ESPN’s Bill Barnwell ranked every NFL team’s top players at the wide receiver, tight end and running back positions going into the 2024 season.
In these rankings, he ranked them based only on these three positions, based it on availability (injury history and suspensions are taken into account), wide receivers are favored higher than running backs (welcome to modern football) and it is based on the top five contributors on the team.
With this in mind, the Atlanta Falcons ranked fairly high, cracking the top ten, the same as their rating from last year when Barnwell did this piece.
It should probably be telling that the Falcons have three young top-10 picks either in or entering what should be their peak seasons and are right where they were a year ago. Arthur Smith’s final season as Atlanta’s coach didn’t push anything forward. Bijan Robinson was good, not great, and wasn’t featured in any sort of unique role relative to preseason hype and expectations. Drake London remained efficient, only in an offense that targeted him less than five times on five different occasions. And Kyle Pitts flashed just enough after returning from knee surgery to tease fantasy football managers while never actually producing enough to satisfy. He failed to top 12 fantasy points even once.
How much of that are you willing to put on Smith and Desmond Ridder, who was traded to Arizona in March? The fact the Falcons are still in the same spot they were occupying last season probably tells you how I feel. Pitts should be healthier. London should be in an offense that throws the ball way more often than it did a year ago, and with a much better quarterback to boot in Kirk Cousins. Robinson’s skill set was still on display for stretches throughout 2023, and he should be more consistent. The time for action in Atlanta is now, especially now that the offense can’t run through Cordarrelle Patterson and Jonnu Smith.
Some Falcons fans may see this as a slight, especially with the team sinking three straight top ten picks into building the best framework for the offense. But after getting excited about the prospects of this team for the past two years, can you blame anyone for practicing cautious optimism before jumping on the Atlanta bandwagon again?
As exciting a thought it is for the whole trio of Pitts, London and Robinson to be in an offense ready to accentuate their unique talents, some are not ready to drink the Kool-Aid just yet and that’s okay. There should be plenty to go around once the season starts.