The Falcons wrapped up their first weekend of training camp with a Sunday afternoon session which was open to the public. The first Sunday of camp is usually a busy day for the Falcons because the afternoon session is when the most fans attend.
This Sunday was no different. Not only was the attendance was sky high, but the Falcons made another roster move as they agreed to terms with offensive lineman Justin Blaylock.
“One of our top priorities was to protect our quarterback,” Falcons Head coach Mike Smith said talking about signing Blaylock and the Falcons free agent strategy. “I’m really excited about the moves that we made in this free agency period and Justin Blaylock is good news for our football team.”
Blaylock agreed to a six-year deal and he makes the second Falcons offensive lineman to resign as Tyson Clabo agreed to a deal before training camp began. The only starter that will be missing this season is Harvey Dahl who agreed to a deal with the St. Louis Rams.
“Continuity in the offensive line is important,” Smith said. “For us with the way our free agency period opened it could have turned out much differently. Thomas [Dimitroff] and his staff have done a great job of addressing the area of concerns that we had.”
With the new rules implemented due to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, Blaylcok can’t practice with the team until Aug. 4. So Blaylock, as well as a few other guys who signed new deals, are anxious to get back on the field. One of those players is newly signed defensive end Ray Edwards and Smith can’t wait to get him to work.
“We like to see Ray out here as quickly as we can,” Smith added. “But we also have six other guys. The two offensive lineman, we’ve got two linebackers and hopefully we’ll get our cornerback who is a restricted free agent out here.”
So Edwards, Blaylock, Clabo, Mike Peterson, Stephen Nicholas and Brent Grimes can’t practice until Thursday which the Falcons are scheduled to practice twice. That should be a very interesting day.
Speaking of interesting, the rookies seem to doing well according to Smith. One player that stood out was Julio Jones who made some good plays during the seven-on-seven drills.
“Julio had some nice catches today,” Smith said. “You got to see his athleticism and his ability to run off the ball.”
But Smith was also quick to point out that all of their draft picks seem to be doing all the right things after the first three days of camp. One rookie to watch for is running back Jacquizz Rodgers who seems to be taking over the No. 2 spot. During the team drills, Rodgers made some nice runs while showing his speed and strength.
“Anytime I can get a chance to get the ball and do something with it, you get in that comfort zone that you’re probably not used to,” Rodgers said. “Right now, we’re getting the plays in and trying to learn the plays and trying to execute them out here.”
The Falcons will have two practices today and it will be the first time they will practice in full pads. They will have two more practices on Tuesday before taking the day off on Wednesday. Thursday they will go back the work as they will practice twice and that will be the day signed free agents can make their return to the field. The first full week will end with the Friday Night Lights event which will take place at Norcross High School.
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Blaylock would be great if I was QB’ing behind him. I make ANY lineman look good. In fact, that should be my nicknamer: The Moneymaker. I make people money! Look what I got for Da’Rick!