3 Atlanta Falcons who shouldn't see the field during preseason action

1. Kirk Cousins

Kirk Cousins tore his Achilles in week 8 of last season. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback isn't far removed from the surgery and shouldn't be put in a position to take contact until it means something. While there is the argument of reps it seems the risk is higher than the value for a player with Kirk's experience.

Protecting the veteran quarterback should be more important than whatever value comes from running vanilla preseason plays. As we have seen over the last years the preseason is a game within a game. Coaching staffs looking to evaluate players without calling anything they plan to use in the regular season.

It is about giving nothing up and running very basic plays there is only so much value in this. The game speed will change in week one as will the reads and Zac Robinson's play calling.

With Cousins coming off such a serious injury and Atlanta's brutal early stretch it is important to roll into week one as offensively healthy as possible. The Atlanta quarterback is the biggest piece of this and shouldn't be put in a position that could risk injury. Holding Cousins out until week one is the smartest approach for Raheem Morris and the Atlanta coaching staff.