Flowery Branch — No. 3 overall pick Matt Ryan made his debut, working as a backup with Shockley, to quarterbacks Chris Redman and Joey Harrington. Ryan wore a brace on his left knee, which he said he wears for precautionary reasons. Ryan said coaches at Boston College made quarterbacks wear braces on their plant legs, and he wears the support out of habit.

"It's going to be a process for him," Smith said. "It's going to be a process for all these guys, all these guys we drafted. That first day is something that they'll always remember."

Added Ryan: "When you dream about professional football, you don't dream about practicing. You dream about playing well in a game. So I never really dreamt about my first professional practice. It went very well."

Ryan signs with Nike

Another perk with being a high-profile draft pick are apparel deals. Ryan recently agreed to a shoe/apparel contract with Nike. Financial details were not available.

Contract negotiations under way

Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff said that there have been preliminary contract discussions between the team and agents for the 11 draft picks. Negotiations are not expected to get serious for a few weeks, Dimitroff said.