The Falcoholic
The first day of mandatory minicamp has come and gone, and most of the roster was out there practicing. There were no noted absences and James Pearce Jr. is back with the team for the first time since he was arrested and charged in February (and the Falcons say they still haven’t heard from the league about a potential suspension), while a handful of players are not practicing or are practicing on a limited basis owing to injuries.
These three days can’t tell us a lot about roster battles and where this team is headed, naturally, as training camp and preseason will be much more informative in that regard. Still, there are notes to be noted and items and to be itemized, so let’s get to it.
We’re still on Penix watch. The third-year quarterback is recovering from offseason ACL surgery and has been participating, but is not yet cleared for 11-on-11 work. For his part, Penix believes that will happen by the start of training camp; Kevin Stefanski has not confirmed that timeline just yet.
Both Penix and the team stressed that his recovery is going well and he’s not enduring any setbacks or falling short of any expected milestones; this is just the reality of coming back from a significant injury like Penix’s. The fact that he’s throwing, moving around, and participating in other drills should be considered a reason for cautious optimism.
Still, to win this quarterback competition, Penix needs to be out there early in training camp with very few limitations, or Tua Tagovailoa will likely have too much of a lead on the quest for the starting job. The ideal outcome for this team remains Penix winning the starting job and excelling, given that he’s under contract for two seasons with a fifth-year option and is the younger, more high-upside player, but that’s far from a given at the moment. We’ll hope he’s ready to go, but likely won’t know until mid-to-late July for sure.
I had named Daniels as a player to watch in the competition for a starting job next to Divine Deablo, but injuries have been keeping him from getting out there and competing. At the moment, Christian Harris continues to stand out (per Will McFadden at AtlantaFalcons.com) and Harold Perkins Jr. is working his way into the group as well. With JD Bertrand also not practicing, Harris has a major leg up, and Daniels may not be able to catch up unless he’s really sharp in training camp.
Thompson has a better shot to grab some kind of significant early role given how heavily the Falcons rotate up front, but he too will have to work his way back. The rookie defensive lineman did not participate in OTAs and is not out there for minicamp, either, [with only vague updates...
