Falcons cornerback Isaiah Oliver knows he’s in a battle to retain his starting right cornerback spot.
The Falcons didn’t re-sign veteran cornerback Desmond Trufant. They drafted former Clemson and Westlake High cornerback A.J. Terrell in the first round and signed veteran cornerback Darqueze Dennard in free agency. The Falcons know Dennard, a former first-round pick who played six seasons with the Bengals, can play nickel and outside.
Also, coach Dan Quinn was adamant over the offseason that Kendall Sheffield, last season’s nickel back could play outside.
So now, with a new secondary coach in Joe Whitt, the training-camp competition is underway.
“It’s definitely competition in the room,” said Oliver, who was drafted in the second round of the 2018 draft out of Colorado. “It’s going to make us a lot better for it. Three corners on most plays and four guys kind of fighting for those spots, but I think it’s going to be good for us. It’s going to bring out the best in us, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Oliver, who’s 6-foot and 210 pounds, was drafted to help the Falcons battle some of the bigger receivers they face in the NFC South. He was asked to work on his press coverage techniques near the line of scrimmage this offseason.
“He’s worked extremely hard at that through the second half of last year and the offseason,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. “Even players who were working out with him over the summer made comments to me, ‘Man, Isaiah is really on it’ even before he got into training camp. So, I’m definitely encouraged with the amount of work that he’s put in.”
If the Falcons get Terrell ready to start at left corner and go with Dennard at nickel, then Oliver and Sheffield, who was a fourth-round pick out of Ohio State in 2019, will battle for the right spot.
Sheffield, who played in all 16 games and made 11 starts last season, has his supporters. He finished the season with 46 tackles, three passes defensed and one forced fumble.
Sheffield played 708 defensive snaps (67%) and 142 snaps on special teams (23.8%).
Gil Brandt, the former NFL executive and Pro Football Hall of Fame member, recently made an interesting pick as his Falcons’ breakout player of 2020.
“Another guy in Atlanta is Kendall Sheffield, a defensive back from Ohio State,” Brandt said on SiriusXM NFL Radio after mentioning right guard Chris Lindstrom as one of his breakout players. “He’s a corner. He can run fast. He’s got nice height. I think he’s a guy who played some last year. I look for him to have a really, really good season as a corner there. They need help at corner, and I think he’ll do it.”
While Sheffield missed some time with a foot injury, Oliver believes he’s off to a good start in camp.
“I feel good,” Oliver said. “Right now, at this stage, I feel that I’m in a better spot than I was at this time last year.”
Oliver, like the rest of the defense, struggled during the 1-7 start last season. He picked up the pace over the second half of the season.
“Coming off the end of the season, playing well, the whole defense was playing a lot better the second half of the season, so I feel like we are just that much more confident,” Oliver said. “We know what we are capable of. We know what we can do with the guys in the room.”
Dennard has played in 77 games and has made 24 regular-season starts.
“He’s been doing well,” Oliver said. “You can tell he’s a really smart player. He’s going to be great for the team. … He brings a lot of knowledge and experience to the room.”
Oliver believes the cornerbacks, whomever ends up starting, will be ready for the season. In the pass-happy NFL, teams can never really have too many cornerbacks.
“Going against Julio (Jones) and (Calvin Ridley), guys like that, day-in and day-out in practice, just makes the games that much easier,” Oliver said. “The NFC South definitely has a lot of talented receivers, but I’ll put our receiver corps up against anybody’s in the NFL.”
The Falcon had 12 interceptions last season, which was tied for 24th in the league. Over 30 games and 18 starts, Oliver has one career interception. Sheffield didn’t have an interception last season and Dennard has three career interceptions.
Oliver noted that Whitt has stressed getting more interceptions this season. All of the defensive backs start each practice catching footballs from a pass-throwing machine.
“Getting the ball is mandatory,” Oliver said. “So kind of having that mentality when the ball is in the air, we have a right to it as much as the receivers do, kind of going after it and going to get it kind of changes the way that we play. I think it’s going help us this year, and we should get a lot more interceptions.”
PROJECTED DEPTH CHART
OFFENSE
WR -- 11 Julio Jones, 13 Christian Blake, 19 Devin Gray, 80 Laquon Treadwell, 14 Chris Rowland, 12 Juwan Green
LT -- 70 Jake Matthews, 75 John Wetzel
LG – 61 Matt Hennessy, 77 James Carpenter, 73 Matt Gono, 64 Sean Harlow
C -- 51 Alex Mack, 65 Justin McCray, 64 Sean Harlow, 61 Matt Hennessy
RG -- 63 Chris Lindstrom, 68 Jamon Brown, 65 Justin McCray, 66 Justin Gooseberry
RT -- 76 Kaleb McGary, 72 Evin Ksiezarczyk, 69 Scottie Dill
TE -- 81 Hayden Hurst, 88 Luke Stocker, 87 Jaeden Graham, 86 Khari Lee, 89 Jared Pinkney
WR -- 18 Calvin Ridley, 83 Russell Gage, 17 Olamide Zaccheaus, 15 Brandon Powell, 1 Jalen McCleskey
QB -- 2 Matt Ryan, 8 Matt Schaub, 6 Kurt Benkert
RB -- 21 Todd Gurley, 25 Ito Smith, 30 Qadree Ollison, 23 Brian Hill
FB -- 40 Keith Smith, 44 Mikey Daniel
DEFENSE
DE -- 56 Dante Fowler, 95 Austin Edwards
DT -- 97 Grady Jarrett, 50 John Cominsky, 99 Hinwa Allieu
DT -- 96 Tyeler Davison, 90 Marlon Davidson, 94 Deadrin Senat, 79 Sailosi Latu
DE -- 93 Allen Bailey, 55 Steven Means
DE -- 98 Takk McKinley, 92 Charles Harris, 91 Jacob Tuioti-Mariner
LB -- 54 Foyesade Oluokun, 36 Deone Bucannon, 46 Edmond Robinson
LB -- 45 Deion Jones, 59 LaRoy Reynolds, 43 Mykal Walker, 48 Ray Wilborn
RCB -- 26 Isaiah Oliver, 29 Josh Hawkins, 42 Delrick Abrams, 44 Tyler Hall
LCB -- 24 A.J. Terrell, 33 Blidi Wreh-Wilson, 28 Jordan Miller
NCB -- 38 Darqueze Dennard, 20 Kendall Sheffield, 34 Chris Cooper
SS -- 37 Ricardo Allen, 22 Keanu Neal, 48 J.J. Wilcox 32 Jaylinn Hawkins, 35 Jamal Carter
FS -- 27 Damontae Kazee, 37 Ricardo Allen, 41 Sharrod Neasman
SPECIALISTS
K -- 7 Younghoe Koo
KO -- 7 Younghoe Koo
P -- 4 Sterling Hofrichter
LS -- 47 Josh Harris
H -- 4 Sterling Hofrichter
KOR -- 15 Brandon Powell, 17 Olamide Zaccheaus
PR -- 15 Brandon Powell, 17 Olamide Zaccheaus
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