Just thought I would share some info posted by Jay Adams on Falcons Web. The Falcons? 2013 rookie minicamp gets underway this weekend, with players reporting Friday and participating in minicamp sessions Saturday and Sunday. Along with eight drafted rookies and 24 college free agents, the Falcons will have 17 tryout players in town for minicamp. QB Graham Wilbert threw for 18 touchdowns and 2,814 yards with only six interceptions during his senior season at Flordia Atlantic. S Brooklyn Fox a first-team all-Ohio Valley Conference selection in 2012, notched six interceptions in 11 games for Eastern Kentucky and added 57 tackles, four pass breakups, two fumble recoveries and a blocked kick. DB Saeed Lee (Alabama State) made 34 tackles, three for loss, in his senior season at Alabama State while missing two games due to injury. DB Kelly Dawsey transferred to West Georgia from Western Michigan and recorded 28 tackles and a blocked kick last year. RB Trevor Scales was a 2012 first-team All-Ivy League selection and the only runner in the conference to gain more than 1,000 rushing yards. He averaged 100 yards per game and scored 13 touchdowns. DB Kejuan Riley set records at Alabama State and was the school?s most prolific defensive back. He set a school record with 348 interception return yards and had 21 total picks in his college career. RB Richard Samuel saw his share of position changes while at Georgia, seeing time at running back and also training at linebacker and fullback. He was a five-star recruit out of high school but ran 214 times for 833 yards and four touchdowns with the Bulldogs. LB Shawn Plummer played linebacker at Fresno State but also trained as a safety. Plummer turned heads at Fresno State?s pro day with a 4.5 40-yard time and had 35 tackles and two sacks during his senior season. LS Tyler Morgan, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound long snapper, was Georgia Tech?s starting long snapper for four seasons after coming to the Yellow Jackets as a walk-on. LB Bill Ross led Arkansas-Pine Bluff in tackles during his final two seasons, amassing 234 total along with six interceptions. OL Corey Howard, the 2012 Southland offensive lineman of the year, can play all three positions on the offensive line and was a four-year starter who started at least eight games each season for Central Arkansas. OL Ryan Moores, an All-NESCAC selection and D3Football.com first-team All-American, was a captain of Middlebury?s football team and anchored an offensive line that allowed the team to rewrite conference and school records for passing. OL Micah James started all 12 games at center for Middle Tennessee State last year and was third among linemen, playing 844 snaps. He was a team captain and a first-team All-Sun Belt selection. OL Will Post was a three-year starter and All-America and All-Conference selection last year for Eastern Washington. WR Andrew Helmick left Lindenwood as the school?s all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns. He didn?t receive a Combine invite, but ran a sub-4.4 40 time during his pro day. WR Quentin Sims made the position switch from quarterback to wide receiver in college and made a smooth transition. He recorded 16 touchdowns, good enough for most in the Ohio Valley Conference, during his senior year. WR Marcus Sales recorded 64 receptions for 882 yards and eight touchdowns last year and wrapped up his college career with a five-reception, 172-yard, three-touchdown performance in the Pinstripe Bowl against Kansas State.
That's more prospects than we usually see on a tryout basis, but the large number makes sense - under the old CBA, we held our regular minicamp first, and the rookie minicamp later. Now we have the rookie minicamp first, so the coaching staff isn't dealing with everyone else. It helps to have a few extra bodies around (for example, forming two or three full groups to rotate in some drills rather than just one or two), and there's more time available to spread around and give the tryouts some reps. I had been expecting to see Corey Howard on our list of undrafted free agent signings, so I'm happy to see he's coming in for a tryout. If anyone's wondering, Lindenwood is a Div-II school in Missouri. Their running back was signed by the Colts, so Helnick isn't the only player they have that's hoping to latch on with an NFL team. Helnick is a little guy, around 5-9. As noted, he's quick - and he's more physical than you'd think for a small, speedy guy from an unknown D2 school. We had a couple of guys with great workout numbers from ultra-small schools in camp last year. The problem was they really couldn't play football even with the large school prospects, let alone NFL players. They ended up being the first players released. But Helnick was a legit enough prospect that he got invited to the Super Regional combine in Dallas, so he might actually know how to run a route. If he shows he can block, he'll be back for regular minicamp and OTAs.
A follow-up... The Falcons are right at the 90 player roster limit. I think the rule changed last year so that as yet unsigned draft picks now count towards the roster limit. (The Falcons and many other teams used that loophole to overload the roster for minicamp and OTAs. Draft picks couldn't come to training camp unless their contracts were signed and submitted to the league offices for approval, but you could still bring them to minicamps and OTAs. So you could sign extra prospects for an extended audition during OTAs, as long as you cut enough of them before training camp to make room to sign the draft picks.) So there really isn't room for any more of these prospects, unless they bump out other undrafted guys we already signed. That's certainly possible if a guy shows he's really not a good fit this weekend, but no one is expecting it. More likely: these guys are auditioning to be the extra bodies brought in as replacements during training camp when other players get injured. Kevin Cone was one of those in 2011, ended up making the practice squad that season and then the regular roster last year before getting hurt.
