The Atlanta Falcons are collecting position battles like infinity stones. You have the quarterback competition between Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa, the linebacker and cornerback battles, and now the concern of who's the starting right tackle. And as crazy as it sounds, it doesn't end there.
The Falcons also have a position battle brewing at return man. The belief was that when they drafted Zachariah Branch in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft that Atlanta has plans to utilize him on special teams as their primary returner, but like Kevin Stefanski said, jobs aren't earned in June.
The Falcons have preached the idea of competition all over the roster, and the return man post is no different. While Branch is likely the frontrunner to return punts, they aren't blindly going to hand him the job, so many other names, including two other rookies, are reportedly involved on specials.
The Falcons have two UDFAs involved in their return man competition
In a practice report from atlantafalcons.com's Will McFadden, we were given more information on the return man competition. He made it clear that mandatory minicamp has the same seven players vying for snaps fielding punts, which includes undrafted free agents Vinny Anthony II and Keelan Marion.
"The punt return rotation appears to be the same as it was during OTAs," McFadden wrote. "The players involved on Tuesday were, in no particular order, Olamide Zaccheaus, Jahan Dotson, Zachariah Branch, Dylan Drummond, Keelan Marion and Vinny Anthony II."
In addition to the rookies, McFadden mentioned free agent signings Jahan Dotson and Olamide Zaccheus and Dylan Drummond are getting a look at punt returner. But judging on their track records, Marion and Anthony have more of a dog in this fight than we may realize.
Anthony got some early spring buzz during rookie minicamp, but that was more because of his versatility on offense. He lined up all over the formation at Wisconsin, but he averaged over 27 yards per kick return in each of his final two college seasons. This guy is electric all over the field.
But Marion is also interesting. He was a First Team All-American return man in 2024 at BYU and has over 1,000 career kick return yards in his career. However, he hasn't been a punt returner since his true freshman at UConn back in 2021 but we know what he is capable of as a primary returner.
There is no problem in considering all avenues, but for as impressive as these UDFAs are, Zachariah Branch and his 4.35 speed is the best fit to take over as the punt returner. Hopefully this is just a formality to not name a starting return man too early.
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