FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — After one of the busiest offseasons in recent history, the Falcons will play their first meaningful game of the 2024 season on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steleers at 1 p.m. ET in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Atlanta started free agency with a bang with the addition of Kirk Cousins at quarterback, and they ended the preseason in a flourish by signing safety Justin Simmons and trading for outside linebacker Matthew Judon. Those are hardly the only impactful moves for the organization, though, and that's without even bringing up the coaching staff.
So, with the stage finally set for the Falcons to take the field, this week's question is pretty simple: Which aspect of this team are we most curious to see come kickoff Sunday? Our writers Tori McElhaney, Will McFadden, Terrin Waack and Amna Subhan are ready to share their thoughts.
McELHANEY: I mean, there's one obvious answer to this, right? It has to be the Kirk Cousins Effect™.
Or better yet, the accuracy of Cousins and how it changes the scope and productivity of this offense, particularly for players like Drake London, Kyle Pitts and Bijan Robinson.
I wrote a little bit about this in Tuesday’s mailbag, so I am quoting myself by saying this now, but Cousins' pocket presence cannot be overstated. He has a 66.9% completion rate through his 12 years in the league. For context, Matt Ryan had a career completion rate of 65.6%, while current active quarterbacks like Matthew Stafford and Aaron Rodgers land between 63-65.3%.
Since becoming a full-time starter in 2015 (and excluding his shortened 2023 season), Cousins has averaged more than 4,000 passing yards a year. He threw for 234 touchdowns during that eight-year stint. There's a reason the Falcons paid Cousins what they did this offseason: It's for continued production in this same vein.
The effect of having an offense powered by Cousins should be felt immediately. And after a couple years of quarterback purgatory in Atlanta, it'll be nice to see what players like London and Pitts – specifically – can do with Cousins' accuracy.
McFADDEN: I'm extremely interested to see how the Falcons utilize their safety duo of Justin Simmons and Jessie Bates this season. And while I do expect their deployment to evolve as the season does, we should get a pretty good early look against the Steelers, Eagles and Chiefs.
Both players are talented, experienced and seem capable of processing a lot of information quickly. There's no better position for those qualifications than safety, especially in a defense that should be very multiple in its deployment.
When coaches talk about the back end and the front end of a defense working in tandem, that can extend far beyond a play, itself. Schematically, having a versatile pair of safeties allows a defensive coordinator to shift his defensive front around and change responsibilities quickly. Adding a player of Simmons' caliber alongside a team captain like Bates will not only make the secondary better, but I believe it will have a ripple effect across the entire defense.
I was already excited to see what Raheem Morris and defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake would do after their accomplishments in Los Angeles last year. Now, however, it feels like one of my favorite actors has joined the cast of my most-anticipated movie.
WAACK: Bijan Robinson made a rather bold statement back in June when he said the Falcons plan to use him in 2024 more so like the San Francisco 49ers did Christian McCaffrey in 2023.
McCaffrey, aka the Madden NFL 25's cover star, led the league with 1,459 rushing yards last season. He scored 14 rushing touchdowns, which ranked second among running backs and was third most among all players. Miami Dolphins' Raheem Mostert led with 18. Then, two quarterbacks snuck into the mix with 15.
Anyway, to further fuel the fire, Falcons head coach Raheem Morris supported not only Robinson's claim but also Robinson's confidence. Sure. Robinson can be Atlanta's own version of McCaffrey. They're both talented. One's potential has just been realized already. It's now the other's time.
Oddly enough, both got their starts as No. 8 overall draft picks: McCaffrey in 2017 and Robinson in 2023.
Robinson ultimately had a stronger debut. Where he led all rookies with 976 rushing yards, McCaffrey had 435 that placed him 10th. McCaffrey did, however, have his first of what is currently four 1,000-yard rushing seasons the next year.
And that sophomore surge could be what's in store for Robinson if the Falcons do adapt a run-first mentality for him specifically.
Robinson scored eight touchdowns last season, but that total split evenly between rushing and receiving. It should, in theory, be skewed more so toward the run in 2024 based off this possible plan. For comparison, Detroit Lions' Jahmyr Gibbs had 10 rushing touchdowns as a rookie last year despite fewer rushing yards (945). Robinson could – some, like yours truly, would argue should – be in the end zone more this season after lessons learned last season.
SUBHAN: When Week 1 kicks off, I'll be paying special attention from the very start. The NFL overhauled kickoff in the offseason, and while we've seen glimpses of it during the preseason, it's going to be very different in the regular season.
I'm also very excited to watch Avery Williams in action. Williams will return both kicks and punts this season, according to the first depth chart of the regular season. I started covering the Falcons in July 2023, Williams sustained a season-ending injury a month before. I, honestly, didn't know what he looked like until I saw him suit up during OTAs this offseason.
He also has quite a resume to back up the intrigue and mystique. Before his injury, Williams averaged 16.2 yards per return — which led the NFL — on punts and 19.6 yards on kickoffs in 2022. Between six returners last year the Falcons averaged 7.2 and 16.9 yards per return on punts and kickoffs, respectively. Williams recorded 605 total returning yards that season. Last season the Falcons finished with 475 returning yards. Williams' longest return was for 56 yards off a punt. In 2023 the longest for Atlanta was 29 on a kickoff.
Needless to say, Williams was certainly missed last season.
Now, he returns (literally and figuratively) when the lights are the brightest on special teams. I can't wait to see what he's able to do.
