Fantasy Stock Up, Stock Down: Atlanta Falcons

Welcome back to the “Fantasy Stock Up, Stock Down” series (off-season edition). I don’t know if we’ve seen a crazier free agency than the one we are currently witnessing! We as Dynasty Managers need to be evaluating the off-season transactions and thinking about our roster adjustments every day. Who are we going to target in rookie drafts? Who are we going to go out and trade for? Who are we willing to give up in return? Will you go all in this season to bring home a championship? Or should you go young and prepare for the future? There’s so much to think about before September. The “off-season edition” of this series is an early look at whose stock is up and whose stock is down as we head into draft season. We will break down each NFL team one by one. Today is all about the Atlanta Falcons. 

STOCK UP – KYLE PITTS

Matt Ryan is officially a member of the Indianapolis Colts now. Atlanta quickly signed Marcus Mariota to a two-year deal after trading away their signal-caller of 14 years. Some may believe that the quarterback change may hurt Pitts’ dynasty value. For those of you that think that you’re out of your mind. When the Falcons selected him fourth overall in last year’s draft, the team was moving on from Julio Jones, but they still had Calvin Ridley, Russell Gage, and Hayden Hurst. Going into the 2022 season, Jones is now a free agent, Gage is a Buccaneer, Hurst is a Bengal, and Ridley is serving a one-year suspension. Are we really going to doubt the best tight end prospect we’ve seen possibly ever? 

Mariota may be a downgrade at quarterback (maybe not though), but who the heck is going to take away Pitts’ opportunities? Sure, Cordarrelle Patterson was resigned, but he was on the team last season when Pitts broke the all-time rookie receiving yards record in franchise history (Jones finished with 958 yards during his rookie campaign). Pitts also became the second rookie tight end to eclipse the 1,000 receiving yards mark in NFL history (Mike Ditka was the first). Olamide Zaccheaus has been on the team for a little while now, but I can’t imagine him taking away too many opportunities from Pitts either. 

The team is thin at the wide receiver position, and there isn’t a legitimate red zone threat playing the same position as Pitts anymore. Keep in mind, Pitts hauled in only one single touchdown reception last season, and it wasn’t even in the United States. Expect that number to skyrocket, and expect Pitts’ dynasty value to go up even more as the season looms. If you take a look at our rankings here at DFF, you can see that we have him ranked as our TE1 in dynasty formats. He’s going to receive a ton of volume this season, especially with Ridley set to miss the entire year. If for some reason you are stubborn and really want to trade Pitts away, you better demand a haul in return because this guy is going to dominate for years to come. 

Other Notables: Marcus Mariota, Olamide Zaccheaus

STOCK DOWN – MIKE DAVIS

It was hard to find a player to evaluate as our “stock down” player for the Falcons. As I stated above, the team will play without Ryan, Ridley, Gage, and Hurst this season. There aren’t too many players that will see decreased roles this season. Well, there is Mike Davis. The resurgence of Patterson last year diminished a promising role Davis was handed to when the season started. There weren’t any players that we projected to cut into Davis’ expected production. The only player that I had in mind was Javian Hawkins, but he was cut before the preseason even ended. In fact, he played in a Falcons and Titans jersey before the regular season began. Now I’m getting a little off-topic. The point is that Davis’ value started to decrease more and more, as the end of the season inched closer. So is it a surprise that his dynasty value is still going down as we get closer to the NFL Draft? Not at all. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Atlanta targets a running back early on in the draft. A couple of names that come to mind are Kenneth Walker, Breece Hall, and Isaiah Spiller (projected in the second round). Maybe even Jerome Ford, Zamir White, Brian Robinson, Rachaad White, or James Cook later on in the draft. Obviously, there are others, but what I’m getting at is that Davis’ dynasty value is very low right now. The time to trade him was last year. You may be able to get something out of him before the draft, but it’s not going to be worth much. On top of that, Damien Williams signed with the Falcons last week on a one-year deal. Even if the Falcons don’t address the running back position in the draft, both Williams and Patterson alone will cut into Davis’ touches during the 2022 season. 

Davis has been a sold bridge starting running back, and he served nicely when Christian McCaffrey went down during the 2020 season. But think about it for a second. We are talking about a career backup who’s going into his eighth season at the age of 29. You should all know that running backs don’t last long in this league. I’m not saying he won’t have a role on this team this year. His coach is Arthur Smith for crying out loud. Atlanta is going to run the ball a ton. But this may be the last season we ever hear about him being somewhat relevant. Don’t get your hopes up, and try to find a die-hard Davis fan to trade away your shares to. 

Other Notables: Calvin Ridley, Felipe Franks

Teams Broken Down Already: Bears, Bengals, Bills, Broncos, Buccaneers, Cardinals, Chargers, Chiefs, Colts, Cowboys, Dolphins, Eagles

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