Three Atlanta Falcons veterans whose time is coming to an end

With all the young unknown talent getting snaps for the Atlanta Falcons this preseason, there is a real possibility that veteran players find themselves out of a job.

The advantage that Dan Quinn and the Atlanta Falcons have with playing a lot of young unknowns through the first two week of the preseason, is they have gotten an extended opportunity to look at relatively unknown players to see if they fit schemes and roles within the Brotherhood.

The preseason is about putting players in positions to see how they react; from an instinct, strength and reaction perspective. Most coaches are very vanilla for a couple of reasons – one, they do not want to put too much on tape and two, that is the best way to get to know their players. If they cannot handle the basics, there is no way they can handle some of the intricacies that NFL playbooks hold within.

The other positive to playing so many young guys, is the staff has a chance at building better depth and sometimes that means cutting players that have been on your roster for several years.

Here are three players that could see their time in the Brotherhood coming to an end.

Justin Hardy

His story is pretty incredible. Was a walk-on at East Carolina and earned a scholarship in his second season. He then went on to have three straight seasons of at least 1100 yards and become the NCAA all-time leader in career receptions as a senior.

The fourth round pick in 2015 has had four full seasons to solidify his roster spot as the fourth receiver on this team and has been able to hang around but never made much of an impact. Russell Gage has improved dramatically and is making a case that he is the fourth best wide receiver on the roster. If the trend continues over the next three games, Hardy will find himself looking for a new home.

Duke Riley

Other than Vic Beasley, there isn’t a more disliked member of the Brotherhood, which is crazy as all Riley has done is not lived up to the expectations set by Deion Jones. Also did not help that the Falcons reached with his draft pick when they took him in the third round.

Last year, players were adamant that Duke Riley had made the biggest jump and would impress. Unfortunately, he got his opportunity to shine with the injury to Deion Jones and fell flat on his face.

Speed and hitting ability are not his Duke’s issues. He does not understand routes, coverage and struggles in his ability to read and react.

Foye Oluokun has already passed him on the depth chart and Stephone Anthony is on his heels. Being hurt this preseason has not helped Duke to make a case as to why the Falcons should keep him.

Ricky Ortiz

The lone fullback on the Falcons roster, you would think that his job would be safe. oh contraire mon frere.

Ricky is a terrible blocker and is not athletic enough to add any other element to the offense. It looks like Freeman, Smith and Hill have cemented themselves as the top three runningbacks for 2019, so that leaves rookie Qadree Ollison out of Pittsburgh on the outside looking in.

Ollison is a great short yardage runningback and is very good in pass protection. He has elements to his game that Ricky Oritz does not. With the emergence of Luke Stocker as a blocker, do not be shocked to see Ollison beat out Ortiz for the fullback spot on the final roster.