All of the talk around quarterback Desmond Ridder has been positive. He is taking command of the offense, and his teammates are responding. He already had great chemistry with Drake London going back to last year. He and Mack Hollins are getting their timing down really well, and some of the "long shot" receiver prospects have been showcasing their skills. Coach Arthur Smith already knew what he had in TE Jonnu Smith, but the media is starting to see it as well. Jonnu is likely to line up all over the place in what the Falcons call their "positionless" offense. He might line up at fullback, in line at TE, or split out wide as a receiver. It was the reps at receiver that caught the media's attention during minicamp. He's a fluid route runner, and he's faster on the field than you'd expect if you only know of his 4.62 pro day 40 time. At least one reviewer pointed out that Smith looks good enough split out wide that the team doesn't need to take risks rushing star TE Kyle Pitts back from injury. John FitzPatrick is also back from IR and practicing. FitzPatrick was drafted last year to be the potential replacement for blocking tight end Lee Smith, who retired after the 2021 season. He got hurt during the offseason missed the entire 2022 season on IR. He got extra reps during minicamp working with the offensive linemen and RBs on running drills. Offensive lineman Jalen Mayfield worked at right tackle with the second unit in OTAs. In minicamp, he flipped over to the left side. I'm taking that as a huge signal that the team is granting my wish and putting him into the competition to take over the swing tackle role this year. He was forced into duty at guard by necessity as a rookie. For whatever reason they kept him at guard for camp last year before he got hurt. But the need to keep him at guard no longer exists. In the mock draft, I traded to get him for the Titans because I thought he might add depth at tackle. Now that Germain Ifedi has been released, the swing tackle role is one of the few questions to be answered in preseason for the offense. There are several other candidates, without a doubt, but it's nice to see Mayfield given a fair shot at winning a role at tackle rather than guard. After minicamp, the team signed the extra kicker (who was there as a tryout) for training camp. A few articles announcing the move (not really newsworthy) got a lot of reaction because the reports mentioned the team had signed him to a three year contract. The fan response on Twitter and in comments was pretty strong, asking how the team could do that to Younghoe Koo, who has established himself as one of the best kickers in the league. It's an absurd overreaction. They signed the kicker to help out in training camp so that Koo doesn't have to kick every rep in kickoff drills, and also so they can do kickoff drills on two fields at the same time or do kickoff drills while Koo is practicing field goals. That might happen, as the injured punt returner Avery Williams was also the backup to Cordarrelle Patterson as the kick returner. They will definitely need to get more guys more reps at fielding kickoffs. The standard undrafted rookie contract is three years. It's perfectly normal, but for whatever reason it caused a bit of a fuss this time around. Overall, the defense seems to be taking to new DC Ryan Nielsen's system very quickly. He's high energy and very competitive, and everyone on defense seems to be amped up about it and his hands-on approach. Calais Campbell noted it in an interview session after practice. On one particular rep, Nielsen stopped him and showed him a different approach to what he was doing. Campbell said he was surprised to be learning new things that way this late in his career, but Nielsen's approach was more comfortable and he liked it better than what he had been doing before. I'm getting the feeling that when the season comes around, the defense will showcase a lot of four man fronts with a fifth man rushing from the outside. The competition for the depth roster spots is going to be insane. Last year it was almost automatic that several fringe guys would make the roster. The only question was which of the undrafted scrubs would be the ones. This year? We might even see a few former draft picks miss the final cut. The Athletic had a pretty good article this week on safety prospect Micah Abernathy, who was plucked from the Packers practice squad for the end of last season and is hoping to crack the roster this season. If he does, it will be a major news story particularly because he made it in Atlanta. He's the grandson of civil rights leader Ralph David Abernathy, who took over leadership of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference after Martin Luther King's death. The original church where he preached is within sight of the Falcons' home field. He's a long shot to make the roster with other DBs added in free agency and the draft, but he should have a good chance at the practice squad. If he does well on special teams in camp and preseason, who knows - he might slip into the back end of the regular roster after all. The Falcons had an extra strength/conditioning session in place of the final practice of minicamp. The team also recently announced the upcoming upgrades to the workout rooms at the complex in Flowery Branch. The planning and design for the improvements have been in the works for over a year. The new strength training facilities won't be ready this season, but at least the long overdue upgrade is underway. And now we enter a month of nothingness as we await the start of training camp. But all in all the Falcons are on the rise this season, and they already know it.
lol, I seen that move and some of the reactions on Social Media, but abstained from posting it here as I really didnt see it to newsworthy to begin with myself. I guess the fact that Koo just signed a 5 year $24M+ contract, while already having Pinion on the team set a bunch of people off. Kickers get no respect, but fans dont realize how important a accurate strong legged guy is... he will win you football games. (and if Koo's leg falls off, you have 4 more waiting in the wings )
