Breaking down the Falcons snap counts for Week 1

Are you ready for some week 1 snap counts?

Good, because they follow immediately below. We don’t waste your time, here.

Offense

On a day in which the Falcons avoided any major injuries, the entire offensive line and Matt Ryan played all 59 snaps. Devonta and Tevin split up backfield appearances at approximately 60/40, with 1 snap where they both appeared on the field. Julio and Sanu were both on the field for approximately 80% of the game. Saubert saw his very first NFL on-field action and Andre Roberts also snuck in two blink-and-you’ll-miss-them snaps.

Andy Levitre 59

Wes Schweitzer 59

Ryan Schraeder 59

Jake Matthews 59

Alex Mack 59

Matt Ryan 59

Mohamed Sanu 48

Julio Jones 48

Austin Hooper 47

Devonta Freeman 36

Taylor Gabriel 31

Levine Toilolo 29

Tevin Coleman 24

Justin Hardy 15

Derrick Coleman 13

Eric Saubert 2

Andre Roberts 2

Defense

The top 2 safeties, top 2 cornerbacks, and Deion Jones form the stable of 5 defensive players who stay on the field for essentially every snap, while the remainder of the defensive front mixes and matches. One wonders if Grady Jarrett and Dontari Poe would have received as many snaps as they did (50 and 43, respectively) if Ra’Shede Hageman hadn’t been suspended (and released). Vic Beasley surprisingly played fewer than half of the defensive snaps, and saw the field 2 fewer times than Jack Crawford(!) There was a near-even split of snaps between the outside linebackers, with Duke Riley getting 49 and De’Vondre Campbell getting 47. The other 2 defensive drafted rookies (Takk and Kazee) got their NFL feet wet at the very bottom of the list.

Robert Alford 67

Keanu Neal 67

Deion Jones 67

Ricardo Allen 67

Desmond Trufant 65

Grady Jarrett 50

Duke Riley 49

De’Vondre Campbell 47

Dontari Poe 43

Brian Poole 36

Jack Crawford 32

Brooks Reed 32

Vic Beasley 30

Derrick Shelby 26

Adrian Clayborn 25

Courtney Upshaw 18

Takk McKinley 14

Damontae Kazee 2

Special Teams

Rookies Saubert, Grace, and Kazee have quickly worked their way into becoming core special teamers, with Grace stepping up with LaRoy Reynolds is on injured reserve. In a game during which the Falcons did not have to deploy any 4 CB defensive looks, C.J. Goodwin’s lone snaps came on special teams. In fact, Goodwin, Ishmael, Ward, and Grace were all able to focus 100% of their Sunday attention to the special teams units.

Specialists

Matt Bosher 14

Andre Roberts 9

Josh Harris 8

Matt Bryant 5

Others with 10 or more special teams snaps

C.J. Goodwin 19

Kemal Ishmael 19

Terron Ward 16

Justin Hardy 16

Derrick Coleman 16

Eric Saubert 16

Jermaine Grace 13

Damontae Kazee 13

Robert Alford 11