Falcoholinks: All the Falcons news you need for Monday, July 26

I’m going on vacation this week, which is awesome. Before that: LINKS.

Training camp begins

The Falcons get 2021 training camp underway this Thursday, July 29th — so the offseason drudgery is about to subside! This is your annual reminder, however: do not fall in love with training camp heroes.

The Atlanta Falcons are a franchise in transition, and while we can levy our best-educated guess on how their record will look at the end of the season, they’re entering training camp with their 2021 fortunes still very murky.

Our pre-camp coverage works a bit to clear up some of the uncertainty by looking at the options position-by-position. Our recent update in this series took a look at the perpetual black hole that is the edge spot on Atlanta’s defense.

93% of Falcons vaccinated

Far above the NFL’s baseline to prevent team restrictions, the Falcons players are 93% vaccinated against COVID-19. The Athletic’s Jeff Schultz reports that only seven unnamed players have not received the shot.

Setting aside the clear health and safety benefits of having such a high vaccination rate on the team, the NFL’s recent memo has clear in-season implications for unvaccinated outbreaks on teams.

Atlanta Jersey History: Nos. 46 - 50.

We’ve reached the halfway point in our Will McFadden’s series of best players to wear the number in Atlanta. Who gets the nod with numbers 46 - 50?

Fantasy outlook: TE Hayden Hurst

Will the addition of rookie tight end Kyle Pitts help or hurt Hayden Hurst’s fantasy production? Our Evan Birchfield took a look in his fantasy preview.

Forgotten Falcons

You didn’t forget Falcons running back Haskel Stanback, did you? Well if you did or didn’t, get reacquainted in our Forgotten Falcons series.