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The Falcons rookies began reporting to training camp earlier this week, so we’re slowly emerging from the drudgery of the offseason. We’ve got insight on camp battles, a plan for fans to attend games, and more in Thursday’s edition of Falcoholinks.
Looming camp battles: Left guard
The training camp fight for the left guard spot will be one of the most notable as training camp gets into full swing. The Falcons brought in Jamon Brown and James Carpenter in 2019 with aims that one of them could hold down the left side of the line. Injury and woeful play quickly torpedoed those plans, so the new season approaches without a penciled-in solution at left guard.
With third-rounder Matt Hennessy now in the fold along with Matt Gono and offseason signing Justin McCray, there are more bodies to compete and seize the spot outright.
They will have to put in all of their good work in training camp, however, as there will be no 2020 preseason.
Attendance at The Benz
The issue of fans in the stands is one of the more pressing decisions that each NFL team has to make as the 2020 season nears. As we saw Tuesday, both the Jets and Giants will not have fans in attendance for the upcoming season due to a New Jersey order.
The Falcons announced their plans for fans this year, with a 10,000-20,000 capacity at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2020.
Player profiles: Julio Jones
This doesn’t need many words. Just look at that spider graph, man.
Over/Under: O-Line
Here’s a wager where you’ll hope that under wins out: How many sacks will the offensive line give up in 2020? The Falcons’ O-Line surrendered 48 sacks last season, which ranked near the bottom of the league.
For the upcoming season we’ve set the line at 39.5 sacks. Where are you putting your money?
What if?
Our “What If?” series rolls on, with the question of, “What if the Atlanta Falcons had not let Deion Sanders test free agency?”. Deion headed off to San Francisco after the 1994 season, and charted a Hall of Fame career that came to a close in 2005. The decision to let Sanders hit the open market is one of the bigger “What could have been” scenarios in franchise history.
The Falcoholic Live Episode 109
An extra special episode this week, as Kevin Knight and The Falcoholic Crew were joined by former Falcons guard Kynan Forney to discuss the coming season and the development of Atlanta’s offensive line. If you missed the live broadcast, you can catch the full replay right here.