1. Chester gets right to work. Falcons guard Chris Chester worked with the second team at right guard during the OTAs session on Tuesday.
Jared Sweat worked with the first time as Jon Asamoah was not in attendance. Chester was signed to a one-year $2.8 million contract on Saturday after being released by the Washington Redskins.
“I think in terms of understanding the system and in one meeting to go out and execute the way that he did,” Quinn said. “When I watched him on tape from last year when we had him down in here for a workout, it was the movement. When you are playing in an outside zone scheme those are the things from the line that you like to see.”
The Falcons now have a nice mix of veterans and younger players to compete for the starting left and right guard positions in Chester, Asamoah, Mike Person, Joe Hawley (injured), Jeff Stone and Peter Konz (injured).
Offensive line coach Chris Morgan was excited about the prospects of getting all of the guys back by training camp.
Quinn figures that will be one of the most competition battles in training camp.
“I love the competition at the position,” Quinn said. “At guard, tackle and center. We are trying to find the right group of guys and see how we can best compete together. For his first day, I thought he did a really good job.”
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2. Falcons offensive coaches. It was meet the offensive coaches day at OTA's on Tuesday.
“I’m thrilled that you guys got a chance to connect with the offensive staff,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. “You can see why I’m so excited about them and all of the unique and different things that they bring to our team.”
3. Don't count out Antone Smith. Much of the offseason talk has been about either Devonta Freeman or Tevin Coleman replacing Steven Jackson as the team's No.1 running back.
The Falcons welcomed the return of Antone Smith back from a broken leg this week at OTAs.
“The speed is the first thing that jumps out when you talk about Antone,” Quinn said. “The big plays and trying to feature him in unique ways, certainly not just as a ball carrier, but out of the backfield catching screens.”
Quinn was also very familiar with Smith’s special teams work.
“I think on (special) teams he’s one of the guys that we are completely counting on,” Quinn said. “He’s such a factor, along with Eric Weems. (He has) the speed, the attitude and the toughness. It’s been awesome getting him back in the mix.”
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4. It's about competition. The Falcons had 10-play third-down competition at the end of Tuesday's practice.
“We went back and forth from different downs and distances,” Quinn said. “Then we went two-minute at the end of the game. We did a scenario where we were down 14-16 with no timeouts and were trying to work into field goal range. Then we worked on some sideline plays where there was 14 seconds and no timeouts.”
Quinn was trying to create scenarios where they could put the team in as many competitive situations as he could.
“Obviously, that’s one of the best parts of practice,” Quinn said.
5. Stars of the week. Linebacker Allen Bradford returned an interception for a touchdown during the competition.
“I certainly thought in the secondary, Robert Alford, I felt his speed and I felt Phillip Adams from the outside,” Quinn said. “The Tight ends have continued to impress. Jacob Tamme and Tony Moeaki. They have been some of the players who have jumped out to me.”
6. Hardy, Coleman return. Rookies Justin Hardy and Tevin Coleman missed some time last week to take part in the NFLPA's Rookie Premiere event.
“It was great to get them back acclimated,” Quinn said.
7. My favorite drill. We'll just call this the fast and physical drill.
8. On the PSL front. The team released more information on the PSL program.
President Rich McKay asked the fans to try to understand the teams position as they try to attempt to raise funds to help build the new stadium.
The team launched personal seat license sales for approximately 60,000 non-club seats.
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
9. Hageman having good offseason. Second-year defensive lineman Ra'Shede Hagemen is having a strong offseason which could lead to him playing some tackle and defensive end.
“We have him at the three-technique in our base package," Quinn said. "I think he has enough size to play the defensive end, but it’s the length and the speed that he has. How fast can he come off the ball? He’s been really disruptive doing that, but in our base package and our nickel package, I’ve been quite impressed with the start that he’s had so far.”
Hageman caught Quinn’s attention when he studied the push he was getting on the field goal block unit.
“It’s the ability for him to go, create and disrupt things,” Quinn said. “For that size of a guy, he’s got really good quickness. We are going to try and utilized it and feature it in every way that we can.
“I’ve been pleased with his progress so far in terms of picking up the system and doing the things we are asking him to do in this system.”
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