The OLB coach is Jacquies Smith, former edge rusher who played 5 years in the NFL. The team added a quartet of strength / conditioning / performance science guys, and Justin Hood is the new secondary coach. Two new generic defensive assistants. And... we have an assistant QB coach, which was one of my top wishes for the coaching staff. Interesting choice too... it's D.J. Williams, the son of former NFL quarterback Doug Williams.
With all the rumors flying per usual this time of the year, would you want Cousins or Fields on the Falcons?
Fields would have been a good fit for Arthur Smith. I don't think he's necessarily the right fit for Zac Robinson. I'd definitely be interested in Cousins. I'd also be interested in Russell Wilson if he does become available. (No trade, as I would NOT want to pick up that awful contract.) The question will be the price tag for either of them. I'm guessing Cousins would break the bank. Four other names to throw in there... I said before that if we got the right coaching staff, I'd want Sam Darnold. We do now have a proper QB coaching staff in place (as opposed to an OC doing double duty as QB coach without a dedicated assistant). But I don't know if it's the right fit for Darnold. So I wouldn't be opposed to swapping out Heinecke for Darnold, but I'm not convinced that we're the right fit. But then again, I'm not convinced that Kyle Shanahan will let him go - he has seen Darnold all season in practice, so he knows what he'd be losing. My guess is that at least for this year, Darnold doesn't even hit the open market. Baker Mayfield would work well, and it would have the added bonus of forcing Tampa to go another direction. The question there would be the price tag. Given the crazy prices paid for starters last year and that the cap turns out to be higher than expected this year, I'm guessing the price tag for Mayfield will be too high. Which brings me to two other names that aren't getting media coverage here in Georgia yet, but should... Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew. My preferred approach would be to sign one QB and then draft one, while keeping Desmond Ridder and releasing Taylor Heinecke for cap savings. Signing either Brissett or Minshew won't necessarily be dirt cheap - not like the Mariota contract or what SF paid last year for Darnold. But they wouldn't completely break the bank either, and they would leave room to draft a QB in any round. So sign one of them, and draft Jayden Daniels if he falls to #8, McCarthy or Penix in the second if they're available, or Spencer Rattler in the third round. And... have the coaches keep working hard with Ridder, keeping him in the competition for the starting job. He might actually win it. He made a lot of "rookie mistakes" in his first season of starting, but he still has arm strength, mobility, and leadership capabilities. So I fully agree that we need upgrades, and I'm saying sign AND draft those upgrades, but don't write Ridder totally out of the picture quite yet. Dark horse prospect... I'll be a homer here and say I love Darren Grainger, the QB from Georgia State. Sign a starter, keep working on Ridder, and take Grainger in the sixth or seventh as a project. He will need work on some of his mechanics to get that consistency, and he'll definitely need time to get used to the NFL (coming from the Sun Belt conference). But he's big, strong, tough, and pretty fast. He was the bowl game MVP in 2021 and 2023 and was Georgia State's leading RUSHER in 2022. His stat line from the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl this year: 19 of 22 for 257 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT, 24 rushing attempts for 111 yards (4.6 avg), 2 rushing TDs. Hmmm... think he's worth a flyer in the last two rounds?
Cousins will be expensive, guaranteed too. Ive never been a Russel Wilson guy, but who knows what a change in coaching, schemes and other tangibles might bring. I posted on the Vikings board that Id like him in Minnesota for a while. Draft a QB in this upcoming Draft and ride it out. Im a believer in Darnold, especially with the weapons the Vikings can offer in the pass game. Thats 2 good/solid possibilities, imo. Minshew i like a bit more, but it just might be his personality and the fact he's wide open to just getting a good job and in Atlanta he'd have solid weapons too. Brissett needs a chance with someone for sure, definitely two starting talents that need/deserve consideration. I dont know diddly about Granger, but that stat line is intriguing. Home cooking sometimes goes a long way also. PS - I think Cousins wife is from Georgia or her parents live there, something along those lines, so maybe if the price is right for both sides they work something out. Its all very interesting.
Looking at the Russell Wilson situation... an NFL team could land him at the League minimum of $1.2M if he's cut (which most believe he will be), because he's already guaranteed $37M or something like that. Talking heads have Wilson being suited to go to the Raiders, Falcons, Vikings or the Steelers. I imagine in that situation at that price, there may be a few more suitors.
I really liked Russell Wilson coming out of college because he had insane accuracy. Atlanta is returning all five starting offensive linemen, has a good running game, and has Drake London and Kyle Pitts already in place as his top two targets. It would be his choice where he wants to go next, and there's a lot here that might attract him.
Terry Fontenot: We’ve got to get the QB position right, and there are some really good options The Falcons have not reached the playoffs since 2017, which was the last time they had a winning record. Since Matt Ryan left following the 2021 season, the Falcons have gone through Marcus Mariota, Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke. They are back in the hunt for another one. General Manager Terry Fontenot, whose team has gone 7-10 in his three seasons in the position, has hired his second head coach and his future now hinges on getting the right quarterback. “Yeah, we’ve got to get it right, and that’s real clear. We haven’t shied away from that,” Fontenot said Tuesday at the Scouting Combine. “We know that’s critical to get that position right, but it doesn’t stop there. We have to get the right quarterback in, and we have to improve this entire roster and get ready to roll this season.” The good news is: Justin Fields may be one of the quarterbacks available via trade; Kirk Cousins and Baker Mayfield are unrestricted free agents; and, with the eighth pick, the Falcons could pull off a trade for one of the top draft prospects. The Falcons will get a quarterback. The question is: Who? “Yeah, we won’t close any doors,” Fontenot said. “It can be a veteran. It can be a young player. We won’t close any doors. It’s about getting it right, whatever that is. The cool thing about this year is there are a lot of really good options in all areas. There’s good options regarding veterans, UFAs, possible trades, the draft. There’s a lot of good options. The critical part is to make sure we get it right.” Atlanta, with Bijan Robinson and Kyle Pitts among the weapons available, is enticing for whoever ends up as the team’s starting quarterback. PFT
Sadly, this was widely respected. I had hoped the team might keep him, using him at TE and using Pitts more as a WR. But Jonnu Smith was more of a fit for Arthur Smith's offense than most systems - as noted by his struggles in New England after having success with Arthur Smith in Tennessee. So the cap savings from his release became the prime factor. Heads up @gidion72 and other Steelers fans... one of your new OC's favorite offensive weapons is now available. His last two seasons in Arthur Smith's offense: 2023 = 50 receptions, 582 yards, 26 first downs. 2020 = 41 receptions, 448 yards, 25 first downs, 8 TDs.
I hope not. We actually have a good TE room right now. Don’t want to rock it unless Brock is available when the Steelers draft.
Arthur Smith plays more 2- and 3-TE sets than any other OC in the league. You'll have room for at least one more TE on the roster.
Today the Falcons released defensive line prospect Ikenna Enechukwu. Never heard of him? He was an undrafted prospect last year out of Rice, got hurt near the start of training camp, and spent the year on IR. Now he's cleared to participate, but the new staff has decided he's not what they're looking for in their new base 3-4 system. He's more of a traditional 4-3 defensive end. He would need to bulk up to play DE in the 3-4, and he doesn't have the skill set or general athleticism for 3-4 OLB. There are also other projects ahead of him for that role, such as Ade Ogundeji and DeAngelo Malone - both of whom are at risk of not sticking through preseason themselves. So the professional courtesy is to set him free now and let his agent have a better shot at landing him somewhere else.
The Falcons defense took multiple injury hits during their preseason opener. Linebacker Bralen Trice was placed on injured reserve with a knee injury he suffered against the Dolphins and safety DeMarcco Hellams will also be out for an extended period of time. Hellams hurt his ankle in the game and head coach Raheem Morris said on Monday that Hellams will miss significant time as a result of the injury. Hellams was a seventh-round pick last year and he started four of the 15 games he played as a rookie. He had 40 tackles in those appearances. The injuries didn’t do anything to alter Morris’s already dim view of preseason games. “I don’t want to play in the games,” Morris said, via Terrin Waack of the team’s website. “I really don’t. . . . It didn’t change anything. It further emphasizes how I feel about preseason.” ________ __________________ That was from Josh Alper at PFT. I didnt realize how Morris felt about preseason till now. I wonder how many coaches feel the same and how do you evaluate 2's and 3's and give reps for timing and 'feel' if you dont play them?
The sad thing was that the field was wet and the footing was a bit treacherous. Bralen Trice didn't even make contact with anyone when he got hurt. He basically just shifted his weight as he moved towards the line of scrimmage, stepped wrong, and went down in a heap grabbing his knee without even being blocked. One other instance of bad footing is actually kind of funny. Offensive line prospect Barry Wesley (practiced at tackle last year, played guard in the game) slipped and fell, and a Dolphins defender tripped over him as he hit the deck. That caused a personal foul penalty for a chop block. Cornerback Harrison Hand was also placed on IR. He got hurt during the joint practices. I guess the team was waiting for a second opinion before shelving him for the season. So the trip to Miami cost the team three players for the season (Trice, Hand, Rondale Moore) plus Hellams for however long he ends up being out. For anyone who's wondering, if you put a guy on IR now, he's gone for the season. If you want to designate him for potential return, he needs to be on the roster at the cutdown, then put on IR during Week One.
Yes... I don't know if the rules have changed, but the player's agent negotiates the injury settlement in terms of weeks of salary. The amount of time the team has to wait before resigning the player was / might still be six weeks plus the number of weeks paid in the settlement. The drawback is that once released, the player is a free agent and can sign with another team as soon as he's healthy. That might have been an option with Harrison Hand, but I can't imagine the Falcons would risk losing DeMarcco Hellams to another team. Hellams worked his way into a starting role late in the season last year. He would be on every team's radar if the Falcons put him through waivers.
Torgo............I player I thought was going to make it in the NFL was a Bust.........QB Nathan Rourke was released by the Falcons after one pre-season game.......this is the 4th NFL team to release him....Jags, Pats, Giants, Falcons. He has signed with the BC Lions in the CFL and I think his dreams of the NFL are over......the NFL is such a different game than the CFL....better in many ways.
I mentioned somewhere on another thread that I was looking forward to seeing what he could do. The background story is that the Falcons had John Paddock as the #4 QB for OTAs and minicamp and the first week of camp. Paddock looked good, and the coaches had positive comments on him. But he didn't get many opportunities in the 11-on-11 or 7-on-7 segments in practice. (And the coaches noted that as well.) So when he got released a week before the first preseason game, it wasn't a shock - he was obviously just an extra camp arm so that they'd have four QBs throwing at once in basic drills. The stunner was that they signed Rourke at the same time they released Paddock. That got the media into all kinds of speculation, in particular saying that Taylor Heinecke is toast and the team is trying hard to find his replacement as the #3. To me the "replace Heinecke" part doesn't seem likely, but I truly wouldn't be all THAT surprised if they kept a fourth QB on the practice squad. So Rourke was signed but had only a week to get acclimated with the scheme and his teammates. In the game, he had probably three really good throws, five terrible throws, and five that were somewhere in between. The bad throws absolutely stunned me. Rourke was a sharpshooter for BC in 2022, and suddenly he couldn't find the broad side of a barn with a GPS receiver. The only thing I can figure is that not being familiar at all with the receivers was a factor. He had just been signed at the start of that week, didn't have many reps in 11-on-11 sessions (if any at all) and was also working with the last unit offensive line and receivers. He was certainly under more pressure from the pass rush than Penix was in the first quarter. Would he have had more success with another week to develop timing with the receivers? I think so, and I was hoping to see him in a second preseason game, as I thought he did have some spark. His best play was a scramble to keep a drive alive. In fact, three of the team's five longest plays on offense were with him at the helm. Flip side... he had first and goal TWICE and came up with nothing both times - in a seven point loss. And the coaching staff also saw him in basic drills as the extra camp arm for the week. No media reports on those practices said anything about him at all. If his accuracy in basic drills was as inconsistent as it was in the game, that alone would be why they released him. Plus side = he was a rising superstar for BC when he came over to the NFL, and now BC has him back. You were probably already a BC fan. Now I am too...
@Vancouver Volcanos - the exhibition game today tipped off something about Rourke's release, and it's a happy one. The way the local announcers described his departure implied that it was Rourke's choice. And that makes a LOT of sense. He was basically trying to win a practice squad berth here. Meanwhile, BC wanted him to finish out this season, and from what I hear the contract makes him the highest paid player in the CFL next year. Ok, that's not much in NFL terms, but it's far better than practice squad pay. The announcers didn't go into details, but they made it feel like it was an agreeable, amicable departure. BC wanted him, and Atlanta simply got out of the way.
Well, Torgo, whats your take on Morris's decision to not play Penix Jr in week 2 and possibly week 3 of the preseason? Are there concerns about Cousins health early on? Cousins not playing either, kind of makes things mysterious, imo.
