Getty Matt Ryan #2 talks to Julio Jones #11.
Former Georgia star running back Todd Gurley is coming home, creating a new offensive trio for the Atlanta Falcons.
After the release of Devonta Freeman and their replacement pick up in NFL free agency, the QB-RB-WR connection now looks like Matt Ryan-Todd Gurley-Julio Jones.
CBS ranked all 32 NFL teams’ offensive ‘triplets’ and the Falcons land at No. 6.
What CBS Had to Say About The Falcons’ Trio
CBS’ Jared Dubin wrote the following:
Ryan is remarkably durable, remarkably productive, and until last season, consistently above average across the board. He took a step backward last season, falling short of league averages in yards per attempt, touchdown rate, and passer rating, each for the first time since 2013. The Falcons had a chance to upgrade his weaponry in the first round this year, but chose to pass on CeeDee Lamb and take a corner instead. We’ll see if he’s still able to reach his ceiling with only two top-tier wideouts as opposed to three.
Gurley was just cut by the Rams, so even though he was slightly more effective last season than popular consensus would have you believe, we can’t justify giving him too high a grade. Jones is arguably the best wideout in football, more efficient on a per-route basis than just about everybody in the league, just about every year. He’s also now got 14 touchdowns across the past two seasons, so hopefully we can dispel with the silly notion that he simply cannot score.
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Todd Gurley Addition
Fans, coaches, and analysts seem to be skeptical about Gurley joining Atlanta’s offense due to health concerns in his left knee.
Gurley’s production decreased in 2019 but the Rams had managed his workload which the Falcons plan to do as well with a touch count. While Gurley’s production slumped, he still managed to score 12 rushing touchdowns and 2 receiving last season.
Devonta Freeman had scored 6 touchdowns before he was injured, Julio Jones had 6, Calvin Ridley had 7. Matt Ryan ranked No. 3 with passing touchdowns for 2019 with 26.
Falcons might not be getting 2017-2018 Gurley, but they’re definitely upgrading and it’ll be a huge loss for the Rams and huge gain for Atlanta.
Matt Ryan Doesn’t Have Only Two Top Wideouts, He Has Three
I have to respectfully disagree with Dubin when he said, “We’ll see if he’s still able to reach his ceiling with only two top-tier wideouts as opposed to three,” due to the fact that the Falcons chose to grab Clemson cornerback, A.J. Terrell instead of CeeDee Lamb.
The Falcons knew their needs and Terrell is a top tier corner the Falcons were in need of since there’s were not consistent enough and they released Desmond Trufant.
Atlanta chose to bypass Lamb in the draft because they knew they already had solid receivers to work with and a lot of belief in Calvin Ridley.
Ridley’s 2019 season was cut just a little bit short after he suffered an abdominal injury against the Carolina Panthers in December. He missed the last three games of the year and the injury most likely set Ridley back for his first 1,000-yard season in the NFL.
He’ll be back for 2020 and tweeted “They gone know!!” back in February. He’s ready and CBS is certainly going to find out that Atlanta has three top tier receivers to get the job done.
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