Casey

Washington

McClellan is sixth-round rookie who is now a healthy scratch with the Falcons having a full running back room Week 1. Washington, Orhorhoro, Gwyn and Dorlus are also healthy inactives. Hamilton was ruled out due to a groin injury, but other than that, the Falcons enter Week 1 against the Steelers with a clean bill of health.

Washington wasn’t on many draft radars this offseason, but the Falcons went out and selected the former Illinois Illini with the No. 187 overall pick in this year’s draft, giving him a chance to make the 53-man roster this offseason. In addition to the praise heaped on Washington by London, Falcons beat writer, Daniel Flick, noted that Washington also took first and second-team snaps during the middle of OTAs, and had the chance to catch passes from Kirk Cousins and rookie first rounder Michael Penix. Washington still has a long way to go to break camp with the 53-man roster. We’ll see how things shape up next month once the pads come on for training camp.

Washington is a five-year prospect who topped out at 670 yards and four touchdowns last season. Last year marked the first in which Washington found the end zone, and nearly a third of his yards came in a season-finale against Northwestern when he went for an unprecedented 9-218-3. Washington ran a 4.46 at Illinois’ pro day, and will likely compete for a backup role early on.