Drake London’s injury is “fine;” expected to play Week 1

The Falcons are hoping to kick off the post-Matt Ryan era on the right foot. That means its players being healthy and ready to go when the season gets rolling. As is pretty standard around there, that plan hit a setback when Drake London went down with a knee injury in the first preseason game against the Detroit Lions.

While it looked pretty worrisome at the time, we found out the next day the knee injury was minor. That was good news for all, but London has yet to practice against the New York Jets the week ahead of their preseason matchup.

NFL Insider Jordan Schultz gave us the first concrete news on London’s knee and his timeline.

The news is great, make no question about that. The Falcons are certainly putting their best plan in place, which is ensuring London is as healthy as possible before playing against the New Orleans Saints in Week 1.

The concern is London will be missing a lot of practice and snaps with his starting quarterback Marcus Mariota. Receivers typically take some time to adjust to the NFL. Add Mariota as the quarterback and weeks of missed practice likely means fans need patience for London. Remember Calvin Ridley, considered a more polished prospect, had an up and down rookie season with a more qualified quarterback.

The good news is London should be a full go. The bad news is this team will need some significant luck to get out the gate with a quick start.