Falcons rookies Daniels, Perkins earning first-team snaps: ‘They’re way ahead’

FLOWERY BRANCH — Months before they met, became training camp roommates and handled the calls and checks for the Falcons defense in Monday’s practice, Kendal Daniels was already deeply familiar with Harold Perkins Jr.’s game.

Oklahoma, where Daniels played last season, shared several common opponents with LSU, where Perkins spent his four-year college career. They both played linebacker. Their defenses ran similar concepts. And whenever Daniels turned on film of LSU’s defense, he’d watch — and learn from — Perkins.

Now, if only for Monday, Daniels and Perkins are at the center of the Falcons’ defense, a byproduct of an ankle injury to starting linebacker Divine Deablo, who the team expects back sooner rather than later.

But even before Deablo’s injury, the Falcons’ duo of rookie linebackers were becoming hard to ignore.

“I think Kendal and Perk both look great,” Deablo said last week. “They’re way ahead what I expect from any rookie. So, they’re doing a great job. Obviously, they got to keep it up. We’ll see more in the preseason, but I’m excited.”

Deablo’s assessment starts with their minds. Daniels, a fourth-round pick, and Perkins, a sixth-round choice, are mentally advanced.

“They’re really smart guys,” Deablo said. “They know what to do. They don’t mess up a lot. They’re just on their P’s and Q’s for sure. It’s very impressive, and hopefully they can keep going.”

Central to the reason behind the Falcons’ rookies having an enhanced grasp of defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich’s system is the time they’re given to learn it. Rookies get more time in meetings than veterans do.

Veterans have an 11-hour rule, meaning they’re allotted no more than 11 hours each day at the team’s facility during training camp. The rookies don’t have that rule. So, the Falcons’ coaching staff gets 30 additional minutes with their newcomers.

Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski said Daniels and Perkins escalating up the proverbial depth chart is proof of the value in additional meeting time.

“It’s a testament to their studying, paying attention in these meetings,” Stefanski said. “It’s a great testament for the coaches, the extra work that you put into this with the young players.”

Perkins said the extra time has been invaluable, especially as the Falcons continue adding more onto their defenders’ plates.

“I most definitely feel like that’s helping us a lot,” he said. “Obviously, we all started in camp at the same time, but just us being able to stay after and get more reps mentally or physically, I feel like that’s good for us.

“Whether it’s watching film, reading keys, or just getting the playbook — at camp, they throw everything on you with installs and all of that. So, sometimes you just got to slow down, and the stuff that you think you know that they put in last week, go back and review it. And a lot of stuff that they steady putting in, you got to know that too.”

Daniels and Perkins are rooming with fellow linebackers in fifth-year veteran Channing Tindall and second-year pro Malik Verdon. The team’s rookies had to report July 24, while the veterans showed up to camp July 28.

So, in the four days between, Daniels and Perkins had their camp condo all to themselves. Their chemistry grew. So, too, their friendship. And their on-field performance is ascending along with it, in large part because they have each other to lean on.

“When we’re out there together, just talking through things, because we see different things, but we’re going through the same process,” Daniels said. “We’re not competing against each other. We’re competing with each other. That’s how I look at it. And so just being able to help each other will help us both in the long run.”

Daniels’ immediate success in Falcons training camp can be owed, in part, to Perkins. Daniels didn’t participate in OTAs or mandatory minicamp while rehabbing a calf injury. He remained involved in meetings and walk-throughs, but he didn’t bank any live reps.

Yet because of Perkins, he did — through a different lens. Daniels often asked Perkins how he saw things and tried to understand his viewpoint and experience from a third-person perspective.

Those conversations have continued with Daniels healthy. They’ve played several snaps next to each other on the second-string defense, and whenever one — or both — of them leaves the field, they’ll consult the other on what they saw and what they need to do better.

Collectively, Perkins believes he and Daniels are making each other better through tough love.

“When I’m doing something I know I can do better, he’s letting me know and vice versa,” Perkins said. “We’re always quick to critique each other and help each other, too.”

Daniels and Perkins are vastly different players. The former is 6-foot-5 and 242 pounds with long arms and, dating back to his days as a college safety, has more of a coverage profile. The latter is 6-foot-1 and 223 pounds, a highly-regarded athlete and has a decorated background as a blitzer.

Perkins also has safety experience from high school, and Daniels is steadily adding more practice reps in the wake of outside linebacker Jalon Walker’s season-ending injury, but the roots of their skill sets still differ.

And that’s a positive for the Falcons’ defense.

“I feel like we complement each other very well,” Perkins said.

When Daniels met with reporters after Monday’s practice, he did so with an additional onlooker: Perkins. The 21-year-old Perkins joined the scrum and asked questions about how much the 23-year-old Daniels enjoys playing in the system and learning from linebackers coach Barrett Ruud.

But Perkins also listened as Daniels described him as a “great person” and “great player.”