Falcons not sure if receiver Darnell Mooney will be ready for season opener

Gabriel Burns, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Jul 29, 2025

Published in Football

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FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Falcons might lack a key weapon when they start the season.

Falcons receiver Darnell Mooney suffered a shoulder injury last week during practice that will cause him to miss a few weeks. The team is hopeful he’ll be ready to play Week 1, but coach Raheem Morris sounded unsure when addressing the topic Tuesday.

“We’ll figure that thing out as we go,” Morris said. “We’re going with a few weeks right now (as the estimated absence). Then we’ll play it out after we get to that point. When we get to that point, we’ll figure out where we are and hopefully everything is looking good for us to continue into our season and get him back.”

The Falcons need to be near full strength for the opener. They’re hosting the reigning NFC South champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who, like the Falcons, revamped an ailing defense over the offseason.

Mooney, 27, is a vital part of the offense. He had 992 yards and five touchdowns last season as the team’s No. 2 receiver behind Drake London. He had 191 yards and three touchdowns on 13 catches in two games against the Bucs last season.

But beyond that team-specific production, the Falcons don’t have much behind the London-Mooney duo.

Ray-Ray McCloud III is the third receiver and could fill Mooney’s role, Morris noted, because of their overlapping skill sets. The team also signed veteran DJ Chark Jr. after the injury to add another receiver to the group — another player who can masquerade in Mooney’s role if needed.

Players like Casey Washington and Chris Blair have cross trained to become versatile in their efforts to make the roster. Undrafted free agent Nick Nash built some buzz in the spring. And of course there’s KhaDarel Hodge, who scored the game-ending overtime touchdown to beat Tampa Bay in a Thursday night game last October.

“It’s hard to replace your starting X, your Mooney, but we have people in place who are clone-like to be able to go in there and do some of the things we need to get done,” Morris said. “And it’s fun to watch those guys do it as well.”

But none of those players have exceptional skills, nor have they proved to be anything beyond unremarkable depth. The NFL is a league where offensive weaponry reigns supreme. Multiple teams have three or four bona fide receivers atop their depth chart, making an injury easier to withstand.

Here, any absence for London or Mooney would deal a huge blow to a thin depth chart. And while Mooney shouldn’t miss many actual games, if any, in this instance, the past few days serve as a reminder that the Falcons desperately need both players on the field to meet their expectations.

While the Falcons hope their defense is improved, if they’re going to snap this seven-year playoff drought, it will be because of their offense. Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. recently said he believes it could be the best unit in the league. But it will need to stay healthy for that to have any realistic chance of coming close to fruition.

The Falcons open the exhibition schedule Aug. 8 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium against the Lions. They host Tampa Bay in the regular-season opener Sept. 7.