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."
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."
