4 Atlanta Falcons fans should be watching closely in preseason week 2

3. Arnold Ebiketie

It appears that Atlanta's hopes of finding a capable edge rusher are on the shoulders of Ebiketie. This is hardly comforting when you consider the up-and-down camp the third-year pro has had. The loss of Bralen Trice hits a unit hard that didn't have any players to lose. Ebiketie has been a player who is developing nicely but hasn't shown any reason to believe he is anything aside from a great rotational edge rusher.

The problem for the Atlanta pass rusher is the lack of size and obvious concerns about finishing plays and defending the run. These aren't problems that are going to go away in one offseason. Lorenzo Carter is the complete opposite a player who defends the run well and uses his size to finish plays.

However, Carter hasn't gotten to the quarterback at nearly the clip of Ebiketie albeit in much different sample sizes. The argument for the Falcons rusher is simply with increased snaps his numbers would project into double digit sacks.

Reasons to doubt this production are there but what other choice does Atlanta have? A strong second preseason game would go a long way in quieting concerns about Atlanta's lack of pass-rushing options.