Dan Quinn Yet To Name Starting Left Guard
The Atlanta Falcons' offensive line issues last season were apparent to even the casual observer. They had one of the most anemic rushing attacks in the NFL, ranking 30th in the league in rushing yards.
Despite having a top-5 passing attack, they gave up 50 sacks, which was fifth most in the league.
Quinn has said the competition between Matt Gono and rookie Matt Hennessy is close, and he's not ready to announce a starter. Hennessy is perhaps the favorite to win the job long-term, as the Falcons drafted him as a center out of Temple in the third round of this year's NFL Draft. While in a multi-year prism Hennessy may still be a center, for this season he figures to contribute at guard with Alex Mack in the fold for another season.
“We haven’t named anybody as the leader yet," states Quinn. "The competition is still under way. As we’re going through, we want to see, ‘Are you hitting the marks as you’re going?’ Like any rookie, there are ups and downs as you’re going. Now that the installs are coming to a close, we’re fully expecting it to be sharper and sharper and sharper as it goes. But, no leader just yet as far as naming a starter at that spot, but we certainly are making the reps available for those guys to have that cohesion with the other guys.”
Mack and Jake Matthews are veterans the Falcons should be able to count on in 2020, but the other three spots are understandably a little more concerning.
Chris Lindstrom, the projected starting right guard, looks great in camp, and probably would have turned into a productive piece as a rookie last season if he had not missed so much time due to injury. Lindstrom played just five games as a rookie.
Right tackle Kaleb McGary was a little further behind from a development standpoint than his fellow rookie Lindstrom, but was able to stay healthy for the full season. While he did commit six false start penalties as a rookie, he was solid down the stretch.
If Lindstrom and McGary can be reliable players, that leaves just one hole to fill, left guard.
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