Team news: Atlanta Falcons | Page 3

Falcons OC Zac Robinson on Darnell Mooney: "Day to day, but he looks good out there. He’s running really well, catching the ball. We’ll keep monitoring the situation, but he has looked pretty good."

Related Players: Drake London, Ray-Ray McCloud, Khadarel Hodge

Good sign for Mooney, but not good enough that we should be shoving him in lineups quite yet. When we've received the all-clear, he will be an option as a fantasy WR3/4 after putting up good numbers last year, with a lack of additions to the WR room ahead of 2025.

The Bucs plan to release quarterback Kyle Trask, per source.

Related players: Baker Mayfield, Teddy Bridgewater

Trask will revert to IR with a shoulder issue, then work out a settlement or release and look for a new team, the post went on to say. The move means the team will stick with Bridgewater as the QB2 behind Mayfield.

The Commanders and Terry McLaurin have agreed to a 3-year contract extension, source confirms.

Related players: Deebo Samuel, Noah Brown, K.J. Osborn, Luke McCaffrey, Jayden Daniels

The deal is said to be a 3-year extension worth over $96M, according to other sources. Daniels will get his top target back before Week 1 and pushes the rest of the team's WRs down the depth chart, including Samuel who now looks to be the WR2. McLaurin finally delivered a true breakout season - 82 catches, 1,096 yards, and 13 touchdowns - finishing as the WR6 last season.

Here is Raheem Morris' update on WR Darnell Mooney.

"Kind of just waiting and rolling. Kind of a week-to-week basis. I feel good about getting him back healthy and ready to go. When? I don’t know. We’ll have him back healthy this year, though."

Interpret as you will.

Related players: Drake London, Ray-Ray McCloud, KhaDarel Hodge, Casey Washington, Michael Pitts, Bijan Robinson

Mooney owners could be waiting a while to get back their receiver for fantasy lineups, depending on how you read into these comments. With Mooney out of the lineup, it could mean more work for McCloud, Hodge and maybe even Pitts. McCloud shined at times last season, especially in a three game stretch where he caught 18 passes for 239 yards on 23 targets in weeks 11-14. Hodge was limited to 7 catches for 131 yards all season, most of which came in a 2-67-1 line in a Week 5 game against the Buccaneers. Robinson and the running backs could also get more involved.

Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is officially a member of the Buccaneers.

Bridgewater visited with the team on Tuesday and took a physical that went well enough for the Bucs to announce his signing. Punter Jake Julien was waived to make space for Bridgewater on the roster.

Related players: Baker Mayfield, Kyle Trask, Michael Pratt

Pratt is currently injured, according to the story, so Bridgewater will likely challenge Trask for the QB2 job behind Mayfield. The story mentions Bridgewater has a history with offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard. Both of them were with the Dolphins during the 2022 season, so Bridgewater may have an edge.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield won’t practice today after suffering a contusion on his throwing hand Thursday, per source.

Mayfield underwent scans as a precaution and ruled out a more significant injury. He’s day to day.

Related Players: Kyle Trask

We don't want to see Mayfield miss anytime, but it's great news that it's not more significant. We don't expect this to linger into the regular season at this point, so we should continue to consider him a top-10 option at the position.

Raheem Morris won't commit to having Darnell Mooney in the lineup Week 1 against Tampa.

"We’re going with a few weeks right now," Morris said.

Related Players: Drake London, Ray-Ray McCloud, KhaDarel Hodge, D.J. Chark

The initial news of this shoulder injury came on the heels of the team signing D.J. Chark to a one-year deal, which could cause further concern for Mooney, at least in the early parts of the year. Mooney is coming off a low-end WR3 season in which he popped for a few big games from time to time, so if he's sidelined, we would expect the target share to be spread pretty thin behind Drake London.

This also points to a potential larger role for Kyle Pitts.

NFL league source tells me Falcons WR Darnell Mooney has a shoulder injury and will [miss] most of training camp.

Related Players: Drake London, Ray-Ray McCloud, Khadarel Hodge, DJ Chark

This news comes fresh on the heels of the team signing DJ Chark to a one-year deal, which could be a cause for concern for Mooney, at least in the early parts of the year. Mooney is coming off a low-end WR3 season in which he popped for a few big games from time to time, so if he's sidelined, we would expect the target share to be spread pretty thin behind Drake London.

Does this open the door for Kyle Pitts?

Running back Bijan Robinson enters his third season coming off a career-high workload. Robinson went from 272 touches (214 carries, 58 catches) as a rookie to 365 touches (304 carries, 61 catches) last season, and it sounds like that trend will continue.

“As many times as we can get the ball in his hands, we’re going to do it,” Penix said.

Related players: Tyler Allgeier

It seems like a great idea and fantasy owners are hoping for the same, but the author thinks the Falcons should be cognizant of Robinson’s workload. The story pointed out the following: there have been 15 occasions of a running back getting more than 300 carries in a season in the last five years. Six of those came last season. Of the other nine, only once did the back have more rushing yards the next season. That was Derrick Henry in the 2019 and 2020 seasons. In the other eight seasons, the backs had an average drop off of 695 rushing yards the next season. Those are eye-opening numbers, but good news is the Falcons don't have to force the ball to Robinson with Allgeier part of the offense. Last season Allegier carried another 137 times for 644 yards, which is a 4.7 YPC.

While there has been speculation about his future in Atlanta, Falcons TE Kyle Pitts hasn’t been practicing at OTAs due to a strained muscle in his foot.

Related Players: Charlie Woerner, Teagan Quitoriano, Feleipe Franks

If Pitts does end up leaving Atlanta this summer, it's worth pointing out that the TE depth chart behind him is incredibly thin, which would likely mean an even higher WR target share in 2025. Teams potentially vying for a trade include the Cowboys, Jaguars, and Chargers, among others.