Subscribe
Follow Us
Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith hasn't been shy in the past about how little he cares about fantasy football players, and how his only concern is winning. That didn't stop after top receiver Drake London went without a catch in Atlanta's opening game victory over the Carolina Panthers.
Falcons coach Arthur Smith, told that Drake London had one fewer reception than Desmond Ridder in today's win: "Let the fantasy guys worry about that. We've got to clean some things up … We don't care. Drake London doesn't care. All we care about is 1-0."
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) September 10, 2023
While Smith might not care about London being held without a reception, fantasy managers (and perhaps Atlanta's general manager, too) might be a little more concerned about the pattern that's been developing with Atlanta's pass catchers. Despite using two top-10 selections in the draft on tight end Kyle Pitts and receiver Drake London, the Falcons have been unable to give them the type of sustained usage and targets that their talent would demand in almost every other situation.
Atlanta is seemingly always going to be run-heavy under Smith. To his credit, the run game got the job done against the Panthers, with both Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier scoring touchdowns in the Week 1 win.
Article Continues Below
Still, it's concerning just how comfortable Smith is with not getting his talented receivers the ball. London looked like one of the best rookie receivers last year, and Desmond Ridder should provide an upgrade in terms of accuracy and ball placement from Marcus Mariota. Ridder was nearly perfect (15-for-18) on his pass attempts, but the Falcons ran the ball 26 times to just 18 pass attempts, with 9 of those completions going to running backs.
The Falcons are 1-0, and Smith may insist that London doesn't care about his stats or fantasy football as long as the Falcons win. That all might be true, but the disconnect between management and coaching on using valuable draft capital on talented offensive players only to turn them into high-priced blockers might rear its ugly end if the winning stops.
Arthur Smith clearly doesn't care about fantasy teams, but this kind of usage for Drake London and Kyle Pitts is going to be tough to win games with for the Falcons in the long term.
