3 Atlanta Falcons Rookies Who Might Not See the Field in Their First Year

Every rookie season is different. For some, they’re thrown right into the thick of things. For others, they may have time to learn the ropes and become a professional in the league they’re in. The NFL is no different, and neither is a team like the Atlanta Falcons, who are trying to go from average to respectable. Atlanta should be a contender for the NFC South this year, but we’ll see.

Atlanta is coming off its third straight 7-10 season. While former head coach Arthur Smith was fired, Terry Fontenot remained as general manager. Despite hitting more than he missed in his first three selections, the Falcons’ first-round pick this year was highly controversial. There’s nothing wrong with Michael Penix Jr. as a player or person, but you already had Kirk Cousins, man.

While Penix is ​​part of the Falcons’ long-term plans, he’s one of a handful of Fontenot draft picks who could spend more time on the bench than on the field in their first season in the league. There’s nothing wrong with that, as Atlanta should have one of the best rosters in the NFC this season. It’s all about player development, or at least that should be the case for Raheem Morris’ staff.

Here are three Falcons draft picks I think will spend more time on the sidelines than playing.

I loved watching Jase McClellan play at Alabama. He may not have had the prestige of the other Crimson Tide running backs before him, but he certainly had the durability. Again, I’d like to see him run more often in the Atlanta backfield this year as a rookie, but I don’t know… It has everything to do with him being buried behind Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier on the running back depth chart.

While he was drafted by Morris, keep in mind that Robinson and Allgeier were previous Fontenot picks. The other important thing to know is that Morris comes from the Rams, which means his new offensive coordinator, Zac Robinson, comes from Sean McVay’s coaching tree. What that implies is that Atlanta will be running a lot of personnel at 11, which means three wide receivers and no fullbacks.

Injuries could force McClellan into action early, but only one running back will be on the field at a time.

This is probably the most likely scenario, but there is a scenario in which Michael Penix Jr. plays a ton. That would require Cousins ​​to get hurt, and no one wants to see that happen. Right now, Penix is ​​Atlanta’s second-best quarterback option, but I would venture a guess that third-round pick Taylor Heinicke will have some role on this team, either as an emergency quarterback or a true backup.

Penix may be older coming out of Washington, but he may need a little more development than expected at the NFL level. He’s shown to be a quick learner, as he’s become a college football star while running Kalen DeBoer’s system at both U-Dub and Indiana before that. All things being equal, Cousins ​​will be the Falcons’ starter this year and next before we see what happens before the 2026 season.

Penix was not selected to play this year in Atlanta. The plan was always to have him replace Cousins.

Zion Logue may be my dog, but I have a hard time seeing him playing much as a rookie for the Falcons. The sixth-round pick out of Georgia is currently the Falcons’ third option at nose tackle behind David Onyemata and LaCale London. Even though the Falcons have a 3-4 base defense under Jimmy Lake, the defensive tackle position appears to be absolutely overloaded.

That would be Grady Jarrett’s position with fellow Clemson player Ruke Orhorhoro backing him up. Atlanta also used a fourth-round pick on former Oregon standout Brandon Dorlus to be that defensive end/defensive tackle hybrid to back up Zach Harrison. In short, Logue is too far down the depth chart heading into this year to be anything more than a rotation piece or special teams player.

I’m not saying he’s a guy who won’t survive training camp, but Atlanta has invested a lot on defense.