FLOWERY BRANCH -- Here are five things to know about the Falcons on Monday:
1. Offseason program starts. The Falcons "voluntary" offseason workout program starts today.
Phase One consists of the first two weeks of the program with activities limited to strength and conditioning and physical rehabilitation only.
Phase Two consists of the next three weeks of the program. On-field workouts may include individual player instruction and drills as well as team practice conducted on a “separates” basis. No live contact or team offense vs. team defense drills are permitted.
Phase Three consists of the next four weeks of the program. Teams may conduct a total of 10 days of organized team practice activity, or “OTAs.” No live contact is permitted, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills are permitted.
The NFL informed the Falcons in October of its penalty for violating the league’s excessive contact rules during organized team activities last season, and announced the club will lose the first three days of OTAs in 2017.
The Falcons OTAs are sent for May 30, June 1-2, June 5-6 and June 8-9. The mandatory minicamp will be held June 13-15.
Training camp is slated to start in late July.
2. Quinn message to healing team. Falcons coach Dan Quinn has waiting to get back in front of the team. He plans to address the Super Bowl collapse and then move on. "I can't wait for the guys to get back into our building and kick it off for 2017," Quinn said.
3. SNF opener. Since the most recent NFL owner's meeting there has been speculation that the Falcons will open the 2017 season, scheduled to be their first in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, on NBC's Sunday Night Football. The Boston Globe reported that the Falcons were "very likely" to open on SNF against one of the eight teams they are scheduled to play at home. The Falcons are set to host the three NFC South teams, Dallas, Green Bay, Minnesota, Buffalo and Miami in 2017.
4. White officially retires. Falcons all-time leading receiver Roddy White announced his retirement on his Twitter account Friday. White was released by the team after the 2016 season and was not signed by another team last season. White will join the football coaching staff at Johns Creek High School.
5. Offseason depth chart. Here's what the depth chart looks like after free agency and heading into the NFL draft, which is set for April 27-29 in Philadelphia:
OFFENSE
WR 11 Julio Jones, 14 Justin Hardy, 19 Andre Roberts, 13 B.J. Daniels
LT 70 Jake Matthews, 66 Kevin Graf
LG 67 Andy Levitre, 64 Blake Muir
C 51 Alex Mack, 63 Ben Garland
RG 71 Wes Schweitzer, 72 Hugh Thornton, 68 Trevor Robinson
RT 73 Ryan Schraeder
TE 81 Austin Hooper, 80 Levine Toilolo, 82 Joshua Perkins, 86 D.J. Tialavea, 49 Darion Griswold, 85 Brian Vogler
WR 12 Mohamed Sanu, 18 Taylor Gabriel, 87 Devin Fuller, 15 Nick Williams, 16 Anthony Dable
QB 2 Matt Ryan, 8 Matt Schaub
RB 24 Devonta Freeman, 26 Tevin Coleman, 28 Terron Ward
FB 40 Derrick Coleman, 43 Soma Vainuku
DEFENSE
DE 99 Adrian Clayborn, 98 Martin Ifedi
DT Dontari Poe, 77 Ra’Shede Hageman, 92 Joe Vellano, 96 Jimmy Staten
DT 97 Grady Jarrett, 91 Courtney Upshaw, 74 Chris Mayes
DE 95 Jack Crawford, 90 Derrick Shelby
LB 44 Vic Beasley Jr., 50 Brooks Reed
LB 45 Deion Jones, 53 LaRoy Reynolds
LB 59 De’Vondre Campbell, 52 Josh Keyes
CB 23 Robert Alford, 29 C.J. Goodwin, 33 Blidi Wreh-Wilson, 25 Akeem King
CB 21 Desmond Trufant, 32 Jalen Collins, 34 Brian Poole, 30 Deji Olatoye
S 37 Ricardo Allen, 20 Sharrod Neasman
S 22 Keanu Neal, 36 Kemal Ishmael
SPECIALISTS
K 3 Matt Bryant, 6 Mike Meyer
KO 5 Matt Bosher
P 5 Matt Bosher
KR 19 Andre Roberts, 16 Justin Hardy
PR 19 Andre Roberts, 16 Justin Hardy
LS 47 Josh Harris
H 5 Matt Bosher
