The Atlanta Falcons didn't use a third-round pick on Zachariah Branch for no reason. Not only did they desperately need to add help at wideout behind Drake London, they sought to bring in someone with the explosiveness and upside their receiver room sorely lacked when London went down last year.
The Falcons made plenty of other moves at the wide receiver position, signing Jahan Dotson, Olamide Zaccheus, and an army of undrafted free agents, but Branch has been labeled the most intriguing of the WR additions for good reason--and his early expectations are through the roof.
The 79th pick in the 2026 NFL Draft was one of the standouts during Falcons OTAs, displaying his speed and electricity in pads-less practice despite his size. But with training camp looming, Atlanta's new offensive staff shouldn't overthink how they plan to utilize their new swiss army knife this season.
The Falcons need to turn Zachariah Branch into a mini-Deebo Samuel
Rather than just signing Deebo Samuel in free agency in the next couple of weeks, Atlanta should work to turn their prized rookie into a younger, cheaper, and more exciting clone of Deebo's. We all know that he already has the skillset to do so, it's all a matter of scheming up the touches for him.
After using a top-100 pick on the 22-year-old. lord knows the Dirty Birds aren't looking to waste one of the first (and most important) draft picks of the Ian Cunningham era. Branch was more of a teue deep threat during his years at USC, but they can learn from what Mike Bobo did with him at Georgia.
The Bulldogs took every opportunity to get the ball in the hands of their top transfer, so they turned him into more of a dump-off guy, which allowed Branch to become dangerous after the catch. And having a WR with the chance to turn a check-down or a short pass into a home-run play is huge.
His average depth of target at Georgia wasn't good, but the Falcons will still want to use him as a downfield threat. But beyond that, they need tap into Branch's versatility. Kevin Stefanski should line him up at running back and wide receiver to get creative with his usage and maximize the value here.
The only problem here is that Deebo is that the latter has about 40 pounds on Branch, so if they were to morph him into more of a power-slot guy, he would have to put on weight like he did with the Trojans. But he could become Atlanta's better, more modern version of Cordarrelle Patterson in 2026.
Tua Tagovailoa already compared Zachariah Branch to Jaylen Waddle, and we've already seen the electricity he can offer an offense with the ball in his hands. As the season progresses, the Falcons should take every opportunity to allow their rookie WR to do what he does best: a little of everything.
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