Sounds fair. I'm not too concerned with this offense taking a step back. I think they're too good and will be in enough shootouts that there will be RZ and goal line opportunities for all to prosper. I would bet on Coleman finishing as an RB2 again this year. If he slips into RB3 territory I still like rostering him. I think this is arguably the most talented and potent 1-2 backfield punch in the NFL. If Freeman ever did get hurt or Coleman does go FA in a couple years I'd be glad to hold him for such an occasion. And if he remains a fringe RB2 guy I won't lose sleep over it. But I did originally buy low so I'm not too bent over it.
Much like Coleman, Atlanta's regression seems almost telegraphed.
We see this every year. The Seahawks after 2015. The Panthers after 2016. QBs that have a pretty established baseline that have a major outlier season and then head right back to where they were before.
Matt Ryan is not suddenly Aaron Rodgers. He's not one of the top 5 all-time greatest NFL QBs who is going to set NFL records for efficiency every year for the rest of his career. It was likely a one or two time deal.
Prior to last year Ryan had never broken 8 ypa. Last year he threw for an NFL RECORD 9.3 ypa.
Prior to last year Ryan had never broken 100 as a passer rating. Last year he threw for the 5th highest in NFL HISTORY of 117.1
Prior to last year Ryan had never thrown for 30 TDs. Last year he threw for 38.
It's not like he has better weapons than usual now. He's always had great weapons (in many years, better ones). It was just everything breaking right for one of those magical seasons that they regress from after. We've seen it so many times before I think he'll basically wind up like a better Matt Stafford. The occasional massive season with a whole lot of his career averages mixed in between. It's just that his career averages are a lot better than Stafford's (though still far from what he did last year).
Unless you believe Ryan is in the same class as Rodgers/Brady/Peyton then you can't expect him to keep playing like this. If he does, he's as good as those guys. Realistically, that's probably not the case.
So yes, as long as we work under the assumption that Matt Ryan is better than Aaron Rodgers/Tom Brady and under the assumption that Tevin Coleman is better at scoring TDs than Ladainian Tomlinson and under the assumption that Coleman is a better receiver than Darren Sproles, he should be a lock for RB2 production again next year. Realistically, there's a miniscule chance of any of those three things being true, much less all of them.
And who says fringe RB3 is the regression? As I mentioned even if he matches Tomlinson's TD efficiency and Sproles' receiving efficiency alongside an offense that remains the greatest of all-time in efficiency his numbers from last year would equal out to a fringe RB4, not fringe RB3. And again, the reality is that he's probably nowhere near as good a TD scorer as Tomlinson, nowhere near as good a receiver as Sproles, and that Ryan is nowhere near the best QB in NFL history.
There are just so many things that seem like obvious outliers that had to line up last season. Of course a Freeman injury would be a great equalizer in the short term, but that's not something I want to rely on.
ETA: And all of that is even BEFORE we consider the OC change.