Atlanta Falcons: 5 Burning questions for the 2020 season
5. How much longer can Falcons keep this offensive core intact?
Over the course of the last few seasons, the Atlanta Falcons have been able to keep their core players intact headlined by containing one of the top offenses in the entire NFL.
Led by veteran quarterback Matt Ryan, Atlanta has been able to continue to surround him with some top-tier talent, most notably familiar faces such as wide receivers Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley, among others.
But going into 2020, one of the biggest questions is just how long the Falcons will be able to hold this core together and continue to try and improve to get back to the postseason and ultimately the dominance they were able to experience just a short few seasons ago with some deep playoff runs.
More from NFL Spin Zone
- Dallas Cowboys made the trade everyone else should have made
- Pittsburgh Steelers rookie sleeper everyone should be talking about
- Anthony Richardson putting jaw-dropping talent on display immediately
- Denver Broncos’ stud wide receiver might be out for a while
- Washington Commanders: Three takeaways from win over Ravens
Although Atlanta has positioned itself to be able to try and keep players like Ryan, Jones, Ridley and others together for at least a few more seasons with some moves made during the offseason — most notably parting ways with running back Devonta Freeman and tight end Austin Hooper while replacing them with cheap contracts with running back Todd Gurley and tight end Hayden Hurst — the continued struggles in the last few seasons, if continued, might persuade the Falcons to have to take a long hard look at this team and offense moving forward.
If the postseason-less streak continues in 2020, with Atlanta failing to reach the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, Atlanta could possibly end up shipping away some of those core pieces among a top offensive unit to undergo a rebuild to try and build this team back from the ground up.
One reason for that is because of the age of some of those players on offense. Ryan isn’t getting any younger, entering this season at the age of 35. Jones, who signed a three-year extension in 2019, just turned 31 earlier on in the 2020 calendar year.
It’s not likely, at least just yet, that the Falcons would blow this thing up and dismantle one of the top offensive groups in the NFL this season. But it’s a question that will end up appearing more and more in the upcoming years as this offense continues to get older while not exactly having lived up to expectations in the last few seasons.