Robinson should have a healthy fantasy floor, at worst, but King is not alone in this assessment. PlayerProfiler Billy Muzio, appearing on the FootballDiehards YouTube channel, expressed concern about the Falcons offense having the volume necessary to justify Robinson getting that top-5 draft capital we've seen. 8/21 HC Arthur Smith is still letting rookie RB Bijan Robinson know he’ll have to earn a starting job. Although Robinson was the No. 8 overall pick and will surely be the No. 1 running back in Atlanta when the regular season starts, he remains the third running back on the depth chart for the Falcons’ third and final preseason game. Cordarrelle Patterson is listed as the No. 1 running back and Tyler Allgeier is listed as No. 2. As Profootballtalk.com notes, Smith prefers to keep rookies behind veterans who have already proven themselves, and both Patterson and Allgeier played well last season. But Robinson was drafted to be the Falcons’ starting running back, and it remains overwhelmingly likely that he will be for the Falcons’ Week One game against the Panthers. 8/19 As NFL.com reported it, "Cutting back before bursting through the line in a blur, Bijan Robinson followed with a juke of an overmatched defender. ..." On his first preseason carry, Robinson gained 12 yards, a first down and showed just what all the hype has been about. Robinson didn't deliver a gaudy stat line, but he delivered on the anticipation and offered up even more for the season ahead following his preseason debut Friday night in the Falcons' 13-13 tie with the Cincinnati Bengals. "He operated fast, it certainly didn't look too big for him," HC Arthur Smith said of Robinson. Robinson's evening was an abbreviated one, running the course of just one drive and 11 snaps. He rushed for 20 yards on four carries and added a 6-yard reception. To see the No. 8 overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft was to believe that the buildup was on point, though. It was an exercise in futility for the first Bengals defender on the scene to tackle the Texas product. He consistently made the first guy miss and seemingly made the most of each one of his touches. The aforementioned first carry, on first-and-10 from the Atlanta 27-yard line, saw him gain 12 yards and galvanize social media. His quickness through the line after a backfield cut was eye-popping and it preceded a beautiful juke and then a finish that saw him fall forward for an extra yard. On the ensuing play, he showcased his toughness, refusing to go down easy on a 4-yard carry. He later made a one-handed grab on a screen and shrugged off the first defender once more. Shouldering ample hype and expectation, the Falcons' rookie running back was dazzling in his preseason debut. Robinson's explosion through the hole was and is something to marvel upon. Just as advertised, he was an enticing blend of speed and power that whet the appetite for Atlanta's season to come. 8/17 The Athletic’s Josh Kendall (via Rotoworld) believes Tyler Allgeier will see 170 touches in 2023. ... Kendall predicted the team’s touch distribution in a recent column, forecasting Bijan Robinson for 301 total touches as Atlanta’s lead back. Allgeier, who last year had 226 touches and proved efficient as a rusher and a pass catcher, is still expected to be utilized in the Falcons’ run-heavy offense. Kendall said the Falcons “will go into each game this season with a plan for which running back will get the most carries, but [head coach Arthur] Smith believes in sticking with what’s working, too.” The coach said as much. “We may have the idea that we want to get guys a certain number of carries and then all of a sudden Allgeier gets a hot hand and what you’re doing with him is working,” Smith said. “Don’t be rigid. We have to win the game.” Robinson can still perform as an elite fantasy option with Allgeier involved in the team’s rushing attack. As Rotoworld suggests, "Allgeier would be a top-12 fantasy option if Robinson were to miss time in 2023." 8/17 After a couple of joint practices with the Dolphins last week, the Falcons did not play quarterback Desmond Ridder in their preseason opener. But Profootballtalk.com reports that’s slated to change when Atlanta takes on Cincinnati this weekend. Even though Ridder has done good work in practice, with head coach Arthur Smith consistently praising the young signal-caller, there are some things that the club wants to see in a game setting. On Tuesday, Smith specifically talked about Ridder navigating the pocket to avoid hits, since that’s something teams can’t fully simulate in practice. “We’re not going to try to scheme up some chunk plays so we can feel good about some trick play or something that like for some hype video or whatever,” Smith said. “We need to execute, improve, take another step, get ready, feel the pocket so he’s ready to go Week 1. That’s the thing you can’t see during practice — the consequence of holding the ball too long or you don’t move up, execute through your reads, all that stuff. Managing the offense. Those are the things. Maybe I’m messed up but I don’t think between me and [Bengals head coach] Zac Taylor, we’re going to try to trick each other. We’re going to try to execute, come up with a good plan and see if we can improve and get ready for the season. ...” Neither Ridder nor his expected backup Taylor Heinicke played against the Dolphins last week, with Logan Woodside taking all the reps at quarterback. We’ll see if Ridder can continue to make strides within the Falcons offense on Friday night. 8/16 According to Tori McElhaney, Cordarrelle Patterson will likely miss the rest of the preseason and they will reevaluate and have more info on his status in the week before Week 1. 8/16 Rookie running back Bijan Robinson is set for his first taste of NFL game action. The first-round pick did not play against the Dolphins in last week’s preseason opener, but head coach Arthur Smith said on Monday that the team plans for Robinson to be in the lineup against the Bengals this Friday. Smith said that the team will not be unveiling the full package of plays they have in mind for Robinson. “We’re not going to go crazy,” Smith said, via Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com. “We just need the reps. We need to get our bread-and-butter concepts in there and he’ll see his tracks. We’re not going to sit there and show everything but we need to execute well.” Robinson said he’s “really excited” for the chance to see his first NFL snaps later this week and the hope in Atlanta is that it will be the start of a long and successful career for the running back. 8/11 According to Pro Football Talk, Falcons QB Desmond Ridder is not expected to play in the preseason opener this weekend. 8/08 The Falcons drafted Bijan Robinson with the idea that he’d be their starting running back for years to come, but they’re going to make him earn it. On the first training camp depth chart released by the Falcons, Robinson is the third-string running back. Cordarrelle Patterson is No. 1 and Tyler Allgeier is No. 2. As Profootballtalk.com noted, as the No. 8 overall pick in the draft, Robinson still has to be considered the favorite to be the starting running back in Week 1 of the regular season. But the Falcons will defer for now to Patterson and Allgeier, both of whom played well last year in Atlanta. We'll be watcing for the coming changes. 8/08 According to the team's official website, with the way the Falcons are looking to use Bijan Robinson as an offensive weapon (not just as a running back), he's got a lot of information to gather in a relatively short amount of time. He'll play a big role in this offense in his first year, and the coaches are pushing him like he is. "They're helping me out a lot," Robinson said of the coaches around him, from head coach Arthur Smith to offensive coordinator Dave Ragone to running backs coach Michael Pitre. "We have a lot of meetings... We are always doing some sort of studying. I understand that learning a lot of different things for the offense it can be taxing for your mindset, but for me, I take it every day, one day at a time, and understand God put me here to do this kind of thing." His coaches advice to him? Don't settle for anything. Stay working, even when it's a lot of work. "There's always a guy who's trying to come up to either get you or there's a guy you're playing against that you gotta just work harder than them," Robinson said. "I've been trying to work as hard as I can out here." Someone who has been a big help to Robinson early in camp is quarterback Desmond Ridder, who just so happens to be Robinson's roommate at the current moment. Coincidence? Definitely not. It's football all the time with Robinson and Ridder, which is probably what it should be at this point in the preseason, but Robinson said being able to have that extra time with Ridder is important for the both of them. "We're always studying and always trying to get the edge on something," Robinson said of his relationship with Ridder. "He's always telling me how I can make something better on the field or a new way to do something. He's been such a big help for me, and I can't thank him enough. ..." Meanwhile, it's worth remembering no team in the NFL ran the ball more often than the Falcons in 2022; Smith squeezed every ounce he could out of then-rookie Tyler Allgeier, Swiss army knife Cordarrelle Patterson and even former undrafted RB Caleb Huntley. With Atlanta preparing to start Ridder this season, expect an offense built around Robinson and Allgeier. The biggest determining factor for Robinson's success in fantasy will be how those top two runners split the carries. But prospective owners will love to hear this: "He uses me everywhere, from receiver to running back," Robinson said of Smith at rookie minicamp. "He lets me (use) my abilities and skillset the right way. ..." We'll be watching for more on that front in coming days. 8/08 All eyes on rookie running back Bijan Robinson, who adds to a pair of high-end receiving threats added in each of the two previous seasons in Drake London (2022) and Kyle Pitts (2021). But the outcomes for all three depend to some degree on the level of play of Desmond Ridder, whom owner Arthur Blank suggests could be the team's quarterback of the future. If Blank is right and Ridder develops as the Falcons expect, head coach Arthur Smith's play-calling prowess and a powerhouse offensive line should work in favor of all involved. ... Remember: Pitts is coming off a season-ending MCL injury last year but he managed to avoid the PUP list to open camp, so all appears well there.
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 Team Review
Grade: C-
The Atlanta Falcons weren’t a bad team in 2022, but they weren’t a good team, either. Now the Falcons head into 2023 a young team with some promise -- and facing a lot of question marks.
From a fantasy perspective, the centerpiece in Atlanta is undoubtedly rookie running back Bijan Robinson. Many have already penciled in Robinson as a top-5 fantasy option, but Deen Worley of Falcons Wire believes the hype may be a tad out of hand.
“When looking at the number of receptions that Atlanta’s running backs totaled in 2022, (some) could be overvaluing Robinson’s production as a receiver,” he said. “Cordarrelle Patterson only got 21 receptions last season, and he was targeted the most among running backs on the team. This was a big drop from the 52 he managed in 2021. Atlanta only managed 24 pass attempts per game last season, and with other players, like Kyle Pitts and Drake London, in the mix, it’s tough to count on any Falcons player in the first round. Nonetheless, Robinson will surely go early based on his potential alone.”
The Falcons also have Patterson and second-year pro Tyler Allgeier (who topped 1,000 rushing yards last year) in the backfield. Robinson wasn’t drafted eighth overall to play second-fiddle, but those backs could eat into Robinson’s workload somewhat.
As to London and Pitts, the latter left an awful taste in the mouth of many fantasy managers last year. After surpassing 1,000 receiving yards as a rookie, Pitts’ numbers were way down in 2022, in large part because he was a miserable 25th in targets at the position with 59. Pitts’ talent is undeniable, but all the talent in the world isn’t much good if the targets aren’t there.
It’s a similar story with London, who the Falcons drafted eighth overall last year. London’s stats for the season were decent, and he posted the first 100-yard game of his career in the finale. But the Falcons were 31st in both pass attempts and passing yards last year. That’s, um, not ideal.
After splitting time with Marcus Mariota last year, Desmond Ridder will open the season as the starting quarterback in 2023. He told reporters the team has expressed confidence that he’ll take a step forward in Year 2.
“They've told me that, that they trust me and that they see what I do out on the field, they see my leadership,” Ridder said. “And you know, that that's what they want.”
Ridder was arguably the best quarterback in the Class of 2022. But in order for him to progress and London and Pitts to have a better 2023, the Falcons have to open up the offense a little.
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2023 Off-Season News & Views
Click here for Complete set of News & Views
Click here for earlier off-season items |
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