However, the Falcons are indicating they’d like to see Turner carry the ball more like 275 times in 2009.

FantasyDraftEdge.com Take

That’s easy to say in July but when it comes time to win games and Jerious Norwood is hurt again they’ll give the ball to Turner.  Yes, the Falcons have more weapons on offense but we expect Matt Ryan to regress a bit this season and the run game despite best intentions for balance will still be the primary focus of the Falcons offense.

*** The FantasyDraftEdge.com Fantasy Impact Take ***

First of all it’s important to know that as of mid-May it remains our stance that the Atlanta Falcons overall may take a step backwards in the 2009-10 season.  Michael Turner had a career year and Matt Ryan (no matter how good he was last year) is still a 2nd year QB.  Additionally we factor that it’s not uncommon for a team to over achieve one season, then lack the focus and effort to maintain that higher level of play and take a step backwards the following season. 

So we expect Tony Gonzalez to be a solid TE but perhaps not match the numbers in KC during recent seasons.  For a few reasons – 1st is that that Falcons do have other weapons, in KC Tony G was THE weapon the past few seasons.  He’s not likely to see as many balls this season.   Additionally, KC was behind a lot which meant more passing anyway.  And again we’ll go back to the anticipation of overall down offense from the Falcons.

The bigger impact here is Michael Turner.  With another weapon, Turner is likely to get less carries.  We also aren’t going to be too quick to jump on a guy coming off a career year.  Turner was impressive but we’ve seen him (yes it’s still very early) as high as 2 or 3 in player rankings.  That seems too high for a guy that lacks a history of getting it done at this level.