After trading Mohamed Sanu to the Patriots, the Falcons needed to find someone on offense to fill his role as the team’s slot receiver.
Tight end Austin Hooper, who’s having a breakout season, injured his knee a few weeks ago. This has opened the door for second-year WR Russell Gage, Atlanta’s sixth-round pick from the 2018 draft. Gage recorded just six catches for 63 yards as a rookie. In Sunday’s loss to the Bucs, he finished with a career-high eight catches for 76 yards.
Gage has 21 catches over the past four games. With the Falcons extremely dinged up at tight end, defenses aren’t going to take their eyes off of Calvin Ridley or Julio Jones.
That means Gage will have a chance to develop a role in this offense over the final five weeks of the season. The fantasy football world has noticed, too. In Pat Yasinskas of TD Wire’s 9 fantasy sleepers for Week 13 feature, Gage was the first player mentioned:
Gage could be a good player to start in the Thanksgiving night game with the Saints. He gradually has taken on a bigger role in the offense because so much defensive attention goes to Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley. Gage had eight catches for 76 yards in Sunday’s loss to Tampa Bay. He should play a bigger role going forward.
Fantasy players are weary of getting burned by this Atlanta offense. Brian Hill failed to live up to his sleeper status two weeks ago, then Matt Ryan struggled against the Buccaneers’ 32nd-ranked scoring defense in Week 12.
Gage’s production was anticipated after the team traded Sanu, though, and we know Ryan likes to spread the ball around.
There’s no reason he shouldn’t continue to get around five catches per game and improve on his yardage totals. Don’t surprised if Gage has another career game on Thanksgiving night against the Saints.
