Conclusion: If you are drafting running backs for your fantasy football team, avoid drafting runners who have logged 325+ attempts the previous season! Heading into 2016 that would mean Adrian Peterson and Devonta Freeman can be expected to perform about 23 percent below the league average for running backs (who log more than 50 carries)
Devonta and the Falcons running game's performance this year is one of those X factors for the upcoming season. WHat happens if Freeman gets hurt, and Coleman is put in a position where he's forced to step up and be a RB1 and he doesn't? Then Kyle Shanahan's entire offensive system collapses...unless of course Sanu, Hardy and others step up and are reminiscent of what Roddy, Tony, and others were a few years back and good enough to carry the entire offense through the air.
Through 6 weeks last year (Weeks 3-8), the Falcons had one of hte best running games in the league. But in the other 10 weeks of the season, they literally had the league's worst running game.
Color me skeptical, but I'm not sure the improvements of Coleman and the addition of Alex Mack is gonna erase the fact that the Falcons couldn't effectively run the ball for 63% of last season.