The Falcoholic
If you’ve been here a little bit, you know I like to do a weekly rookie report that breaks down how the team’s draft class has performed. Last year was rough for a while—the Falcons barely played their rookies, as we all know—but it’s something I’m excited to pick back up this year.
Because we don’t have any regular season performances in the books just yet to review, this one will be forward-looking. Here’s what I expect from the rookie class in Week 1 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Walker’s listed behind Arnold Ebiketie on the team’s initial regular season depth chart, and I expect that to play out on the field. Nursing an injury off and on through much of preseason, Walker is expected to play a major role in this edge rusher rotation, but may be eased into that role a little bit in the first couple of weeks. It would not be shocking to see him picking up some snaps at inside linebacker, too, though those will likely be scant in the early going with the team clearly excited about the Kaden Elliss-Divine Deablo pairing.
I don’t know exactly what to expect for Walker’s role, in other words, but I’m confident he’ll play at least 30 snaps. He’s drawing a tough matchup against Luke Goedke as a pass rusher, but we’ll see how fares in it, and I’m excited to see how Walker looks as a run defender early on given the team’s acute need for help in this position group.
I’d expect to see Pearce Jr. a lot on third downs; the jury’s out if we’ll see him getting snaps ahead of Leonard Floyd on earlier downs. The loss of Bralen Trice means that barring a Khalid Kareem call-up, there should be plenty of work to go around for what’s essentially a four man rotation.
Pearce will draw Charlie Heck, who is expected to fill in for an injured Tristan Wirfs, who has been considered unlikely to return in Week 1 for a while now. Heck has gotten brutally bad marks for pass protection the past two seasons, which gives Pearce and Floyd an opportunity to apply pressure and harass Baker Mayfield if they’re sharp. The hope is that the rookie makes an immediate splash, and he’s got a favorable matchup for it.
Watts is the starter as the Falcons have committed to a full-blown youth movement on defense, which is both welcome and a little anxiety-inducing. Watts had his ups and downs in preseason and that’s unlikely to change in the regular season as he adjusts to life as a starting safety in the NFL, but he’ll get to play with fellow starters including the great Jessie Bates, which should help with that adjustment. Watts may also get a bit of a break with Cade Otton questionable for Week 1, meaning he may not have to cover a tight end who gave...
