Drake London — Week 1: Four Targets, Two Third Downs That Fell
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 14
London was thrown to four times Sunday, fewer than half of Bijan Robinson's ten, and caught two for twenty-nine yards — an eight-yarder in the second quarter and a twenty-one-yard catch deep left in the third that drew fifteen more for unnecessary roughness. The two incompletions were third and nine and third and ten, one followed by a missed field goal and one by a punt. He also ran once around left end for six, in a 20–13 loss to the Steelers.
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The longest catch of Drake London's afternoon was worth 36 yards of field position and none of it got Atlanta into the end zone. Second and eight at the Atlanta 20, eight 14 left in the third quarter, Falcons down seven to 13: Cooper Rush deep left, 18 yards in the air, London pushed out of bounds at the 41 for 21, and Asante Samuel Jr.'s unnecessary-roughness penalty added 15. That was +3.0 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — the second-largest positive number any Falcon put up Sunday, behind only Bijan Robinson's touchdown. Three snaps later it was third and 10 at the Pittsburgh 44, Rush threw short right for London, incomplete, and Atlanta punted.
That incompletion was one of two third-down targets and both fell: third and nine at the Pittsburgh 27 with 11 oh one left in the third, short right, Cameron Heyward in on the play, then the third and 10. The other catch was eight yards on first down from the Pittsburgh 45 with five 59 left in the half. Four targets, two catches, 29 yards, +0.7 on the four. He also carried once — second and seven at the Pittsburgh 30, 12 oh five left in the fourth, left end for six — and an eight-yard catch in the second quarter was wiped out by holding on Chris Lindstrom.
Four targets on 26 Atlanta pass plays is about 15 percent of the passing game. Bijan Robinson had 10, Jahan Dotson three, London four, Kyle Pitts and Olamide Zaccheaus one apiece. One of London's four came before halftime, when Atlanta threw 16 times; three came after, when it threw 10. The passer for all 26 was Cooper Rush, who was starting because Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix were both inactive, per Grant Gordon at NFL.com. Atlanta converted two of 12 third downs, and neither of London's was among them.
The June preview called London "the alpha the market finally priced" — seventeenth among wide receivers on a 30-percent target share, the kind of volume that tends to hold from one year to the next. Sunday's share was half that, with a quarterback who threw to his running back 10 times and to his top receiver four. That is the contradiction to sit with, and it comes with an asterisk the size of the quarterback room: the read was built on a different passer, and one game with a different starter does not undo a season's worth of volume. Atlanta is home to the Panthers on Sunday the twentieth. The share is the thing to check first.
_Data via nflverse._
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