FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- For as chill as Thursday's practice felt, Friday's picked up the pace as the first week of training camp rolls on.
After a practice that involved little individual work, and a lot of jog-through action, Friday brought back the feel of camp with a significant individual period along with a little red zone work, too. Let's waste no time diving right into Day 2.
Notes and observations
Modified reps take shape: Head coach Raheem Morris explained that while both Grady Jarrett and Kirk Cousins have cleared their medical evaluations for camp, they would still be on a modified rep plan through training camp. That showed up a little on Friday. Cousins spent some extra warm-up time with a trainer early on, doing some extra jumps, lunges and stretches while the other quarterbacks worked through a quick short-toss drill with the skill players. Cousins joined the fold shortly after and was in every period of practice thereafter.
Jarrett, on the other hand, was on the back burner Friday. He was dressed and participated in the individual drills at the beginning of practice, but when the team shifted to some higher intensity 11-on-11 reps, Eddie Goldman slotted into Jarrett's vacated spot alongside David Onyemata. Later in the morning, LaCale London was seen in the spot, too. This will likely be a part of Jarrett's work-back schedule as the Falcons build him up to full speed without pushing too hard too fast. Interesting to see that it is Goldman and London for the time being who's working behind him.
That dang Georgia heat: Drake London left the field a little early as practice came to a close. While the rest of the team worked through the special teams portion of practice, London walked off with a trainer. It was disclosed after practice that London got a little overheated and the Falcons cut his practice a bit short. It wasn't something to be overly concerned about, just a precautionary move on the second day of camp in Georgia.
Guardian Caps are back: The league's implementation of the Guardian Caps have come a long way since the days of the giant black mushroom caps linemen were mandated to wear a few years back. The Guardian Caps these days are white (which helps reflect the sun instead of absorbing it) and they're are more compact in their fitting to the helmets themselves. A rule change this year enforces that all players except quarterbacks are to wear the Guardian Caps, instead of just the linemen, tight ends and linebackers of previous years.
What's interesting about this year and the advancements made is that Kaleb McGary has decided to try something a little different. The outside of his helmet has the exact look as the regular, non-padded helmet. It begged the question of whether or not McGary was actually wearing the Guardian Cap this year, which is a league-mandated rule. Asking around, it would seem he is, just a different version. McGary is wearing a helmet that does not require the Guardian Cap because of how the padding is structured on the inside. It is league-approved, and perhaps another layer to the Guardian Cap discussion as they are being further implemented in preseason games.
A new light shining on receivers: Two players who caught my eye during the 11-on-11 portions of practice were receivers Rondale Moore and Casey Washington. Both were getting some light work in rotation with Cousins and the would-be starters from time to time. Moore's speed was fully on display as the speed of the practice reps picked up. In fact, his usage working out of the slot a few times made his role in this offense a little clearer and more defined. If you aren't looking closely, you may miss Moore. If you're a defense, that would maybe be a mistake.
Play of the day: Speaking of receivers, the most exciting part of the morning came about halfway through practice. The first-team offense was going against the reserve defense. Ray-Ray McCloud motioned out wide, and got on the back shoulder of the defensive back as he ran towards the end zone from the line of scrimmage around midfield. For the first time this camp, Cousins aired one out, landing a looping pass right in McCloud's hands as he cut back towards the middle of the endzone with a defender right on his back hip. It was the most excited the players got all day. Kyle Pitts threw his hands up for the touchdown call. Cousins jogged his way down to the 5-yard line to dap up McCloud.
Linebackers continue to shift and evolve: For the first hour of practice, when the team wasn't in individual drills, Nate Landman worked alongside Kaden Elliss with the starting defense. It wasn't until the Falcons went into more situational work that Troy Andersen finally rotated in with the would-be starters for a bit of work. In the red zone series, he got in some reps with Elliss, too. It should be noted that if Elliss is on the field, he has the green dot. When he's not, it seemed to be Landman. When it's the rookie and reserve group, it looked like JD Bertrand.
Special teams work: With new kickoff rules put in place this year, the Falcons are workshopping just what type of lineup they want to deploy come Week 1's kick. That was evident in the different pairings they had at returner and the rotation of who kicked the ball off the tee. Younghoe Koo and Bradley Pinion each got some kickoff work in. Both have experience doing so in the past, though it was Pinion who handled kickoffs last year. As for returner, the Falcons worked in pairs. McCloud and Avery Williams started the group off, then Mike Hughes and Rondale Moore, then finally Dee Alford and Micah Abernathy, with a little bit of Carlos Washington thrown in there at the end, too.
