With the 8th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, the Atlanta Falcons selected Drake London, the wide receiver out of USC. In his career at USC, London finished with 160 catches for 2,153 yards and 15 touchdowns, and also put up impressive combine numbers despite not running the 40 or the three cone, in addition to not participating in the high and broad jumps.

The Falcons made London the first receiver off the board, and that comes with a bit of added pressure, but that's not why we're here. We're here to predict how London's rookie season in Atlanta might go, so here's three very early predictions for how London's rookie season in Atlanta will pan out.

Drake London rookie season with Falcons predictions

1. Drake London will eclipse 1,000 yards receiving

Few rookie receivers hit this mark, but with the lack of depth at the position in Atlanta right now, especially with Calvin Ridley being gone for a full season due to suspension, London is in a prime spot to be one of Marcus Mariota's favorite targets.

Combined with Kyle Pitts, London makes for a good threat in the intermediate game and red zone. In 2016 and 2017, while in Tennessee, Mariota had a receiver with a similar skill set in Rishard Matthews, and Mariota threw to him 118 times for 1,740 yards and 13 touchdowns. Of course, Pitts will also get his, as Mariota loves his tight ends, but London is also in for a big rookie season, culminating in crossing the 1,000 receiving yard mark, just like Pitts the year before.

2. Drake London will score 10 touchdowns

As mentioned, London is a bonafide red zone threat, and that showed while at USC. Though never playing more than 8 games in a season while in Los Angeles, London still had time to rack up an impressive 15 touchdowns in 22 games as a Trojan. If he can come anywhere close to that frequency while in Atlanta, the Falcons offense will have improved leaps and bounds over last season, as no receiver for the team last season caught more than five touchdowns.

Drake London should be able to hit five touchdowns with ease, and if he is as advertised in the red zone, he could even double that, reaching ten touchdowns as a rookie, a very good accomplishment for such a young receiver.

3. Drake London will catch 70 passes

In the 2021 season, only three Falcons caught more than 50 passes, those being the aforementioned Pitts, Russell Gage and Cordarrelle Patterson, so you may be looking at this and wondering how on earth London will catch more passes as a rookie than any Falcon caught last season. But recall back to Mariota's time in Tennessee oncemore.

As mentioned, Mariota loved Rishard Matthews and Delanie Walker, both of whom caught 65 passes in 2016, and both again eclipsed 50 catches in 2017 as well. Marcus Mariota likes to have two to three super dependable targets, and it's easy to see those three as Pitts, Patterson and London.

With the right mix of playcalling from head coach Arthur Smith, it's easy to see all three, and potentially Gage as well, passing 50 catches, and given his talent in the red zone and intermediate routes, London may quickly become Mariota's favorite target of all. History tells us being Marcus Mariota's favorite target results in boatloads of catches, and if London can be that for the Falcons, he should have no problem catching 70 passes as a rookie.