I’m going to give an immediate disclaimer from the top that my view for a good portion of 11-on-11s today was obstructed. When the scrimmage portion kicked off, they were on the far field, with the players on the sideline lined up between the media/fans and where the practice was taking place. We were shown the latter portion of practice clearly, at least.
As a result, I will not share any exact completion numbers from the quarterbacks, as has become customary. I do have the tally tracked as best
as I could today, but I’m just not confident enough that it’s fully accurate to be able to publish it.
Trying my best to get you guys accurate info. The team is scrimmaging on the far field with the players lined up to obstruct the media’s view so it’s not going to be as good as the past few days.
— Adnan Ikic (@SayWhichWay) July 31, 2025
This was nonetheless another strong day in pads, with weather that was fully cooperative and some real cloud cover for the first time since camp began.
Let’s get right into it with my observations from Day 5 of Falcons Training Camp!
Michael Penix demonstrates short game accuracy but struggles in the red zone
Penix hit on the majority of his completions today, and a lot of them were of the short variety. For any other quarterback having so many short completions wouldn’t be the most inspiring phenomena, but when it comes to Penix (whom we know is going to hit on those deep shots) it’s just what you wanted to see.
That’s not to say that he didn’t connect on a couple of deep shots, particular to WR Drake London, who had a one on one snag deep down the sideline on a wheel route, then beat CB A.J. Terrell on an underthrown shot that he adjusted perfectly to get.
It wasn’t all great for Penix, however, as he had a poor performance when the team entered the red zone. First, toward the end of the 2-minute drill portion, Penix (from inside the 20) threw the first interception of camp on an underthrown end zone pass intended for London which CB Natrone Brooks got into position for and came down with. Later on, inside the 10-yard-line, Penix overthrew both WR Ray Ray McCloud (who was open) and London to wind up going 0-3 in the red zone as far as I could see.
Penix hasn’t been good in the red zone. He’s 0-3 inside the 20 with an interception and a couple of misses over his WRs heads
— Adnan Ikic (@SayWhichWay) July 31, 2025
This continues shedding light on Penix’s main issue, which are those shorter to intermediate touch passes that scouts had concerns with coming out of the draft. We are still early in camp, and I will note that he did have a touchdown pass to WR KhaDarel Hodge from a bit further out on a laser beam throw, earlier in practice.
James Pearce and the defensive line get pressure on Kirk Cousins
Standout rookie OLB James Pearce Jr. continued his strong work at camp. He also got a lot of rotation in with the first team, after running almost exclusively with the second team the past three practices.
During Cousins’ own red zone portion of drills, he was under pressure seemingly every snap. It started with Pearce penetrating through the line and sacking Cousins on one play, before DT Ruke Orhorhoro did the same thing for a sack on the very next play.
James Pearce just sacked Kirk Cousins on one play. Looks like Ruke would’ve gotten him in the very next play.
— Adnan Ikic (@SayWhichWay) July 31, 2025
Pearce a couple of plays later got a tackle for a loss on a run play before he and DT Ta’Quon Graham combined to pressure Cousins into a 0-yard run.
Pearce just got into the backfield and stopped a run for a loss in the red zone
— Adnan Ikic (@SayWhichWay) July 31, 2025
Overall, Pearce has wreaked havoc the past few days against mostly the starting offensive line. His strong performance seems destined to continue against the backups.
Natrone Brooks has strong day despite getting beat for a long touchdown
CB Natrone Brooks is now in his third training camp with the Falcons since signing on as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Southern Mississippi, in 2023. In each of the past two years, he was waived in late August and became a mainstay on the practice squad, with a couple of promotions onto the active roster in his career.
This year, it feels like his chances of making the 53-man roster going into Week 1 are higher than they’ve ever been. He’s currently playing opposite CB Lamar Jackson as the primary outside corner with the second team, and he’s been going one on one against Drake London a lot.
While London has gotten the better of that matchup, Brooks hasn’t been without his wins. Today, the big one was his interception in the end zone, out-positioning London one on one. Brooks was also the primary man in coverage for what looked to be over half of Penix’s incompletions on the day.
Despite really solid coverage, WR Casey Washington did get the better of Brooks on a beautiful 50-yard home run shot from Cousins in the back of the end zone, which was just the perfect throw and catch.
Casey Washington just got the biggest play of the day. A deep 50 yard bomb he catches in the back of the end zone (from Cousins) against Natrone Brooks
— Adnan Ikic (@SayWhichWay) July 31, 2025
Other Notes:
- Kirk Cousins also completed the majority of his pass attempts, with the vast majority being a combination of slants, screens and short flat routes. His home run throw to Washington was one of the best throws of camp.
- S Jordan Fuller got the starter reps today, with S Xavier Watts playing with the second team. They continue to alternate full days next to S Jessie Bates and the starters.
- CB Dee Alford is looking more and more entrenched in that starting nickel CB role. He continues getting the starter reps ahead of CB Billy Bowman. Alford committed a defensive pass interference penalty on WR Nick Nash at around the 1-yard-line on a Cousins red zone play today.
Cousins’ end zone pass to Nick Nash draws a defensive pass interference penalty on Dee Alford
— Adnan Ikic (@SayWhichWay) July 31, 2025
- Both OLB Khalid Kareem and DT Brandon Dorlus got a lot of run and rotation with both the first team and second team defense today. As did OLB Deangelo Malone.
Deangelo Malone just got a nice run stop up the gap in the red zone
— Adnan Ikic (@SayWhichWay) July 31, 2025
- RB Bijan Robinson continued wowing everyone on his touches. His cuts are incredibly hard for any individual defender to keep up with without support from a teammate to contain.
- ILB Caleb Johnson has been getting a lot of second team run. He’s a name to watch to make this roster if that continues.
- We received word before practice began that OLB Jalon Walker is dealing with a minor hamstring issue. He was out there for walkthroughs today but did not participate in scrimmage.
- TE Teagan Quitoriano got some starter reps with TE Kyle Pitts Sr. once again being very limited in the scrimmage portion. Quitoriano is the runaway leader for that TE3 spot.
That’s all from me for this year’s training camp coverage, as this was my last day covering practice.
I will look to be out there for the joint practices against the Tennessee Titans, but in the meantime I appreciate all of you for reading what I had to write and for your interactions and comments!
Signing out from Flowery Branch for the final time, but I will look to be out there for both joint practice days against the Titans. Thanks for following along to my #Falcons camp coverage for this year. pic.twitter.com/drezuuwk8H
— Adnan Ikic (@SayWhichWay) July 31, 2025
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- Falcons Sharpen New Edge in Green Bay Beatdown
- Falcons rule out Vic Beasley and Courtney Upshaw for Lions game
- Atlanta Falcons center Alex Mack named Pro Football Focus’ offensive player of the week
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