What You Need to Know:

-- Hurst was the 25th overall pick of the 2018 draft.

-- The Falcons sent a 2nd-round pick to Baltimore to acquire Hurst this offseason.

-- Hurst will replace Austin Hooper, who ranked top 7 among TEs in targets in each of the past 2 years.

Slow Start

After watching Mark Andrews’ first 2 seasons in Baltimore, it might be easy to forget that the Ravens actually selected this guy 2 rounds earlier in the same draft.

Hurst remains an odd prospect, already headed into his age-27 season thanks to a detour into minor-league baseball. If not for a foot fracture that cost Hurst the first 4 games of his rookie campaign, perhaps the Baltimore TE depth chart would look different right now.

Instead, the Falcons swapped a 2nd-round pick (along with a late 4th-rounder) to the Ravens for Hurst (and an early 5th-rounder) before Austin Hooper had even officially signed with the Browns.

The new TE stands an inch taller than Hooper and posted a better speed score in pre-draft testing, a category in which both checked in well above average.

Hurst topped 40 catches in each of his final 2 seasons at South Carolina, including a 2016 that saw him rank 2nd in receptions ahead of WR Bryan Edwards (then a freshman, now a Las Vegas Raider).

Hurst couldn’t find much room in the Baltimore offense the past 2 years. He ranked just 5th on the team and 3rd among TEs in both targets and catches last season.

Improved Situation

Hurst obviously steps into a much better situation than the one he left. He’ll start with a significantly larger target pie in Atlanta. The Falcons have finished their past 3 seasons with OC Dirk Koetter as the most, 3rd-most and most pass-heavy offense in the league. Last year’s squad led the league in pass attempts in Koetter’s return campaign -- 244 attempts ahead of #32 Baltimore.

Hurst steps in for Hooper, who ranked 6th among TEs in targets last season despite missi…