The Atlanta Falcons have a long and storied history at wide receiver, but they havent before deployed a player quite like Drake London.

Will McFadden

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. The Atlanta Falcons have a long and storied history at wide receiver, but they haven't before deployed a player quite like Drake London.

London combines an athletic basketball background with a hard-edged approach to physicality. That has allowed him to become one of the best contested-catch specialists in the game, and yet, London's importance in Atlanta goes further than his ability to haul in tough grabs.

"He can be a dirty work guy," Falcons assistant general manager Kyle Smith said. "Which, obviously, as you're building a team, building an offense, it's not always easy. And guys like Drake can make the dirty pretty easy at times."

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London has started 48 games for the Falcons over three seasons and has 3,042 yards with 15 touchdown catches. However, the physicality of the 6-foot-4, 213-pound receiver has been an important factor in other facets of the offense.

Atlanta's running backs had the highest success rate of any team in the league last season. According to Next Gen Stats, the Falcons had a successful play on 49.1% of carries by their running backs. While that may not seem like a stat that provides any indication of a wide receiver's worth, London actually plays a big role as a key blocker.

"I mean, he's just a dog. When you send Drake in there to go get people, he goes and get them," Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said. "And I was having a fun conversation with our staff the other day about, realistically, he's at the focal point of our run game about 90% of the time, for the most part.

"Being a Z, motion into it, inserting, doing some of the dirty work. But at the same time, he's at about 90% of our passing game, either one or two or at least three on just about most of our concepts. So, you're talking about a guy that's getting a lot of high volume in both the run and the pass game"

London played 90% of his team's offensive snaps in 2024, more than any other non-lineman on the team. Typically, players of London's stature occupy the position of X receiver in an offense, the same role once held by Julio Jones and Roddy White in Atlanta. Smaller, and typically more agile receivers, like Calvin Ridley or Harry Douglas, would play Z receiver.

However, modern NFL offenses are beginning to break away from those traditional stereotypes in favor of promoting a player's versatility. Morris and Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson were in Los Angeles in 2023 when the Rams first began to utilize rookie fifth-round pick Puka Nacua in a similar way to how Atlanta used London last year.

Like London, Nacua's tenacity in the run game allows him to not only stay on the field but operate from different alignments and against different matchups. The creative ways in which the Rams used Nacua allowed him to break multiple rookie receiving records, including total catches (105) and yards (1,486).

"It's about matchups," Smith explained when asked about the benefits of moving a receiver inside. " There are certain wideouts that they're outside guys only, which is good if you can beat the No. 1 corner that you're covering. Sometimes there's corners that travel with players, but they won't travel inside because of the nickel position, as we've talked about, there's so many different things that go into being a nickel. So that's a way to utilize your best receiver you can always find the matchup that's advantageous to you."

When the Falcons found a matchup they liked for London, they didn't hesitate to go after it.

According to Next Gen Stats, London had the highest target rate (34.9%) of any receiver last season with at least 150 routes run from the slot. He caught 45 passes for 555 yards from that alignment, the sixth-most in the NFL.

"Never, never satisfied with what he's done or did," fellow Falcons receiver Ray-Ray McCloud said. "He always wants to get better, even if he catches the ball and the route wasn't good and it was an excellent play, he's angry about it."

While players like Ladd McConkey and Jayden Reed, who gained 901 yards and 594 yards from the slot, respectively, did outperform London from that alignment, they don't offer nearly the same level of versatility. McConkey played from the slot on 70.4% of his snaps last season and was on the outside just 26.7% of the time. Reed, meanwhile, was in the slot 61.7% of the time and outside on 27.3% of his team's snaps.

London, however, was closer to an even split, spending 39.1% of his snaps in the slot and 58.1% out wide. This variety impacts Atlanta's passing game by varying his coverage matchups, release points and route options, which makes life hard on defenses before the ball is even snapped.

It's not enough just to go through the motions of moving a player around to achieve that inside-outside balance. The player in that role must embrace the chaos closer to the line of scrimmage. Otherwise, as Smith explained, the impact of it "becomes irrelevant almost."

Because the value of the job is cumulative.

It wouldn't be difficult for an offense to rotate a player specialized in run blocking, such as a tight end, extra linemen or big-bodied receiver, to give London a rest and add more size for the outside runs Atlanta specialized in last year. Defenses are trained to look for such substitutions as indicators of what could be coming on the next snap. Keeping a wide receiver in that role, partially shrouds an offense's intentions.

"He's a complete player in the sense that during the run game, we don't have to hide him," Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins said. "We use him to block people many times, people who are bigger than him. And he throws his hat in there and doesn't back down."

London's ability as a blocker paid dividends for Atlanta's run game last season. The Falcons finished with the third-most rushing yards on runs outside of the tackles last season, plays that often involved London securing an edge. The team was also fifth in rushing yards over expectation on runs outside of the tackles.

"We got combinations with tackles, he's got combinations with tight ends, he's got a bunch of different things that he does," Morris said. "So, he's really done a nice job in our run game."

While the rushing attack has been firmly established in Atlanta, the Falcons expect the addition of Michael Penix Jr. at quarterback will elevate the passing game. With Penix behind center for three games last year, London caught 22 passes for 352 yards and two touchdowns. Extrapolated out for a full 17-game season, that rate would amount to 125 catches for 1,995 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Now, those are extremely lofty expectations for London, who had a career-best 1,271 yards and nine touchdowns in 2024. Not to mention that the NFL record for receiving yards in a season is 1,964 yards. However, the early returns with Penix and London working together were promising and bode well for their connection moving forward.

"He's a complete receiver," Penix said. "That's somebody that's gonna make plays down the field but also make plays for his teammates. And that's somebody that you want, somebody who's not selfish and willing to put his body out on the line for the guys next to him. So, we love it."

While every year brings change in the NFL, the Falcons have been slowly but surely building an offense that they hope is both imposing and dynamic. In London, they have a player who embodies both traits.

Debates raged before the 2022 draft about the wide receiver class. Some experts favored the electric Garrett Wilson. Others preferred the silky-smooth Chris Olave. Then, there was the camp who wanted Jameson Williams, believing speed trumped all other traits.

In Atlanta, London was the clear choice. And the Falcons are still finding ways to benefit from that decision.

"It doesn't matter what scheme you're running," Smith said, "you're going to utilize and find ways to use him."

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