When Football Outsiders released their annual look at games lost to injury for 2020, I skimmed it, set it aside for later to write about it, and hadn’t returned to it. A fresh prompt from ESPN’s Mina Kimes earlier this week prompted me to go back to the article, and with where the Falcons are in their offseason cycle, it’s a worthwhile reminder of why Atlanta let most of its free agency class walk and cut a couple of players with pretty large 2020 roles.
Per FO, Atlanta lost the third-fewest games to injury and COVID in 2020 in the site’s adjusted games lost statistic, which attempts to weigh key starters more heavily than reserves and special teamers to come up with an accounting of the impact injuries and non-injury related games lost have for each franchise.