1. LAS VEGAS edition of the no-spin zone: The East and West teams wrapped up practice for the East-West Shrine Bowl at the Las Vegas Raiders’ immaculate and state-of-the-art $75 million practice facility Tuesday.
The game, which will be televised on NFL Network, is set for 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Allegiant Stadium.
The Falcons spent the week coaching the East team, and the Patriots’ staff coached the West team. (The Falcons were impressed with the Raiders’ weight room and are planning an addition to their weight-room facilities in Flowery Branch).
Falcons special-teams coordinator Marquice Williams is the head coach for the East team.
“I just told them that I really admired the way they worked this past four days,” Williams said. “They’ve been in the present. Protecting each other. Again, they are coming from all different regions of the country, from all different schools, and for one week they are coming together to play as a team.”
The East-West Shrine Bowl, which has been played since 1925, benefits the Shriners Children’s hospital system, which provides health care for children with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal-cord injuries and cleft lip and palate, regardless of the families’ ability to pay.
After talking to coaches and scouts, here are five players to watch in the game:
Aidan O’Connell, QB, Purdue: He’s 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds. He played four seasons for the Boilermakers and completed 826 of 1,239 passes (66.7%) for 9,219 yards, 65 touchdowns and 30 interceptions. He finished with a college passer rating of 141.6. “I was a walk-on at Purdue,” O’Connell said. “Went there for six years. Overstayed my welcome a little bit. I was the old man on the block. Had some great experiences, ups and downs. A lot of wins but also a lot of losses. Some ups and downs, but it was a lot of fun.”
Jalen Cropper, WR, Fresno State: He’s 6-foot and 173 pounds and had a highly productive four-year career at Fresno State. In 2022, he caught 83 passes for 1,086 yards and five touchdowns. In 2021, he had 11 touchdowns.
John Ojukwu, LT, Boise State: He’s 6-6 and 317 pounds. He’s on the East team and started all 14 games for the Broncos last season.
Kei’Trel Clark, CB, Louisville: He’s 5-10, 179 pounds. He was named second-team All-ACC in 2021. He’s a playmaker. He had a 46-yard interception return and a 59-yard fumble return for a touchdown last season.
Ethan Evans, P, Wingate: He is one of four Division II players invited. Evans averaged 45.7 yards on 77 punts. He put 39 punts inside the 20-yard line. He also has 44 touchbacks on 67 kickoffs. He made 43 of 44 extra-point attempts and made 10 field goals of 40 yards or more. “A lot of NFL teams are switching to directional punting,” Evans said. “Learning how to directional punt at Wingate really turned me into a smarter punter, in my opinion.”
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
2. Tech’s Charlie Thomas out to impress: Georgia Tech linebacker Charlie Thomas plans to improve his NFL draft status with a strong showing in the East-West Shrine Bowl.
Thomas is on the West squad and has been coached by the Patriots staff. The Falcons are coaching the East team.
Thomas graduated early from Thomasville High and enrolled at Georgia Tech in 2018. He benefited from the COVID-19 season and played five seasons.
He started six of 10 games as a freshman and went on to have a productive career. He played in 53 games and finished with 313 tackles, 37 tackles for loss, 10 sacks, two interceptions, five pass breakups, six fumble recoveries and seven forced fumbles.
The West team is playing a 4-3 defense, and Thomas, who was listed at 6-2 and 207 pounds, has been working at middle linebacker. He’s been trying to impress the NFL scouts in practice and during interviews with them.
“It’s a strenuous process,” Thomas said. “You just keep pushing through it, talking to them. Getting to know them, and they are getting to know me. It’s a good process.”
The scouts want to know how Thomas persevered through a tough fifth season that saw coach Geoff Collins get fired and replaced by interim coach Brent Key, who did well enough to earn the full-time job.
“We were trying to learn how to win and continue to grow as a program,” Thomas said. “I felt like they got a good guy in there as a head coach. I feel like he’s going to continue to elevate the program and keep getting better and better.”
Both teams wrapped up practice Tuesday.
“I want to show them that I’m a complete player,” Thomas said. “I play special teams. I play defense. I’m a physical player. I can tackle. My versatility and just my leadership skills.”
Thomas also received an invite to the NFL scouting combine, which will be held Feb. 27-March 6.
“I plan on testing well,” Thomas said. “That’s one thing I feel like I do well. I’m an athlete, so I’m going to be ready for it.”
3. Bulldogs in the Shrine Bowl: Wide receiver Kearis Jackson and defensive end Robert Beal are the two players from the University of Georgia slated to play in the game.
4. S.C. State’s Shaquan Davis has impressed: S.C. State wide receiver Shaquan Davis had a good week of practice at the East-West Shrine Bowl.
Davis, 6-5 and 180 pounds, set a Celebration Bowl record with three touchdown receptions as S.C. State defeated Jackson State 31-10 in December to claim the HBCU national championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. He’s from Summerville, South Carolina.
He caught 29 passes for 662 yards and seven touchdowns last season, including an 87-yard score against Bethune-Cookman on Sept. 10.
“He’s been progressing,” Williams said. “These players, it doesn’t matter where you come from. What can you provide with your tools athletically. Your mental (approach) and how you are as (an) individual to go out there and help a team out. You want to put yourself in a position where you can help a team win games and potentially win a Super Bowl.
“I feel like these past four days, he’s done that. He’s been working hard at it. I’m excited for him, and I’m looking forward to watching him perform on Thursday.”
5. QB watch: The Falcons have said they will continue to add to their quarterback group.
The quarterbacks for the East in addition to O’Connell are Minnesota’s Tanner Morgan and Fordham’s Tim DeMorat.
The quarterbacks for the West are UCLA’s Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Illinois’ Tommy DeVito and Appalachian State’s Chase Brice.
6. Ryan Nielsen to call plays: New Falcons defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen has been attending the East-West Shrine Bowl practices. He will be the defensive play-caller for the season. (Falcons linebackers coach Frank Bush will serve as the defensive coordinator in the East-West Shrine Bowl).
Last season, he called the defenses for the Saints during the exhibition games and during practices. Coach Dennis Allen called the plays last season for the Saints.
7. Jerry Gray is official: Jerry Gray, a former NFL player and a longtime coach, has joined the Falcons as assistant head coach/defense, the team announced Tuesday.
Gray, who most recently was with the Packers, has 26 years of NFL coaching experience, including eight as a defensive coordinator and 16 as a defensive backs/secondary coach.
He also interviewed for the Falcons’ defensive coordinator position, which went to Nielsen.
Gray was the Packers’ defensive backs/passing-game coordinator from 2020-22, and the Packers finished in the top 10 in passing defense in all three seasons.
The Falcons, who fired secondary coach Jon Hoke, finished this season ranked 25th in pass defense, as they gave 231.9 yards passing per game. The Falcons gave up 7.03 yards per pass play, which ranked 29th in the league.
8. Falcons’ position-by-position analysis: Here’s our position-by-position look at the how the Falcons performed during their 7-10 season in 2022.
Part 1: Running backs
Part 2: Quarterbacks
Part 3: Wide receivers/tight ends
Part 4: Offensive line
Part 5: Defensive line
Part 6: Linebackers
Part 7: Defensive backs
Part 8: Special teams
9. Offseason depth chart: Here’s the offseason depth chart, with the reserve/future signings. Players set to be unrestricted free agents are listed in boldface, and players who ended the season on injured reserve have an asterisk:
OFFENSE
QB – Desmond Ridder, *Marcus Mariota, Logan Woodside, Feleipe Franks
RB – Cordarrelle Patterson, Tyler Allgeier, Avery Williams, *Caleb Huntley, B.J. Baylor
FB – Keith Smith, Clint Ratkovich
WR – Drake London, Damiere Byrd, Frank Darby, *Jared Bernhardt, Josh Ali
TE – *Kyle Pitts, Parker Hesse, MyCole Pruitt, Anthony Firkser, Feleipe Franks, *John FitzPatrick, Tucker Fisk, John Raine
LT – Jake Matthews
LG – Elijah Wilkinson, Matt Hennessy, Colby Gossett, *Chuma Edoga, *Jalen Mayfield, *Justin Shaffer, Kyle Hinton
C – Drew Dalman, Ryan Neuzil, Jonotthan Harrison
RG – Chris Lindstrom
RT – Kaleb McGary, Germain Ifedi, Tyler Vrabel
WR – Olamide Zaccheaus, KhaDarel Hodge, Ra’Shaun Henry
DEFENSE
OLB – Lorenzo Carter, DeAngelo Malone, Quinton Bell
DE – Grady Jarrett, Tim Horne, Amani Bledsoe
NT – *Ta’Quon Graham, Abdullah Anderson (RFA), Jalen Dalton, Vincent Taylor
DE – Matt Dickerson, Jaleel Johnson
OLB – Ade Ogundeji, Arnold Ebiketie, David Anenih
ILB – Rashaan Evans, Nick Kwiatkoski, Dorian Etheridge
ILB – Troy Andersen, Mykal Walker, Nate Landman
CB – A.J. Terrell, Isaiah Oliver, Mike Ford, Rashad Fenton, Dylan Mabin, Javelin Guidry
FS – Jaylinn Hawkins, Micah Abernathy, Jamal Peters
SS – Richie Grant, Erik Harris, *Jovante Moffatt
CB – *Casey Hayward, Darren Hall, Dee Alford, Cornell Armstrong, Matt Hankins, John Reid
SPECIAL TEAMS
K – Younghoe Koo
P/H – Bradley Pinion
LS – Liam McCullough (ERFA), *Beau Brinkley
PR – Avery Williams
KOR – Cordarrelle Patterson or Avery Williams
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