Team news: Atlanta Falcons

Falcons WR Julio Jones will not play Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, according to D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal Constitutional.

Jones finishes 2020 with 771 yards in the nine games he played.

Falcons WR Julio Jones will not play Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.

The Falcons will start Calvin Ridley and Russell Gage at receiver.

Atlanta Falcons superstar wide receiver Julio Jones missed Thursday's practice with a hamstring.

The door is rapidly closing on Julio's fantasy season. He will need to show significant overnight improvement to avoid be an early rule out tomorrow. He has been unable to practice all week and has been sidelined since Week 13 with the injury. Calvin Ridley will continue to be a target monster with Julio sidelined. Ridley has seen 34.7% of the targets and 57.3% of the air yards since Julio has been out and is our number three ranked receiver for finals week.

Raheem Morris says Todd Gurley’s role has changed. Morris said Ito Smith is the lead runner right now.

Related players: Brian Hill

Smith has had 16, 9, 12 and 8 touches over his last four games while Gurley has had 9, 8 and 3 over his last three games. Meanwhile, Hill has seen 13, 5, 2 and 7 touches over his last four. Smith has had 8 catches over the last four games but it's only produced 20 yards. As the group, Smith has the lone TD among the three backs, and that was back in Week 12 against the Raiders. Week 1-9, Gurley got anywhere from 14-23 carries a game but has been dealing with a knee injury that has likely changed his role. What all this means is none of these backs are really a safe fantasy play.

Falcons WR Julio Jones had a platelet-rich plasma injection earlier this month for his injured hamstring in hopes of playing again in 2020.

Jones has no plans of being shut down for the rest of the season. He is out today against the Buccaneers and the Falcons really don't have much incentive to play Jones, as they have already been officially eliminated from the playoffs at 4-9. With the hamstring bothering Jones since Week 2, Jones is enduring his worst season in the NFL, having just 51 catches for 771 yards and three touchdowns. The Falcons finish the season against the Chiefs and the Buccaneers again in Week 17.