Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Franchise Focus: Atlanta Falcons

Episode Date: July 29, 2022

Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) invites Falcons reporter and host of The Falcoholic Kevin Knight (@FalcoholicKevin) to discuss the upcoming season for the Atlanta Falcons. The Franchise Focus Podcast series is brought to you by Underdog Fantasy (@UnderdogFantasy). New users can sign up to Underdog using promo code FANTASYPTS for up to $100 in bonus cash on their first deposit. Visit fantasypoints.com/underdog for more info. The podcast series is also sponsored by Evan's Sports Cards & Collectibles (@evanscards). Follow @EvansCards on Twitter for weekly updates and card releases, Like on Facebook, and head to evanssportsnj.com for more info, including the always-updated eBay store. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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from numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. Welcome back to the franchise focus podcast here at Fantasy Points.com. My name is Joe Dolan. We are in the final week of the franchise focus podcast. and a little bit less than last year, but good nonetheless, we have bled just ever so slightly into training camp, and that's interesting because my guess right now,

he is coming from training camp practice. You are the first one, Kevin, to do that on the franchise focus podcast. His name is Kevin Knight. He covers the Falcons for the Falcaholic. He's a reporter, editor, and writer, and he also hosts and produced Falchaholic Live and the Falcaholic Pod. Kevin is in Atlanta for Training Camp.

A flowery branch, I guess, is what they call it down there. It was a little bit late because, well, he underestimated Atlanta traffic, certainly something that none of us will ever want to do once you're in Atlanta one time. Kevin, welcome to the show. Thank you for joining me. I'm glad you have some fresh observations to offer up the podcast. Yeah, appreciate you having me on. It was mercifully a little bit less hot today, but the traffic, unfortunately, was more merciless.

So it's a little bit of a wash there, but happy to be here. It's great to have you on the show, Kevin. My name's Joe Dolan, by the way. I know you probably know that since if you've been following along. I've done 32 of these. This is actually the final one I'm recording, but it's the second to last one you guys are going to listen to until we get to the Browns one, which we haven't done for obvious reasons.

But you guys also know by now that the franchise focus series of podcasts is brought to you by Evans Evans Sports Cards and Collectibles, the best place for cards, collectibles, autographs, and more. When we do a memorabilia giveaway at fantasy points, it's from Evans. and Evans always has the latest boxes and releases from Panini Upper Deck Tops and more. And it's a family-owned small business, not a super store. And it's great for an in-person visit if you're in the Philadelphia area. But if you're not in the Philadelphia area, go to Evans Cards on Twitter at Evans Cards for weekly updates and card releases,

which you can also see by liking Evans on Facebook and heading to Evansportsnj.com for more info, which includes the always updated eBay store, which is basically just an online storefront for the real Evans. in person. 21st century shopping, you can do it at Evans. That's Evansportsnj.com online and at Evans cards on Twitter and then tell them when you go that the guys from Fantasy Points.com sent you. So Kevin, at this point, I think we all know what the writing is on the wall with the Falcons, right? This is going to be a rebuilding season. Once the failed pursuit of Deshaun Watson went down, the trade of Matt Ryan went down. I think everybody knows. that that this roster needs an injection of youth. That means there's a bridge quarterback right now.

You seem adamant when talking to you off air that Marcus Marietta is going to be the starting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons. How confident are you that he's able to last, let's say most of the season, while holding off Desmond Ritter, who at minimum is at least an intriguing young rookie quarterback who maybe fell a little bit further in the draft that people thought. How confident are you that Marioota can start the overwhelming majority of the games this year? Yeah, I think it's less about Marioita or excuse me, Marioitas. We were given a pronunciation lesson at the presser today. It is Mariota, like Mario and Luigi.

So I'm going to spread the gospel. It's Mario. It's Mario. Not Mario, yeah. Exactly. Yeah. So I think honestly, Mario is going to be very, much a pleasant surprise based on what I've seen so far.

So I think when he is pulled, which I do believe will happen, is going to be more because the Falcons are out of it 100% in terms of the playoff race. Right now I'm expecting that, and maybe I'm a little bit optimistic as a Falcons fan myself, to be right around week 11 against the Bears. I think that's a logical time to insert Desmond Ritter into the lineup against what should be a winnable game. So that's my projection right now is that Mario da, that Mario da, will make it 11 games or so or at least two week 11.

And we'll see if he gets any more than that. I think if the Falcons are better than expected, Mariota could play the whole year. I think that's, you know, honestly unlikely. But I do think that Mariota, and I'm sure we'll talk about it here, I think he does have some appeal as a late round quarterback, especially for your two quarterback in Superplex leagues.

You know, one of the things that I was surprised with Mario dao, though, and when when I was going through, like, looking for Superflex stuff and I was in the Scott Fish Bowl, which of course is a Superflex, I think people have this view of Marioada as the Chip Kelly Marcus Mariota, right? The guy who's using the zone read and he's taken off down the field, I don't know how surprised you were looking at the numbers, but in Marcus Mariota's career starts, he actually averages only 22 rush yards per game, which really took me by surprise. That's actually less than Daniel Jones. you anticipate this offense, which obviously Mariotta knows because of his work with Arthur

Smith, do you anticipate this offense will allow him to run a little bit more than maybe he has in the past? I think so. And we did see it in a limited sample size in Las Vegas when he came in and was actually very effective running the ball. That was one of his calling cards, like you said, in college. And I think more than anything, it's been the injuries that have sort of kept him from really unleashing the ground part of his game. I think you always have to be concerned about that. I think the Falcons are going to be less concerned about the injuries for him because look, you know, if the worst should happen,

and certainly no one's hoping for that in any way. But if the worst should happen, you just get a look at Desmond Ritter a little bit earlier. And I think they really want to see, you know, Marcus go out there, give us everything you've got. And like, there's a, there's a possibility. There's a universe where Marcus Mariotta goes out there. and plays really well and does stick around as the starter if the falcons are a lot better than people are projecting. But yeah, I do expect that the quarterback run will be a part of this

offense, much like it's been with Ryan Tannahill in Tennessee under Arthur Smith, where it's very much a passing first situation for Mariotta, but that they will be unafraid to use him in the run game and he's going to have liberty to scramble whenever he feels like it's a good time to do so, and particularly in the Red Zone, you know, we've seen Tannahill in his years with Arthur Smith, that he was able to get some pretty good touchdown production on the ground especially, and I think that is an outcome we could see with Mario da this year. So, first and foremost, you've been at training camp, and this is actually a really unique chance for me to shoot you some questions about what you've seen.

I just finished writing up the Falcons, like my little preview for them, basically like two hours before we even recorded this podcast. And one of the things that I was coming away with was a lot of intrigue when it comes to the passing game, how these wide receivers are going to line up because Drake London is a big body. Brian Edwards is a big body. Kyle Pitts obviously is a big body who lined up in the slot and outside more than basically any tight end in the NFL last year. And I look at Brian Edwards stats and this is a guy who has been far more effective in the state. slot in his career than he has been outside. I know Drake London was a prospect who many thought he was a little polarizing. Many thought he was somebody who might transition best as a big

slot. And we know Kyle Pitts is great as a big slot. Have you observed the usage of these wide receivers, not to put too much on your plate right now after just a couple of practices, but have you observed these wide receivers? And do you have an inkling about how these big receivers are going to be utilized and moved around in Arthur Smith's offense? Yeah, we have some hints. I do have a copious amount of wide receiver tight-in and running back clips on my Twitter page. So if you're really antsy to see what these guys look like, you can see some of those reps in just a handful of 7-on-7. They unfortunately don't let me record the 11-on-11 stuff, which would be nice if that would happen.

But, you know, we can't have everything. And yeah, I would say that there's a lot of rotation going on with Brian Edwards, with Drake London, in terms of those guys did play some in the slot, did play outside as well. We also have seen Alamede Zakias, honestly, be a lot more entrenched as one of the starters than I think some maybe were expecting. They did give him that restricted free agent tender, which is $2.43 million, making him, I believe, the outside of Drake London's first round pick contract, I believe the highest paid receiver on the roster right now.

And Zakias is getting the starting reps. He's clearly involved. The coaching staff really likes him as well. And he's another guy that can play some in the slot and outside. So I think the goal here is to have a variety of guys in a lot more size to help out these quarterbacks, particularly a young guy like Desmond Ritter, where he might just seem to chuck it up. You know, if he's struggling, if he's under pressure with this offensive line that I'm sure we'll talk about, that they're going to be able to just put the ball out there and these guys can go get it.

another name that I'll put out there is Auden Tate, who was the most impressive receiver on day one. Obviously, had that one very impressive season with the Bengals before getting hurt, and injuries have sort of always been the story of his career. But he had a great day on day one, a little quieter today. That tends to happen. But he's a guy that catches everything. You throw his way, never going to be a burner down field. But he could have had a deep touchdown today. The pass rush got to Mario, Mariotta, and he had to.

check it down. But he was opened downfield. He's been impressive. He's maybe a really deep guy to keep an eye on. But it is suddenly, you know, from the beginning of this offseason when Calvin Ridley got suspended and they had literally, Zakias was like the only guy you could say had any NFL experience whatsoever really to his name. Now there's actually potentially a log gym where we can see some of these guys getting cut. And I think that's exciting for Falcons fans that not all of these guys are going to be great receivers and I'm not sure we're going to have anyone finish. Maybe Drake London has a shot at like a top 20 wide receiver two sort of finish because of the volume and, you know, his talent level. But going forward, I think there are some pieces here,

especially for Dynasty players to keep an eye on Zakias, I think, is going to be in this team's plans long term. And Brian Edwards, he's still on his rookie contract for one more year. That's another guy to keep a close eye on. So let's go to, look, the Falcons we understand last year was not a a year for them. But they did have one breakout fantasy star, and that was Cordero Patterson. Let's get to that backfield, though, because Patterson got a little dinged up at the end of the year. You know, he had never handled this kind of workload before. He wore down. His production in the second half really was not where it was in the first half. It's kind of a two-prong question, though. Do the Falcons think Patterson is better prepared to handle more of a workload this year?

Or do we kind of know what he is at this point? And we should expect somebody like maybe rookie Tyler Algier to work in and handle a good bit of those kind of between the tackles carries. Yeah, it's interesting. I don't think Cordarelle Patterson will get more touches than last year. I think they don't, I think if anything, we could see about the same number overall. More of those may be coming in terms of receptions, which, let's be honest, probably more valuable touches anyway. I think they are cognizant of Patterson as being a really special talent.

but a guy that is older, it is possible that he will wear down if he used too much like we saw last year. I think they're going to take a lot of those early down carries off of his plate and utilize him more as the chess piece that he is. They're going to play him in the backfield still. They're going to flex him out wide. They're going to do all kinds of stuff with him. But I think it's going to be more as a high leverage situation player,

red zone stuff. So I think there's a realistic chance that he sort of maintains his value from last year on a similar number of touches. but that's such as going up. Hopefully you're hoping for more efficiency from him, maybe more of those coming in the form of receptions. In terms of the rest of the backfield, it's a jumble right now of guys,

and it's obviously really hard to evaluate the run game with very little contact. I mean, it's sort of like, oh, was that a tackle or was that a broken tackle? You have no idea. So guys like Tyler Algier, the rookie, harder to evaluate because he's a physical guy that's going to go in and break tackles.

He did have a really good run on day one that they technically blew it dead after about five, yards, but he would have broken that tackle, I guarantee it. And that would have been a big, big run. I think he's a guy they really want to give a lot of work to. I think he's going to be in the mix for those early down carries. And then today, the MVP of the ground game was definitely Damien Williams, the veteran. We've seen him be a factor for fantasy before when called upon. I don't expect him to be a volume guy, but if you're looking for a prime sort of waiver wire pickups, should an injury occur in the Falcons backfield, uh, I, Damien Williams is going to be the

primary backup. So if Patterson or Alger were to go down for any amount of time, Damien Williams would probably step into a significant role in this backfield. He's the other one I would circle, whereas the final spot is probably going to go to Avery Williams, who's going to be the returner. I know Quadri Olson is sort of a sleeper for a lot of people. I'd be kind of surprised if Avery Williams doesn't make it considering he's the returner and the favorite to win that job. But if someone else were to emerge as the returner, then I think quadrioleson would make it, and he's still a guy that's going to stick around on the practice squad. So this is a little bit of trivia and it doesn't really have a whole lot of utility for fantasy,

but did you know that on the Falcons roster, the top two players in career catches are both running backs? That doesn't surprise. It just goes to show you how really inexperienced this receiving group is, but I want to circle back to Kyle Pitts. Number one, can we get this guy in the damn end zone, please? Like, please get in the end zone. I mean, I'm sure you guys, you play fantasy, but I'm sure you guys know, if you're a

Falcons fan last year, you really want Kyle Pitts to get in the end zone and show his stuff. Great season. What kind of happened with the touchdowns, though? Was there any explanation or is it just kind of a fluky thing? I think it was a fluky thing. I can't remember who did the advanced analysis on it. It was one of the big fantasy sites. They looked at basically his targets in the red zone and all these various other things.

things and determined that in an average season he probably would have had six touchdowns. So I think it was a lot of bad luck. And just the fact that look, this is a guy that was the only major threat in the red zone for the Falcons, getting double, sometimes triple teamed as a rookie. That's just something that's really hard to overcome, even for the most talented players. I think that this year he's going to be a lot more comfortable, a lot more confident. And look, let's be honest, they've got Drake London and they've got Brian Edwards and they've got a bunch of other skyscraper guys that you can't just focus on Kyle Pitts anymore. It's not just

Cordorale Patterson. If you can block him up in the backfield and double Kyle Pitts, then you got nothing else to worry about. I don't know how good all of these guys will be, but going with all of these big players, there's going to be opportunities for some jump balls down there. And I think the Falcon's goal early on is going to be to demonstrate that they're going to beat you if you focus three, especially three, but if you're going to take away Kyle Pitts, we're going to have at least one other guy that can get into the end zone. And I know fantasy players are hoping it's Drake London. It could easily be Kyle Pitts getting a lot of touchdowns as well. He's just that good. You know, I would never talk anyone out of drafting Kyle Pitts ever. I still think he's going to

have a good year. You know, it's drafting him where you are, I think he's going in like the third round still. You're you're obviously buying at the ceiling there. I won't talk you out of it because his ceiling is right. Unquestionably high. Like it's unprecedented. He could basically have any sort of season and it probably wouldn't shock anyone. I think his floor is pretty high too. So it's, I don't know how good it'll be, you know, with with the quarterback situation the way it is. But I'll just say that I've been pretty impressed with Mario, Mariotta so far. And I think that he will be able to at least the fantasy value of the elite pieces like cordial Patterson and Kyle Pitts afloat. I don't know if there will be enough to feed everybody else in the offense, but I think Kyle Pitts,

you can take him and feel good about it. So one of the things I noticed on your Twitter feed today was you talking about the offensive line rotation. And I don't know the exact quote of like the responses that I saw on your page, but it's like, I'm in pain. And why are they doing this to me? So I gather that the expectations from falcon fans for the offensive line are not very high right now. What is your outlook for the line?

Because obviously if you're betting on a running back or if you're betting on a quarterback to not get creamed, you want good blockers to be up front. Yeah, it's concerning. The Falcons have two really good offensive linemen. They have left tackle Jake Matthews and they have right guard Chris Lindstrom. Those guys are your stalwarts. They're the ones that you have no concerns about whatsoever. And you would think you've got, you know, two sort of fringe Pro Bowl type of guys. Obviously, Jake Matthews just made the Pro Bowl before.

Lindstrom probably should have made the Pro Bowl last year, considering the absolute chaos around him. But the other three spots are concerning to various degrees. Left Guard is obviously a flaming dumpster fire in terms of concern. I really am polling for Jalen Mayfield last year, third round pick. He got totally shafted with what happened to him. You know, he had to, he was drafted to play guard after playing tackle at Michigan, was already just a two-year starter at Michigan to begin with. So this is not a guy who had a lot of reps.

Then he moves to the left side to play guard. And within the first couple days of training camp, Caleb McGarry gets hurt. So, and Matt Gono remains on the PUP. So then they're like, well, Jaila Maffa, we need you to play tackle in the preseason, which, I mean, you can't just sign somebody off the street to do that. But whatever, you know, the past is the past. I'm not mad at that at all still. And, you know, so then he has to play tackle.

Yeah, he has to play tackle for a couple weeks. Yeah. Sorry, go, go ahead, but I just remember the week one game. Oh, God. Against Philly. It was so bad. That was brutal. Absolutely brutal.

Are they considering this like a fresh start for him, though, Mayfield? I think, like, they really want him to win the job. And I don't blame them. Like, to be fair to Mayfield, he had the, possibly the worst season I've ever seen from a left guard. This man continued to go out there every game. He didn't look phase. He didn't look like he had given up. He wasn't completely crushed by the deluge of negative press on him. And I think he deserves credit for that. Like, no matter what you do on the field, this is a guy that survived the rookie season from hell. He was done no favors whatsoever by the coaching staff.

And he's still out there. And he's, I think it's fair to give him a shot. The fact that they didn't really sign any legitimate veteran competition was very concerning to me. I've been advocating for like a Quentin Spain signing or Eric Flowers even if they want to actually spend some of this money. We did see over the past couple days that pre-agent Elijah Wilkinson is actually going to play left guard. He is actually factoring into a competition there today. Elijah Wilkinson rotated in to be the starter with the first team. So, you know, that doesn't make me. feel that much better, but at least there will be a competition there. So that's one spot. Center, I feel a little bit better about it. I feel like Matt Hennessy at least had some redeeming

qualities. Andrew Dalman also had some redeeming qualities. So between those two guys, I think you'll be okay at center with them getting more experience. Right tackle is the other one, right? Caleb McGarry, one of the league's worst pass blockers, really good run blockers. So, you know, depending on what the team wants to do, they did bring in veteran Jermaine Afetti, who has basically been a very good past protector and a poor run blocker throughout his career. So it's sort of what's your flavor? You know, what do you want? To me, pass blocking is going to be more important, particularly for a young quarterback. But if they're committed to going to a more run heavy offense, which if they're going to be successful this year, they're going to have to figure out how to run the ball better than they did

last year, which of course was, you know, like the 31st rushing offense in the league. So I, I don't know how it's going to shake you out. It's very concerning. Um, so I, you know, just try to close my eyes and only look at Jake Matthews and Chris Lindstrom, uh, but, you know, if you squint, you can just see those two guys and it looks okay. But the other three, you just, it's bad out there. But, uh, these guys are young, um, you know, right tackle. There's a legitimate competition there, I think, with a Feddy. So if it's the same five starters as last year, I will be very concerned. But if we get a new guy in, a new face in here in a Feddy, like if Fetty takes a lot of it takes a lot of it. over at right tackle, I'll feel good about that.

And I'll feel better also knowing that McGarry beat out, you know, legitimate competition at right tackled and the same thing at the other two spots. But I would still be advocating for another signing at left guard, particularly if this group struggles in the preseason. Yeah, and of course, there's going to be final cuts and all that. And the Falcons are certainly the kind of team that cannot be, cannot be ignoring those final cuts as you look to try to just get the ship on the right track. So, Kevin, I've been asking everybody here for maybe.

a little bit of a fantasy sleeper. I think the Falcons are one of the harder teams because kind of everybody's a fantasy sleeper outside of Kyle Pitts, Patterson, and maybe Drake London. But is there somebody maybe in the receiving core we haven't talked about yet who has an opportunity to come out and maybe make an impact here?

Yeah, I mean, a lot of these other Falcons receivers are basically free in your draft. So just throwing a dart at someone is pretty easy. You know, also like a priority sort of guy to have on your short list for the waiver wire, that sort of thing. I do think Alameda Zakias is going to be a factor no matter how it shakes out in front of him. I think he will be basically the unquestioned wide receiver two, three, depending on the formation. The coaching stuff really likes him.

He's able to do some run after catch stuff. I think he's going to be a deep threat potentially. So best ball, he could be a factor. That would be my sort of choice in terms of the skill position guys. You know, for Dynasty. Tyler Algier is a guy that if he plays. well, he could be the starter going forward. And if he does get that early down roll, you know, there may be something there in terms of like a flex sort of play this year. I don't think the

offense is going to be good enough that they're going to really be piling up the rushing yards this year. But as a long term play potentially there, and then like we said with Marcus Marriota, another guy who's really cheap in your drafts. And as a third quarterback in like a super flex league, I really like that. I think he will get you some weeks that are very helpful for your fantasy team. It's all about developing the young players for the Atlanta Falcons and keeping people healthy. Kevin, I talked to Lester Wilfong, who covers the Bears for your sister site there at SB Nation. And I said, we'll have you back on next year when things are going to be a little juicier. And look, it's one of those seasons.

Maybe the Falcons pleasantly surprised. Maybe they don't. But better days, I believe, Kevin, are ahead. I think they understood when they brought this new regime in that they needed players. on this team and they're ever so slowly getting getting there and developing those players. Yeah, yeah. I think unlike the Carolina Panthers, who I will dunk on relentlessly for not learning from the fact, they didn't learn from the Falcons mistakes.

The Falcons kept Dan Quinn and Dimitroff a year too long and it cost them two years of a rebuild that they could have started. And the Panthers are doing it right now with Matt Rule. The Falcons, on the other hand, have decided to take their medicine now. go with the bridge quarterback, bring in a third round guy, take a shot. They're basically the opposite of Carolina Panthers who just keep clinging to like, let's just get another veteran quarterback. Let's draft a rookie.

Let's not draft a rookie. Like they have no idea what they're doing. They just keep delaying the inevitable. And that's why the Panthers are going to be stuck in purgatory even longer where the Falcons, I think you could see the light at the end of the tunnel as early as next year. And, you know, I'm not expecting great things this year. Probably not even next year. But I think you could see the bones of the rebuild this year.

and this team is going to be flush with Capspace next year. They're going to have an opportunity to go out and add a lot of talent and probably have a premium draft pick too, if we're being honest. So excited to see what happens going forward. I have to ask you one thing. Julio in a Bucs uniform, how does that feel? You know, it's top 10 greatest anime betrayals. So it's, you know, no, it's,

Julio's going for that ring. I don't blame him. I don't need the falcons shade at the press comments or anything like that. You know, I can do without that. But I don't blame him. I hope he is successful. Julio's maybe my favorite player of all time. The reconciliation will occur.

He will be a Falcons ring of honor member, you know, probable Hall of Fame or so, you know, I'll just look the other way when I see him out there in a Bucks uniform. His name is Kevin Knight. You can follow him on Twitter at Falchaholic Kevin, and he works for the Falchaholic, hence you know, his name is Kevin, alcoholic, therefore, falcaholic, Kevin. It makes a lot of sense, Kevin.

Thank you so much for joining me, my friend, on this podcast. We'll be following along with you on training camp and the preseason. And we'll be talking to you in better days down the road as well for the Atlanta Falcons. But it's good to get your perspective. Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. Absolutely. Thanks for having me on. Joe. It was a lot of fun. We have, well, two more of these podcasts to release. We have the Arizona Cardinals and then the Cleveland Browns, whenever Graham Barfield and I are able to react to the inevitable there, then we'll talk Cleveland Browns. And then our franchise focus series is done, baby.

And we are heading into August with a clean slate. It is time to draft your fantasy teams. It's been phenomenal talking to you guys. My name is Joe Dolan. Follow me on Twitter at FG underscore Dolan. Thanks, everybody. And we'll talk to you when we get to the Cardinals and we get to the Browns. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points Podcast.

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