After practicing in the afternoon on Monday, Aug. 10th, the Falcons were back to early morning practice on Tuesday. Players were in pads and ready for full contact, and it was extremely hot.
Atlanta executed a number of roster moves between yesterday’s practice and today’s. Let’s review:
- Activated OL Jawaan Taylor off PUP
- Signed DE Cam Sample
- Waived LS Phillip Florenzo, waived-injured OL Jack Nelson
- Signed RB Trey Sermon
- Signed TE Trey Muse
- Waived/injured WR Le’Meke Brockington and LB Malik Verdon
The newest Falcons were at practice today and got some reps, but there’s not much to report about them at this point. Still getting up to speed. Stefanski did not speak to the media at all today, so we did not get an update
on how limited any of the injured players may be right now or what their timetables to return look like. Stefanski will speak before tomorrow’s practice.
You can find my reporting from today here:
Notes and quotes from Tuesday:
- Jessie Bates, D’Sean Hand, Divine Deablo and Avieon Terrell were held entirely out of practice, and Drake London did some individual drills but didn’t participate in 7-on-7s or 11-on-11s. Jawaan Taylor got some action but was very limited as they work to bring him up to speed. I don’t think that’s a complete list of which players didn’t practice, but they’re the ones I visually confirmed.
- Michael Penix Jr. was fully dressed and padded up for practice but was limited. He looked decent though and was moving around fine. Had some nice throws to Jahan Dotson and Olamide Zaccheaus.
- Tua’s taking most of the first-team snaps right now and he was on fire today. He went 7 of 7 in 11 on 11s today, with completions to Kyle Pitts, Jahan Dotson, Chris Blair, Olamide Zaccheaus, and I may have missed a couple. Right now, in my opinion and to nobody’s surprise, the depth chart currently appears to be Tua Tagovailoa, Michael Penix Jr. (when healthy), Cooper Rush and then Jack Strand.
- Strand still has upside and I’ve been impressed with how he’s adapted to the speed of the game coming out of such a small program. I wouldn’t hate seeing him land on Atlanta’s practice squad.
- Ethan Onianwa, the rookie out of The Ohio State University, is getting plenty of run with the 1s. He and Michael Jerrell also stacked up on the right side of the line for a jumbo package. Onianwa is one to keep an eye on.
- Speaking of Ohio State, DE Zach Harrison was back in 11-on-11s today.
- And speaking of young players to keep an eye on, Darnay Holmes spent some time in the nickel with the 1s today.
- Someone asked me today if CJ Henderson was getting any action. Today on the field with the second-team defense, he put such tight coverage on Cooper Rush’s intended receiver (forgot to write the number down) that the play went nowhere.
- Both Harold Perkins and Kendal Daniels ran with the first team with Deablo out, and Daniels had the green dot today. This is a relief after Perkins left practice for a bit yesterday to be examined by trainers, but clearly he’s OK.
- After practice, Tua spoke to the media. On what he expects in terms of playing time in the preseason, Tagovailoa said he will do whatever the team asks him to do. Stefanski said during the first week of camp (I think) that he does think it’s important for starters to get some snaps in preseason to prepare for full-speed contact Week 1. He also said he expects the starters to get a bunch of work in next week’s joint practices, so I’m eager to see what that looks like.
Tomorrow, the Falcons will practice in the afternoon, and Stefanski will speak before practice, while Penix Jr. will address the media after practice. As always, I’ll have my reporting in the Feed and we’ll have details for you right here on The Falcoholic.
