Atlanta Falcons health is the biggest factor for a successful season

In recent years, the Atlanta Falcons have been hit hard by injuries. If they can avoid being hit by the injury bug, the odds of this year’s team being successful will definitely increase.

It seems like every year, the Atlanta Falcons get hit with injuries and the lack of depth in previous seasons has reared its ugly head.

The 2018 Atlanta Falcons season was by far the worst when it came to injuries.

If you remember, that season Ricardo Allen, Keanu Neal, Devonta Freeman, and Deion Jones misses a substantial amount of time due to various injuries.

That season was Maty Ryan’s best season outside of his MVP campaign but the team finished 7-9 due to the fact the defense was missing it’s best two players for the majority of the season.

Can the Atlanta Falcons avoid a fourth straight injury-plagued season?

In 2019, the injury bug got a hold of both of the Falcons first-round picks Caleb McGary and Chris Lidstrom, both of which were brought to help protect Matt Ryan and help in the running game but Ryan ends up missing a game due to injury and Freeman missed a couple of games as well. Former tight end Austin Hooper was having a career season before he went down missing three games himself.

There were a bunch of other players who ended up missing various amounts of time in recent seasons like Calvin Ridley, Ito Smith, and Desmond Trufant. All of those injuries contributed to the well-oiled machine that is the Falcons when healthy.

This season, the Falcons should have more depth especially on the defensive side of the ball, and the biggest question marks for Falcons injury-wise are Todd Gurley and Keanu Neal, both of whom are among the best in the NFL at their respective positions when healthy.

A team can’t prevent anyone from getting injured, but if the injury bug can find a new home this season, the Falcons could have a season for the ages.

If not, this will end up being yet another season of ”what if”.