3 Atlanta Falcons to watch closely this pre-season

The Atlanta Falcons are heading into a pre-season with an unusual amount of intrigue considering the amount of competition at nearly every position. What the Falcons lack in elite talent they have made up for in depth bringing in competition at nearly every position. The defensive and offensive lines in particular should have a number of positions up for grabs and throughout the pre-season.

Cordarrelle Patterson, Jake Matthews, Chris Lindstrom, Grady Jarrett, A.J. Terrell, Casey Hayward, and Marcus Mariota are the only players who have clearly defined roles headed into the pre-season. There is an argument that first-round draft pick Drake London should be included on that list as well but with the depth, Atlanta has added at the receiver position there will be a battle at the position.

Expectations for this Atlanta Falcons team are understandably low, however, there will be a lot of reasons to watch both the pre-season and the regular season schedule. The Falcons did a great job this off-season improving their roster at nearly every position with very little cap space. The problem for Atlanta is they got considerably worse at the most important position on the field and are facing a much tougher schedule severely limiting the team’s upside.

With this in mind, here are three Atlanta Falcons in particular fans should be keeping a close eye on throughout camp and the pre-season.