Drake London wants to take a big step. Atlanta Falcons say ‘Sky is the limit’

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Drake London sits on the side of a small grassy hill outside IBM Performance Field, the phone raised to his ear while his legs are spread out before him.

It’s June 11 and London is enjoying his last moments in Flowery Branch before heading home to California for the Falcons’ six-week summer vacation. He seems relaxed, with an air of West Coast cool to his mannerisms.

And while London, who grew up about an hour northwest of Los Angeles and attended the University of Southern California, will cherish California’s beaches and Hollywood breezes, he enters the getaway with a spirit of business.

“In my eyes, I think that’s when the season really starts,” London said on June 11. “In my opinion, we’re on our way right now. Once we get home, we’re off.”

For London, OTAs and minicamps marked the start of the ramp-up period, an important time to form chemistry with quarterback Kirk Cousins ​​and a plethora of new names in Atlanta’s receiver room , including Darnell Mooney, Ray-Ray McCloud and Rondale Moore. .

But perhaps more importantly, it was the start of what London hopes will be a season marked by a new milestone as a player – a goal he already has a mental plan for on how to achieve.

“Be a complete receiver,” London said. “Be someone who can take over games and just be a great teammate overall. I think I can improve in a lot of those things, and I think I should.”

Since being drafted 8th overall in 2022, London has been the Falcons’ best player, leading the team in targets, catches and receiving yards in each of his two professional campaigns.

The 23-year-old Londoner found a way to produce despite being hit by poor quarterback play.

In 2022, he caught a franchise rookie record 72 passes for 866 yards and four touchdowns. He followed suit with 69 receptions for 905 yards and two scores in 2023 while missing one game with a groin injury.

London received passes from three quarterbacks – Marcus Mariota, Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke – who are expected to be backups in Week 1 this fall.

It’s a different story this time. Cousins ​​is a four-time Pro Bowler with a career completion rate of 66.9% and nearly 40,000 passing yards to his name. He received praise from his new teammates for his leadership and precision.

London likes Cousins ​​off the field, noting that he embodies the personality of a father of two but is a quality individual. Along with Mooney and tight end Kyle Pitts, London and Cousins ​​developed their chemistry during a trip to visit former NFL head coach Jon Gruden in Tampa before OTAs began.

And the more time London spends with Cousins, the more confident he becomes. The same is true for Cousins ​​when evaluating London’s skills at 6-4, 219 pounds.

“Just a very natural receiver, really friendly target,” Cousins ​​said near the end of the OTAs. “He kind of looks open to your eyes as a quarterback because of his size, the way he runs routes, his catch radius, his natural hands, his fluidity. And he can go through the entire route tree, so you can ask it to do a lot.

“And he’s tough, he’s a competitor.”

Cousins ​​added that London is a very talented and skilled player that he feels fortunate to work with, and he sees London and Mooney as playing important roles in Atlanta’s offense this year.

And while London looks likely to benefit from signing Cousins, the street goes both ways – and Mooney believes London is making Cousins’ life easier.

“He can really just throw the ball to Drake and he’ll intimidate him,” Mooney said.

London’s past production suggests so — but when Falcons wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard first spoke with reporters in February, he said he wanted more from the former star player. USC.

This was not a slight, Hilliard said, but rather an understanding of London’s potential.

“There’s so much more to get from an extremely talented guy like Drake, and he knows it,” Hilliard told FalconsSI on May 22. “He wants every constructive criticism there is, any nugget to help him improve. Any ball thrown his way, he wants it to be his.”

London finds himself in perhaps the best situation he’s been in, surrounded by a true No. 2 receiver in Mooney for the first time in his young career and a wide receivers coach in Hilliard who held this position at the highest level of the sport.

Beyond Cousins ​​and the receiver room, Atlanta should be geared more toward the aerial attack under offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, with London saying the ball will be in the air often in 2024.

The Falcons front office, which was unaffected by the coaching change in January, witnessed London’s moments of brilliance and high level of play. The new staff, including Hilliard, Robinson and head coach Raheem Morris, wants to make these blitzes the new normal.

“I think everyone internally knew how talented he is,” Hilliard said. “We’re just hoping, offensively, to give him more opportunities to touch the ball and show the world who he really is.”

London took a step closer to showing his true personality last season. He had his two most productive games as a professional in 2023, with a 10-catch, 172-yard performance against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a nine-catch, 125-yard performance against the Washington Commanders highlighting his season.

But the Falcons lost both of those games, a fact underlying a surprising trend that permeates London’s entire career. He has 10 games with at least 70 receiving yards, and the Falcons are just 3-7 in those affairs while London has just one touchdown to his name.

In London’s three least productive games – games in which he had zero, two and eight receiving yards – the Falcons are 3-0, although two of those wins came against teams that ultimately won the No. 1 draft picks for the 2022 Chicago Bears and 2023 Carolina Panthers and the other against the 2023 New York Jets, who played Tim Boyle and Trevor Siemian at quarterback.

But those results, both in terms of team performances and London’s contributions, look set to change.

The team’s expectations are high for Atlanta this fall, with the addition of Cousins ​​making the path to winning the NFC South much more reasonable. And as the Falcons soar, so should London’s stock.

Expectations for London in 2024? High – certainly from those in the organization, but perhaps no one has higher hopes than himself.

London wants to reach a new level. How high the ceiling is is anyone’s guess, and Hilliard doesn’t put a ceiling on the production and accolades London can get this season.

“The sky’s the limit, man,” Hilliard said.