Hankerson broke Micheal Irvin's single season U of Miami record of 11 TD's with 13 of his own. Can't be terrible.
And then there was this tidbit from Atlanta training camp before the injuries set in:
"The Falcons' official website has declared Leonard Hankerson "the best wide receiver at Flowery Branch thus far". His head coach Dan Quinn has also been very impressed and spoke quite highly of him. "I think it's the length, he's got such a big catching radius," Quinn said. "You've probably seen some of the sideline plays, he's got such a knack for keeping it in bounds and going to stretch for the ball, so that's probably one of the biggest things that stand out for me with Hankerson."
Given the catastrophic collapse of the Atlanta offense, Hankerson's (even though he was on IR) release could easily be read as a send-a-message-to-the-team desperation move by head coach Quinn.
Here's more from early in the season before injuries derailed Hankerson's season courtesy of 4for4.com -
Leonard Hankerson caught three-of-six targets for 45 yards in the
Falcons Week 3 win over the
Cowboys. Even though Hankerson has played on just 66 percent of Atlanta's offensive snaps this season, he has out-targeted
Roddy White 17-0 over the last two weeks. (White, meanwhile, has played on 84 percent of the
Falcons offensive snaps.) There was a report last week by ESPN's Adam Schefter that the
Falcons now view White and Hankerson as their "2 and 2A" wide receivers.
Leonard Hankerson caught 6-of-8 targets for 103 yards and a touchdown in the
Falcons blowout win over the
Texans in Week 4.
