Draft Note by John Paulsen
Mooney showed some signs of life in 2024, averaging 4.1 receptions for 62 yards and 0.36 touchdowns in 14 games with Kirk Cousins under center—production that landed him squarely in the low-end WR3 conversation. But when Michael Penix Jr. took over in Weeks 16 and 17, Mooney's numbers dipped to 3.5 receptions for 60 yards and no touchdowns, more in line with WR5 output. That said, Penix did target Mooney on 17.7% of his attempts (11 of 62), which isn’t terrible usage for a new connection still finding its rhythm. Touchdown regression could help smooth things out—Mooney failed to score in either of those games, despite seeing a couple of red zone looks. If Penix proves competent and leans on Mooney more heavily as a trusted veteran, there's some upside here. For now, he profiles as a volatile WR4/WR5 option with a path to relevancy if the quarterback situation stabilizes.
Darnell Mooney
- WR
- , Atlanta Falcons
- 28
- 180 lbs
- 5' 11"
- Tulane
- 123
- 2
Full Season Projection
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Draft note
Mooney showed some signs of life in 2024, averaging 4.1 receptions for 62 yards and 0.36 touchdowns in 14 games with Kirk Cousins under center—production that landed him squarely in the low-end WR3 conversation. But when Michael Penix Jr. took over in Weeks 16 and 17, Mooney's numbers dipped to 3.5 receptions for 60 yards and no touchdowns, more in line with WR5 output. That said, Penix did target Mooney on 17.7% of his attempts (11 of 62), which isn’t terrible usage for a new connection still finding its rhythm. Touchdown regression could help smooth things out—Mooney failed to score in either of those games, despite seeing a couple of red zone looks. If Penix proves competent and leans on Mooney more heavily as a trusted veteran, there's some upside here. For now, he profiles as a volatile WR4/WR5 option with a path to relevancy if the quarterback situation stabilizes.
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Josh Kendall on X
·Aug 12 · 11:23 AM EDT
Scouting report
2025 Strength of Schedule - ATL
| W1 | W2 | W3 | W4 | W5 | W6 | W7 | W8 | W9 | W10 | W11 | W12 | W13 | W14 | W15 | W16 | W17 | W18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 TB | 32 @MIN | 16 @CAR | 12 WAS | BYE | 18 BUF | 1 @SF | 8 MIA | 14 @NE | 19 @IND | 16 CAR | 20 @NO | 15 @NYJ | 17 SEA | 27 @TB | 4 @ARI | 24 LAR | 20 NO |
Schedule difficulty based on schedule-adjusted, positional defensive ranking. Top DEF = 1, bottom DEF = 32.
Game Stats
| Week | Opp | Rec | RecYds | RecTD | Tgts | YPR | RuAtt | RuYds | RuTD | Fum | YPC | STD | 0.5 PPR | PPR | Snaps | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PIT | 1 | 15 | 0 | 3 | 15.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1.5 | 2.00 | 2.5 | 53/56 | 94.6% |
| 2 | @PHI | 3 | 88 | 1 | 7 | 29.33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 14.8 | 16.30 | 17.8 | 61/61 | 100.0% |
| 3 | KC | 8 | 66 | 0 | 8 | 8.25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 6.6 | 10.60 | 14.6 | 57/61 | 93.4% |
| 4 | NO | 3 | 56 | 0 | 6 | 18.67 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 5.6 | 7.10 | 8.6 | 54/56 | 96.4% |
| 5 | TB | 9 | 105 | 2 | 16 | 11.67 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 22.5 | 27.00 | 31.5 | 85/87 | 97.7% |
| 6 | @CAR | 3 | 38 | 0 | 5 | 12.67 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3.8 | 5.30 | 6.8 | 67/70 | 95.7% |
| 7 | SEA | 5 | 46 | 0 | 8 | 9.20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 4.6 | 7.10 | 9.6 | 64/73 | 87.7% |
| 8 | @TB | 4 | 86 | 1 | 6 | 21.50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 14.6 | 16.60 | 18.6 | 58/62 | 93.5% |
| 9 | DAL | 5 | 88 | 1 | 9 | 17.60 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 14.8 | 17.30 | 19.8 | 57/57 | 100.0% |
| 10 | @NO | 5 | 96 | 0 | 9 | 19.20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 9.6 | 12.10 | 14.6 | 77/78 | 98.7% |
| 11 | @DEN | 2 | 27 | 0 | 4 | 13.50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2.7 | 3.70 | 4.7 | 34/59 | 57.6% |
Q
Injury Details (w12)
Status: Questionable Injury: Hamstring | BYE | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 13 | LAC | 3 | 20 | 0 | 6 | 6.67 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2.0 | 3.50 | 5.0 | 76/81 | 93.8% |
| 14 | @MIN | 6 | 142 | 0 | 7 | 23.67 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 14.2 | 17.20 | 20.2 | 70/74 | 94.6% |
| 15 | @LV | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.0 | - | 0.0 | 53/58 | 91.4% |
| 16 | NYG | 5 | 82 | 0 | 6 | 16.40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 8.2 | 10.70 | 13.2 | 60/67 | 89.6% |
| 17 | @WAS | 2 | 37 | 0 | 5 | 18.50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3.7 | 4.70 | 5.7 | 62/64 | 96.9% |
| 18 | CAR | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Per game | 4.00 | 62.00 | 0.31 | 6.63 | 15.50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 8.08 | 10.08 | 12.08 | 61.75/66.50 | 92.61% | |
| Totals | 64 | 992 | 5 | 106 | 15.50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 129.2 | 161.2 | 193.2 | 988/1064 | 92.61% | |
