Falcons Special Teams Depth Chart: New Faces Galore
Last season, the Atlanta Falcons struggled moving the football, ranking just 29th in total yards gained. As a result, they attempted the eighth-fewest field goals in the league and were in the top-half of the league in total punts.
This offseason, Atlanta failed to retain any of its punters from last season, and also lost its long snapper. Who will fill these roles moving forward?
Special Teams:
Kicker: Younghoe Koo
Punter: Dom Maggio
Long Snapper: Beau Brinkley
Koo has been one of the best kickers in the NFL since joining the Falcons during the 2019 season, converting 87 field goals on 94 attempts (92.5 percent). Atlanta made Koo the second-highest paid kicker in the NFL in March, keeping him with the team for the next five years.
The punting situation is much less clear. Atlanta used several different options last year, including Dustin Colquitt and Thomas Morstead. Maggio will have competition from undrafted rookie Seth Vernon, but with Maggio spending part of last season on Atlanta’s practice squad, his familiarity within the organization will get him the job to start.
Maggio has yet to make an appearance in an NFL game. At Wake Forest, he was a three-time All-ACC performer, and set the program record for most games with a 40+ yards-per-punt average with 40. In his senior season, Maggio averaged a career-high 46.8 yards-per-punt, good for second in the ACC, while also booming the second-most punts with 74.
Vernon is a big man, standing 6-5, 230-pounds, with a big leg, averaging almost 45 yards per punt and booming 12 for 50+ yards, including a season-long of 65 yards.
Atlanta could handle the punting situation like they did last year, bringing in multiple veterans throughout the campaign, but with two young, big-legged players already on the roster, the team should first look in-house to see if either Vernon or Maggio can be the long-term answer at punter; in this case, Maggio gets the nod.
Brinkley replaces All-Pro long snapper Josh Harris, who signed with the Los Angeles Chargers this offseason. Brinkley played in all 16 regular season games each season from 2012-2019 for the Titans, with his time coinciding with Arthur Smith’s. He’s played in just 10 games the last two years, three of which came in 2021 with the Arizona Cardinals.
