FLOWERY BRANCH – The Atlanta Falcons held their final OTA practice open to the media on Monday. While Michael Penix Jr.'s recovery remained the biggest storyline, Drake London's new contract and growing speculation around Bijan Robinson's future generated plenty of discussion.
Even with the heat and humidity bearing down over Falcons headquarters, Monday felt like a slightly shorter practice. It was notable that they spent a lot of time running through special teams drills, but there were still plenty of other takeaways from what we saw on the field.
Players who were not out there
There were several players who were not present for Monday’s final media viewing period.
Michael Penix had a “scheduled rest day,” according to head coach Kevin Stefanski. He was present on the field, but he did not participate in any drills. Stefanski noted that he worked out before practice, and there is no reason to be concerned, and that he has hit “every milestone” in his recovery. With Trevor Siemian sidelined for an unknown ailment, Tua Tagovailoa and Jack Strand received all of the reps with the team.
As for what’s next, Penix is “closer” to being fully ready for 11-on-11 drills. Stefanski was asked if that could come next week during mandatory minicamp, and it was a simple “we’ll see.”
Other injured, but present, players included offensive tackles Storm Norton and Jawaan Taylor, linebackers Kendal Daniels, Troy Andersen, and JD Bertrand, safety Xavier Watts, and cornerback Billy Bowman Jr.
Edge rusher James Pearce Jr. was still not at practice (and Stefanski declined to say anything more about whether he expects him to be at mandatory minicamp next week). Neither were defensive tackles Brandon Dorlus and Anterio Thompson. Dorlus was reportedly at the team facility, just not on the field. Thompson, meanwhile, has not been seen at all during OTAs for unknown reasons.
Drake London was also out there, but not participating in anything other than warmups. The wide receiver agreed to a new contract with the franchise last week and was waiting on some of that paperwork to be processed.
Lots of well-deserved praise for Drake London
Drake London picked up his new contract last week, and the wideout received some well-deserved praise on Monday from his coaches and teammates.
“He represents all the things we believe in, in terms of how you approach this game, how important this game is to him, how important his teammates are to him,” Kevin Stefanski said.
Bijan Robinson echoed that praise: “I was so happy for him. He deserves it. He deserves everything that he gets. Obviously, he's one of my favorite teammates, probably my top teammate of all time. That's my best friend. That's my brother.”
As did Matthew Bergeron: “It gets us going as an offense and as a team. Seeing how hard he goes every day, whether it's in practice, middle of August, third week of camp, he'll lose his s*, but it's great, and it gets us going. He deserves everything he got. I think he's a great piece for this offense and for this team. He brings everybody along with him, so I'm just happy for Drake.”
Could Bijan Robinson be next?
Bijan Robinson is the Falcons’ best player. He is under contract through the next two seasons, but that hasn’t slowed the speculation that the star running back could be next. He was asked about that on Monday.
“We’ll see, man,” Robinson said. “We’ll see, because I’m not the type of guy to talk about it. I let them handle all that stuff. So, we’ll see.”
He carries a cap hit of around $7 million, but his next deal is expected to soar to upwards of $21 million or more. That could come this summer. It could not. All we know for sure is that whatever he signs, and whenever he signs it, will reset the running back market.
Purpose of these OTAs
OTAs are a far cry from anything we will see in training camp or even in mandatory minicamp next week. Players are wearing shorts and helmets, with no pads and much less ‘exertion’ than a standard offseason practice.
That said, there is still plenty to be gained for these players over this period, and Kevin Stefanski had a good breakdown of what he expects from his guys.
“We need to be drilling down on the little things, and the little things become the big thing once the fall rolls around,” he explained. “We have impressed on the players – and they have certainly bought into – the idea that we’re going to fall in love with the little things around here. The schematics and fun part of game plans, those are coming – and we’ve had conversations on offense, defense, and special teams – but we want what we’re doing on the field today, in our individual period to be as important as anything we do around here.”
Practice nuggets
Christian Harris was still lining up as the second linebacker alongside Divine Deablo in the starting group. He feels like he has a firm grip on that job right now.
With the injuries to Storm Norton and Jawaan Taylor, rookie Ethan Onianawa was getting a lot of run at right tackle. Michael Jerrell had taken many of those before today’s viewing period, but worth noting.
Casey Washington made a pair of really nice grabs, both off Tua Tagovailoa. He scored once, and the other was a diving catch where he needed to go outstretched.
As for quarterbacks, it didn’t seem like there were as many throwing drills as there have been previously. Tagovailoa had some good throws, and rookie Jack Strand had one particularly pretty deep pass down the sideline (was dropped by Dylan Drummond, but would have been a really difficult catch).
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