What to know about Falcons mandatory minicamp

There will be a little intrigue associated with Kirk Cousins and a little news to tide us over until training camp.

Mandatory minicamp starts today. Every Atlanta Falcons player must be at minicamp without an excuse to be absent, otherwise they can be fined. That means the rubber meets the road for Kirk Cousins, who just lost the final team he would have been a slam dunk starter for when the Steelers signed Aaron Rodgers.

Here’s what you should know about minicamp as it kicks off.

What is mandatory minicamp?

It’s basically an extension of organized team activities (which the team has already done), but everyone is supposed to show up. OTAs are considered optional.

It’s just three days, but the team will get a little work together before they break for the long summer ahead of training camp. We’ll get a small, tantalizing glimpse into the team’s very early depth chart and some of the key story lines to come, and then we’ll have to wait.

Oh, and the Falcons are having their media day, so expect plenty of photos and videos to come out of today.

When is mandatory minicamp?

It starts today, Monday, June 9, and runs through Wednesday, June 11. That’s pretty much it until training camp kicks off in late July.

What are the story lines to watch?

There are several, even just in these three days:

• How much run are the rookies getting, and are any of them working with the first team? Raheem Morris likes to have the new guys climb the ladder, so it will be noteworthy if, say, Jalon Walker or Xavier Watts grabs time with the first team early on.
• Injury updates. Is Bralen Trice making progress? How is DeMarcco Hellams looking? Is that foot strain Kyle Pitts is working through going to keep him out until training camp?
• Will Kirk Cousins show up? The interminable saga that has been the Cousins era is not over, and if he elects to get fined by not showing up it will kick off a fresh wave of interest in his fate. The Falcons are likely going to have to wait for an injury or problem on another team to resolve it, but there’s a question of whether Cousins will signal he’ll play nice or intends to drag his feet as much as possible.
• How does Michael Penix look? All eyes are going to be on the second-year quarterback for good reason, as a great year from him will do much to determine how good this Falcons team can be. In OTAs he showed off the cannon arm and missed a few balls, so we’ll be looking for steady progress as this summer rolls on, especially because he’s extremely unlikely to play much in preseason.

What are you looking forward to from minicamp?