{"id":116560,"date":"2025-06-09T17:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T17:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/116560\/"},"modified":"2025-06-09T17:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T17:13:10","slug":"atlanta-falcons-post-draft-position-preview-guard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/116560\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlanta Falcons post-draft position preview: Guard"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are many questions surrounding the Atlanta Falcons<\/a> ahead of the 2025 NFL season, but the offensive line isn’t one of them. Even with Ryan Neuzil<\/a> taking over for Drew Dalman at center, the team has four quality starters returning and one of the better lines in the league.<\/p>\n

After breaking down the quarterback<\/a>, running back<\/a>, wide receiver<\/a>, tight end<\/a> and offensive tackle<\/a> positions, here’s our Falcons<\/a> post-draft preview of the guard position for the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

Left guard depth chart<\/p>\n

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Bergeron was not a popular pick at the time, but the former Syracuse standout has solidified the left guard position over the last two seasons in Atlanta. Behind Bergeron are veteran Elijah Wilkinson and undrafted free agent Josh Gray. Wilkinson has starting experience at both guard and tackle, making him a valuable backup. Gray was a projected Day 3 draft pick who will likely take a developmental role this season.<\/p>\n

Right guard depth chart<\/p>\n

Lindstrom is arguably the best right guard in the league, and he continues to raise his game each season. There may be an adjustment period as the team gets used to Ryan Neuzil starting at center. However, Lindstrom should continue to dominate as long as he’s healthy. Hinton doesn’t have a ton of experience but he’s been around for the last few seasons, so there’s some familiarity there.<\/p>\n

2025 salary cap hits<\/p>\n

Chris Lindstrom: $12,250,000<\/p>\n

Matthew Bergeron: $2,448,677<\/p>\n

Elijah Wilkinson: $1,197,500<\/p>\n

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Overall, the Falcons have roughly $20 million in salary cap space committed to the guard position. Lindstrom is one of the highest-paid offensive linemen in the NFL, but no other player on the roster will top the $2.5 million mark in 2025. Bergeron is a major bargain at $2.4 million, but he’ll be up for an extension soon.<\/p>\n

Top free agents available<\/p>\n

At this point in the offseason, very few impact free agents remain. If the Falcons are desperate to add someone, the best options are Brandon Scherff, Will Hernandez and Dalton Risner. We don’t foresee the team bringing in anyone at guard, assuming the current group stays healthy. Letting a young player like Joshua Gray develop is probably a better use of a roster spot than adding a veteran to sit on the bench.<\/p>\n

Predictions\/expectations for 2025<\/p>\n

The Falcons have two very good starters at the guard position and they should be even better in Year 2 of Zac Robinson’s system. As mentioned above, the only real question mark surrounding Atlanta’s guards is how the loss of Dalman will affect their play this season. The team has decent depth with versatile backup Elijah Wilkinson, and a good developmental option in Joshua Gray. It should be a good year for this group in 2025.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: Falcons position preview: Chris Lindstrom, Matt Bergeron lead guards<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are many questions surrounding the Atlanta Falcons ahead of the 2025 NFL season, but the offensive line…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2554,28813,8189,11406,758,2551,11423,224,7,28812,15146,8552,11424,11408,6,1482,11428,8763],"class_list":{"0":"post-116560","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-falcons","10":"tag-atlantafalcons","11":"tag-behind-bergeron","12":"tag-brandon-scherff","13":"tag-chris-lindstrom","14":"tag-dalton-risner","15":"tag-drew-dalman","16":"tag-elijah-wilkinson","17":"tag-falcons","18":"tag-football","19":"tag-guard-position","20":"tag-jon-feliciano","21":"tag-joshua-gray","22":"tag-kyle-hinton","23":"tag-matthew-bergeron","24":"tag-nfl","25":"tag-offensive-line","26":"tag-ryan-neuzil","27":"tag-will-hernandez"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114654531064310935","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}