Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Drake London should be jumping for joy. London, who is +200 to have 1,250 or more receiving yards next season at the DraftKings Sportsbook now has a quarterback. Kirk Cousins had been linked to Atlanta after the 2023 season ended finally made his free agency decision this week. Cousins and the Falcons agreed to a four-year deal that gets him $100 million guaranteed and now London is set up to have a career year in 2024.
Drake London’s First Two Years in Atlanta
The former first-round pick out of USC has scored six touchdowns in his first two years with Atlanta. London recorded over 800 receiving yards in both 2022 and 2023 and has 110-plus targets in each season. London’s receiving yards went up in 2023 compared to his rookie season but his touchdowns dropped from four to two.
What to Expect from the Kirk Cousins-Drake London Connection
Cousins is coming off an Achilles injury and turns 36-years-old in August but the dude was off to a tremendous start last season. The former 2012 fourth-round pick threw for 18 touchdowns and 2,331 yards in the Vikings first eight games of 2023 and had a QBR rating of 103.8. He traded his former receiving core that included Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and tight end T.J. Hockenson for London, Darnell Mooney, Van Jefferson and tight end Kyle Pitts.
The good news for London and Atlanta is that Cousins is an extremely accurate passer. London was catching passes from Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke during his first two years in the league but neither had the completion percentage that Cousins brings. Ridder did complete 64.2 percent of his passes last season but threw 12 interceptions in 15 games, while Heinicke completed just 54.4 of his passes in five games for Atlanta in 2023.
To say Cousins is an upgrade from both Ridder and Heinicke is an understatement. Cousins, who played six seasons with Minnesota has a career completion percentage of 69.5 and never completed less then 65.9 percentage of his throws during his time with the Vikings. He’s also finished with 25 touchdowns or more in eight of his last nine seasons. Last year when his season was cut short due to the injury was the only time since 2014 that he didn’t throw for 25 scores or more.
Can we expect London and Cousins to have the same connection as the former Michigan State quarterback did with Vikings superstar Jefferson? Potentially, yes. London is Atlanta’s number one wide out and is a freak athlete. He has good speed and I’d expect his catches of 20-plus yards to increase with Cousins under center.
The worry for some is that Atlanta dished out all of this money to a quarterback that’s getting older and is coming off a major injury. But the Falcons needed a top quarterback and they signed exactly that. Atlanta has the offensive weapons that include star running back Bijan Robinson along with a talented defense that gave up just 18.9 points per game (seventh best in 2023).
Only 10 wide receivers finished with 1,250 yards or more last season but pairing Cousins with Drake London could do the young wide receiver wonders. At the +200 price that the DraftKings Sports book is offering is a great value receiving prop for next season. Odds provided are via the DraftKings Sportsbook.