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At a glance the best thing the Atlanta Falcons have going for them is having a lot of young talent on their roster, particularly on the offensive side of the football. It seems not everyone agrees with that analysis, though.
Even though they have some very promising young contributors on their roster, ESPN has only ranked the Falcons 22nd in their annual list of each team's under-25 talent. It is worth mentioning that a bunch of the team's best players are exactly 25 years old or are about to be.
"Atlanta's top offensive stars are 25 or close to it. Pitts turned 25 in October. London will be 25 on Friday. Robinson will turn 25 in late January, so he's the only one of the three players who still qualifies... The other offensive player worth mentioning is rookie wide receiver Zachariah Branch, who is 22. Then it's all about the defense. Rookie cornerback Avieon Terrell is just 21. Edge rushers James Pearce Jr. and Walker are both 22. (We docked the Falcons a bit based on the possibility that Pearce will need to serve some sort of suspension for off-field legal issues.)"
When you consider Pitts and London being 25 and taking points off for Pearce's TBD suspension it's probably fair to rank Atlanta as below-average in this category. However, the Falcons were also ranked 22nd on this list last season, which just doesn't make much sense.
We really don't have any theories as to why Atlanta keeps getting shafted in ESPN's lists - you might recall their starting lineup was recently ranked 29th in the NFL.
Maybe it's just easy to ignore a team that's been out of the playoff picture longer than any other competitor in the NFC. Maybe that's just what the Falcons are at this point - an afterthought at best until they prove they're worth the national media's attention.
One thing is clear - there is no shortage of bulletin board material for these Falcons to find motivation on, if they're in to that kind of thing.
This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: ESPN ranks Falcons on lower end of under-25 talent
