Atlanta Falcons: Team awards after four games

After four of the 16 games scheduled for 2017 have been played, here are how the team awards shake out for the Atlanta Falcons.

The Atlanta Falcons are off to a 3-1 start, and came pretty close to going 4-0 entering their Week 5 bye. With the team huddled up for the week and trying to get themselves healthy, we have time to do some reflection.

One thing to consider during said reflection is who would be the team award winners thus far. That’s exactly what we look at here as the Falcons quarterly team awards are about to be given out.

Rookie of the Year: Takkarist McKinley, DE

Let’s start off with an easy one. The Falcons moved up for UCLA defensive end Takkarist McKinley and to this point he has been as advertised. While his stat line of four tackles and one sack won’t jump off the page, he has provided consistent pressure and is providing quality snaps with 2016 NFL sack leader Vic Beasley, Jr. out at the moment.

Offensive Player of the Year: Tevin Coleman, RB

There were several ways to go with this one as wide receiver Julio Jones has 295 yards through the air. Starting running back Devonta Freeman has five touchdowns, which makes him a huge candidate — but we avoid him for a reason discussed later. There’s also kicker Matt Bryant who is one of the most reliable in the game.

Instead though we go with running back Tevin Coleman. The reason he wins this award is because of his ability to affect the game as a receiver and runner. He has 6.2 yards per rush — with 181 yards on the ground thus far. He’s also added another 153 as a pass catcher which is why he gets the honor.