WATCH: Calvin Ridley injury presents young Falcons WRs with opportunity
Just as soon as wide receiver Julio Jones and tight end Austin Hooper returned Sunday, the Atlanta Falcons lost another key member of their offense to injury.
Second-year wideout Calvin Ridley suffered an abdominal injury in Week 14 against the Carolina Panthers. The Falcons placed Ridley on injured reserve Tuesday, officially ending his season.
Until this week, Ridley was the last major piece of Atlanta's offense who hadn't missed any games. Jones and quarterback Matt Ryan each sat out one contest while Hooper and running back Devonta Freeman missed a handful. Backup running back Ito Smith has been on IR for several weeks now too.
Losing Ridley is obviously a terrible thing, but the Falcons can pretty easily spin it positively. Atlanta has a lot of young depth at wide receiver, and without Ridley these last three games, the Falcons will possess the chance to see what they can do.
Russell Gage has done well replacing Mohamed Sanu since the trade deadline. It will be interesting to see if the Falcons still use Gage out of the slot or move him outside to now replace Ridley. With 302 receiving yards, Gage is now the Falcons second-leading receiver.
Undrafted rookies Olamide Zaccheaus and Christian Blake should also receive their chances. Zaccheaus hauled in a 93-yard touchdown as his only catch Sunday and his first of the season and his career. Blake has 11 receptions for 91 yards this year.
All three of those receivers should get playing time over veteran wideout Justin Hardy. Ryan probably trusts Hardy more because of his experience, but Atlanta knows what it has in Hardy. He's mostly a special-teams specialist. The team should find out what it has in its other younger receivers this month.
These final three games may be meaningless for the Falcons, but they won't be for these young Atlanta receivers. Each want to prove that they deserve more playing time next season and should be major parts of the Falcons offensive future.
