No one is safe. No position or player. As opposed to previous versions of Falcons training camp, 2008 has been a stark contrast.Old timers and rookies stand side-by-side in scrimmages, interchanging first- and second-team duties and seasoned veterans are 24 as opposed to 34. Players are competing for their playing futures in daily competition, and head coach Mike Smith would not have it any other way.
“The dynamics of a football team change every day because you have so many factors,” Smith said. “You have injuries, guys playing better, guys stepping up and doing unexpected things. When things do change, everybody in this organization is expecting the next guy up to be prepared to play.”
THE NEW GUARD
The most obvious dynamic that has changed with the Falcons is age. Inexperience is rampant throughout a Falcons lineup that averages 24.8 years of age, down from 26.7 in 2007. Despite the youth movement, do not forget that in addition to the 17 rookies in camp, there are the free-agent additions of running back Michael Turner and free safety Erik Coleman. Both are only 26 but are five-year vets who were immediately plugged into the first team. Rookies are not the only first-year Falcons taking advantage of Smith’s policy.
“We’ve said from Day 1 it’s going to be open competition, [it] doesn’t matter who you are, we’re going to play the best 53 players,” Smith said. “Two years after the Super Bowl win in Baltimore, we came to camp with 13 players from that team. I’ve been in a situation where young guys have an opportunity to compete. They should be excited about this opportunity and should feel good about what they can do.”
Smith has played it close to the vest with who has the edge for starting spots, especially with rookies, but the future looks promising for players such as Harry Douglas and Curtis Lofton. While the world waits for Matt Ryan to get under center, all three of the players drafted immediately behind him may have better chances of seeing first-team snaps than the quarterback.
“Harry has caught the ball extremely well,” Smith said after the team’s scrimmage on Saturday. “He had a couple of really nice grabs going over the middle. I think Curtis Lofton has really shown some improvement once we put the pads on. [Curtis], as a middle linebacker, is a guy that looks a lot better in pads than he does in a t-shirt and helmet.”
While the offense has remained healthy, save for offensive tackle Todd Weiner, Smith and defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder have had to play the parts of mad scientists on defense. Injuries and defensive deficiencies have forced the two into several defensive combinations, from plugging in free-agent defensive tackle Grady Jackson into the starting lineup to placing rookie third-rounder Chevis Jackson in the nickel back spot due to the season-ending loss of veteran Von Hutchins.
“[Chevis Jackson] has been working in our first group as the nickel since Von [Hutchins] has gone down,” Smith said. “It’s going to be a big learning curve for [Jackson], but we have to accelerate that as much as we can.”
Hutchins was brought in to be another experienced body in the secondary, but his first-day fallout has pushed yet another inexperienced player into the spotlight.
ON THEIR TOES
At the team’s scrimmage on Saturday at the Georgia Dome, first-team defenders matched up against their first-team counterparts, and there was no distinction in the teams or units.
“I told the players beforehand ‘Don’t read anything into this depth chart for this game,’” Smith said. “We want everyone to have definable roles on this football team. They have to understand those roles, but at the same time they have to understand that those roles are always changing.”
Role changing comes without surprise to vets such as quarterback Joey Harrington, but the seven-year pro has no problem with the open competition. He even says it has improved the quality of play in camp compared to last season. “Everybody’s going to make physical mistakes in camp and it’s their job to learn from them,” Harrington said. “What you can always control is your effort. I think coach [Smith] has harped on that, which is good.”
Smith’s feet-to-the-fire policy with his young players and open competition is yet another sign that even as a preseason matchup against his former team in the Jacksonville Jaguars looms on Saturday, the Falcons still are a work in progress.
Horne can be reached at ehorne@scoreatl.com.
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