Falcons New Star? NFL Top 10 Breakout Players

Pete Schrager of Good Morning Football on the NFL Network released his 10 breakout players for the 2021 season, and Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Russell Gage checks in at No. 8 on the list.

Time for @PSchrags' Top 10 Breakout Players of 2021!

Yesterday we unveiled #10 and # 9.

Today, we give you #8 and #7 .

Good morning, @AtlantaFalcons and @Seahawks fans...Enjoy. pic.twitter.com/YjkajOYESp
— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) August 17, 2021

"Speak to the new guys in Atlanta, that's the head coach, the offensive guys, there's a big part of this offense that is around this player. Who just last year made a splash in week 14 with a passing touchdown to Calvin Ridley," Schrager said of Gage while spotlighting his touchdown throw against the Dolphins.

"But there is more to Russell Gage, who by the way was a star high school quarterback, than just passing. This is a player who has put so much work into his game that he is good enough, and they view him as talented enough, that he could step up to the No. 2 job in Atlanta while Julio Jones departs and Calvin Ridley takes on the No. 1 job."

As Schrager breaks down the video, he is impressed with what he sees from Gage.

"The one-handed catch he had in practice is just a taste. You look at this thing right here. It was on the Falcons Instagram, but this is the skill set they're seeing."

"Crazy thing about Gage, he comes from this wide receiver factory at LSU which is Odell [Beckham Jr.] and [Jarvis] Landry, and in recent years Justin Jefferson and Terrace Marshall, and now Ja'Marr Chase, he's a sixth-round pick," Schrager says of Gage. "He wasn't a star wide receiver at LSU."

"They don't get rid of Julio Jones if they don't think Russell Gage can step up. I'm telling you from the early returns I am getting from folks on the ground in Atlanta, this player has been the breakout performer of Falcons camp.

The Falcons got a preview of what life would be like without Jones during his injury-plagued 2020 campaign. Ridley stepped up to the number one receiver position by default and had 90 catches for 1,374 yards and nine touchdowns.

Gage was the team's second-leading receiver in 2021 with 72 catches for 786 yards and four touchdowns in only eight starts.

Gage may have taken some people by surprise with his production in 2020, but he's clearly the No. 2 receiver heading into the 2021 season, and that’s not counting another breakout-type guy in rookie tight end Kyle Pitts.