Atlanta Falcons three players to watch closely this pre-season

The Atlanta Falcons pre-season is set to kick off next week with the annual Hall of Fame game kicking off the football season this Thursday.  There will be plenty of players Falcons fans should be paying close attention to this pre-season.

In years past getting excited about Atlanta Falcons pre-season football wasn’t easy considering the lack of competition. This pre-season is different for Atlanta for a number of reasons including competitions at so many positions defensively.

Watching Kyle Pitts and the position player battles should be entertaining as well. Atlanta appears to have their starters determined offensively, however, they lack depth at the receiver and running back positions.

Barring the team making a move in the next few weeks it will come down to the pre-season as to who will earn the third receiver role and who will be receiving carries behind starter Mike Davis.

Add in the fact we are two years removed from the last time pre-season games were played and there is much more excitement surrounding this year’s games.

While the new coaching staff will be interesting to watch as well there won’t be enough to determine the new coaching style during a vanilla pre-season.

Matt Ryan played well last season without having pre-season reps and should be used sparingly during the team’s inconsequential games. Getting Ryan to week one healthy and ready to go should be a bigger concern than getting reps in for a seasoned quarterback.

However, there are plenty of players who need all the chances they can get to prove they can make an impact. Here are three, in particular, to keep an eye on this pre-season.