As the start of the 2020 NFL season draws nearer (or so we hope), it’s time to look at which players are the faces of each NFL team – the players who have the most impact on their team, and some of the general leaders, and just generally who people think of when they think of an individual team. For this series, we’ll be looking at the three most prominent “faces” for each team. Here, we’ll look at those three figures for the 2020 Atlanta Falcons.
Faces of the Franchise: 2020 Atlanta Falcons
Matt Ryan
The Falcons have struggled a bit over the last couple years with two 7-9 seasons, but the quarterback position (and a lot of the offense in general, really) hasn’t been the cause for that. Matt Ryan has been the primary face of this franchise for quite a while now, and that’s only increased since his MVP season a few years ago. And he’s continued to play at a top-ten level despite having to deal with a sometimes nonexistent offensive line.
The 2019 season saw Ryan pass for 4,466 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions. Those aren’t elite numbers, but they’re still good. In his defense, he was also sacked a league-leading 48 times. It can be difficult to produce at an elite level when you don’t have time to throw the ball. Notably, Ryan actually missed a game this year – the first time since 2009, ending a streak of 154 straight regular season starts (which was fifth-best all time among quarterbacks). That still leaves him among the more durable quarterbacks in the league.
So far in his career, Ryan has passed for 51,186 yards and 321 touchdowns. He’s been playing at a high level for most of the years he’s been in the league, and given both that and just the fact that he’s their long-time quarterback, this leaves him as the primary face of the Falcons franchise.
Julio Jones
Since the early 2010s, there’s one other thing about the Falcons offense that has remained consistent besides Matt Ryan – and that is his primary target at receiver, Julio Jones, who would be the other primary face of this franchise besides Ryan. Still a top-three receiver in this league, Jones has continued to prove himself among the most difficult players to defend.
Even with the younger Calvin Ridley getting more and more targets, Jones has still been putting up crazy numbers. 2019 saw him have 99 receptions (and probably would have had 100+ if he hadn’t missed one game) for 1,394 yards and six touchdowns. Even as he reaches his early 30’s and the options at wide receiver get more spread out for the first time in a while, Jones still continues to be up there at league-wide year-end stats. It’s no wonder he made the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team.
Jones is currently sitting at 797 career receptions for 12,125 yards and 57 touchdowns. There’s not much reason to not expect him to continue to dominate at least during the first half of this decade and to continue to be one of the main faces of this franchise. If he continues to produce at an elite level for a while longer, he might go down statistically as one of the best to ever play the position.
Deion Jones
On the defensive side of the ball for the Falcons, Grady Jarrett may have had the more explosive season stats-wise for the team in 2019. But ultimately, Deion Jones is still the anchor of this defense. He bounced back nicely in 2019 after missing most of the 2018 season, getting 110 combined tackles for his third season with over 100 in that category. He went without a sack this year, but he did continue to contribute on the pass defense (making him a good complete linebacker), with five pass deflections and one interception.
That one interception ended up being the final play of the season when he caught a game-winning pick-six from Jameis Winston in overtime, helping end the Falcons season on a high note. Jones may have not have as eye-grabbing a season statistically as 2016 or 2017, but he remains more or less the leader of that defense, making him one of the main faces of the team. It’s clear the Falcons agree since they gave him a four-year, $57 million extension last off-season.
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