The Atlanta Falcons may have failed their first test of the preseason, but there's no real cause for concern this early in the year. They still have arguably the best roster in the NFC South (not counting quarterbacks) and have a strong, young core that should be ready to contend as soon as they get that final piece of the puzzle in place.
Their greatest roster strength may be their offensive line, which was ranked No. 9 by Pro Football Focus going into the preseason.
"The departure of offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford is a blow to this group, but they retain some of the best players at the position. Chris Lindstrom is a monster in the run game, having earned PFF run-blocking grades above 90.0 in three of the past four seasons. Jake Matthews
is 34 years old now but remains a good pass blocker, earning PFF pass-blocking grades above 80.0 in each of the past four seasons."
As good as Ledford was, the Falcons have one of the NFL's best replacing him in Bill Callahan. The only concern at the moment is long-time left tackle Jake Matthews, who suffered an injury on Atlanta's opening drive against Denver. After the game head coach Kevin Stefanski wouldn't say what the injury was but claimed that Matthews was fine.
The Falcons are also not at 100 percent at right tackle with Jawaan Taylor just having started practicing last week after missing the entire offseason with an undisclosed injury.
We expect this group to be healthy and ready for Week 1. Hopefully by then the Falcons have a better product to put in the backfield behind them.
This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: Falcons offensive line earns strong ranking going into 2026 season
