Kyle Pitts excels, defense experiments in Falcons Open Training Camp Practice

Clint Goss

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Kyle Pitts excels, defense experiments in Falcons Open Training Camp Practice image

The Atlanta Falcons need to be proud of the Training Camp day-seven Open Practice event at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The staff was phenomenally in mid-season form. The fan experience was wide open and orchestrated. Food and drinks the same as game day.

A 10/10 event to raise money for Emory Healthcare and bring in fans.

Diving in, Skill Players

New Offensive Coordinator Zac Robinson has impressed with simplicity through seven practices
and three sessions of pads. Quick, efficient base 9 route tree: Flat, Slant, Comeback, Curl, Dig,
Out, Corner, Fly, Post.
The 85% completion percentage from QB1 Kirk Cousins quickly reminded the crowd of his Top-10 QB ability and his caliber command of the Falcons offensively hasn’t been sniffed in the building for 5-6 years.

Receptions By Player from Kirk Cousins Friday:

X- WR Drake London (8)
Z- WR Darnell Mooney (3)
TE Kyle Pitts (2)
RB Bijan Robinson (2)
Y- WR Ray-Ray McCloud (1)
RB Tyler Allgeier (1)

Adding to this notion, Pitts looks the most fluid he has in and out of cuts since his injury in 2022. Still, he’s getting 6% of the target share from Cousins, vs. Drake London getting over 30+%.

Contrary to Cousins, Michael Penix Jr.‘s 53% completion percentage affirmed what an awesome learning opportunity Penix and his rocket arm have as a developmental QB2.

He is having plenty of volume thrown at him, settling in down the stretch, showing some rapport with WR Rondale Moore in particular on some back shoulder looks.

Mentioning Moore, it’s clear he’s behind Ray-Ray McCloud for the starting slot receiver role and he’s second in command behind McCloud for the punt return spot as well. The coaches aren’t the only ones in the building who like McCloud, Drake London and Tyler Allgeier were visibly ready to scrap with DeMarcco Hellams after this hit over the middle

Avery Williams performed as the #3 taking kicks.

Time to Experiment

Look no further for Raheem Morris & Jimmy Lake trying it all in terms of personnel than Clark Phillips III pairing with main CB2 competition Mike Hughes vs. sliding in with A.J. Terrell.

My favorite “experiment” I’ve seen is rookie LB J.D. Bertrand as a blitzing OLB. Running LB4 in the Inside room, Bertrand had 3 sacks Friday shot out a deafening cannon.

This linebacker group is fascinating and while we talk about the required creativity from the staff with this secondary, don’t forget linebacker. We’ve already discussed an old-school MLB thriving as a blitzing OLB, let’s go for another rookie: Bralen Trice.

Stock is up for Trice, seeing some first-team OLB snaps and some 4i 2nd team to add versatility to his snap count. His body favors an OLB to me and he is headed for a lot of snaps with Lorenzo Carter, Arnold Ebiketie, etc.

Clint Goss

Clint Goss Photo

Clint Goss is a Falcons and NFL writer, as well as the the on-air co-host of The Falcon Fade radio show at 99.1 WDJY and lead NFL Draft Analyst for Stadium Rant. He is a Rhetoric graduate of Georgia College & State University. A Roswell resident, find Clint at Mercedes-Benz Stadium every Sunday. You can follow Clint actively on Twitter/X @NFLDraftDome.