Getty Calvin Ridley #18, Matt Ryan #2, and Julio Jones #11 of the Atlanta Falcons.
The ‘Atlanta curse’ they call it. But that’s no excuse for the Falcons ending last season with a 7-9 record. Their offense was supposed to be solid until injury after injury happened, leaving Matt Ryan getting sacked 48 times. That was a career-high for him.
And on defense, the Falcons recorded a total of 28 sacks—that’s another story. Ryan somehow figured out how to turn the offense around, well for the last six games of the 2019 season anyway. Of course, he had a lot of help from Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley, and Austin Hooper.
This season should be a little different, hopefully, a lot different. Hooper found a new home with the Browns, which was sad for a few hours until the Falcons replace him with an ex-Ravens tight end, Hayden Hurst who will no doubt be a playmaker this season.
And yes, Todd Gurley is coming home which will have the entire state of Georgia in Atlanta on Sundays (we hope). Not only is it a fantastic marketing technique for ticket sales, but it’s also great for the Falcons’ offense who lacked a guy in the backfield last season.
Where Does the Falcons’ Offense Rank?
CBS Sports’ Jared Dubin put a ranking system together for NFL offenses. He has the Falcons at No. 10, tied with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offense.
“Hooper is gone now after having signed a sizable deal with the Browns,” Dubin writes. “The Falcons replaced him with Hayden Hurst, who was acquired in a pretty massive overpay but should nevertheless be a solid addition to the offense. Also helping matters is the jettisoning of Devonta Freeman, one of the NFL’s least effective runners over the past two years, in favor of Todd Gurley. The former Rams running back was not nearly worth his contract last year and is a walking injury risk but he at least provides an upside that there was no way Freeman was going to hit. The Falcons should add another back in the draft as a complement to Gurley, and with the Ryan-Jones-Ridley trio still in place, they’re in good shape at the skill positions.”
No. 10 and tied with Tampa personally, makes me cringe considering Tom Brady is now a part of that offense. I also think the Falcons’ offense is underrated because people are so concerned with Gurley’s knee injury. He missed one full game last season and still put up 14 touchdowns.
Dubin does make a good point about the Falcons needing to add another back to the roster behind Gurley. And while Brian Hill, Ito Smith, Qadree Ollison, and Craig Reynolds are all backups, none have proven to be reliable starters and none have that ‘Todd Gurley spark’ yet.
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Drafting a Running Back
Referring back to the Falcons’ running back depth chart not having a ‘Todd Gurley spark’, the 2020 NFL draft class doesn’t have anyone with a Gurley spark either.
The Falcons did meet with a lot of hot RB prospects at the NFL combine. One guy who might be available for their second pick with starter qualities from the list is Cam Akers out of Florida State.
Akers decided to forego his senior year at FSU and declare for the 2020 NFL Draft early. At the end of his career, Akers ran the ball a total of 586 times for 2,874 yards. He also tallied 34 touchdowns and 27 of those were rushing touchdowns.
He’d be a reliable backup for when Gurley needs to rest his knee if that’s ever the case.
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