BALTIMORE – Falcons wide receiver Chris Blair knows his Alcorn State history.
He’s fully aware of wide receiver Donald Driver, who went from a seventh-round draft pick in 1999 to one of the top wide receivers in Green Bay history. He played from 1999 to 2012.
Like Driver did, Blair is trying to carve himself a spot in the National Football League after starring at Alcorn State in the SWAC.
Blair, who spent last season on the Falcons’ practice squad, has been the star of the exhibition season. He leads the Falcons with six catches for 136 yards as the team has elected to play the reserves in the exhibition games.
“Absolutely,” said Blair when asked if he knew who Donald Driver was. “Driver actually, so my rookie year, I was in Green Bay. With Donald Driver coming from Alcorn, once I signed with Green Bay, he was one of the first people to hit me up.”
Driver, who was a high jumper in track and field, didn’t play immediately, but went on to catch 743 passes for 10,137 yards and 61 touchdowns. He was named to four Pro Bowls and helped the Packers win Super Bowl XLV over Pittsburgh after the 2010 season.
“We are still in contact ‘til this day,” Blair said. “He’s my guy.”
Blair had four catches for 91 yards in the 13-12 loss to the Ravens on Saturday at M&T Stadium.
“We were able to come out there and get some things established in the air,” Blair said. “I felt like Taylor (Heinicke) did a good job of spreading the ball around. We wanted to get the ‘W,’ but there were some things we wanted to get cleaned up from last week and it turned out pretty well for us.”
Blair spent most of last season on the scout team working with Heinicke when he was the backup and part-time starter.
“We kind of got a feel for each other,” Blair said. “He knows my speed. He knows how I run and things that I do well. He did a great job of distributing the ball.”
The Falcons have Drake London, Darnell Mooney, Ray-Ray McCloud III and KhaDarel Hodge as the top four receivers. Blair is angling for one of those backup spots.
The Falcons have 11 wide receivers in camp and two on injured reserve.
“We know that this league, it can be pretty hard to get into,” Blair said. " I know that this is a job interview, not just for the Falcons, but for 31 other teams.”
Blair’s playmaking and ability to catch the ball in traffic will help his cause. He can get off the line of scrimmage and used his moves to get open for a 41-yard gain against the Dolphins.
“I just want to put good things on tape,” said Blair, who did have a fumble against the Dolphins, too. “I feel like my coaches have been doing a great job in preparing us each and every day to come out here and put good things on tape.”
Heinicke felt comfortable throwing to Blair, who’s 6-foot-2 and 198-pounds.
“I had a lot of reps with him,” Heinicke said. “He was making a lot of plays last year, and he’s continued to do that through this offseason. We have a good chemistry together. That (performance) was very expected of him.”
Falcons coach Raheem Morris thought the reserves played physical and tough. He acknowledged that the players in the game were on the back end of the 90-man roster.
“They’ll make those late decisions for (general manager) Terry (Fontenot) and myself and our organization very tough on us,” Morris said. “On getting people who we decide to keep on the roster.”
Blair and the rest of the reserves are set to get some more action when the Falcons close out the exhibition season when they host the Jaguars at 7 p.m. Friday at Mercedes Benz Stadium.
“We’ve got another week,” Morris said. “I’m looking forward to a great week of practice.”
Blair is looking forward to the Jacksonville game.
“We are going to go back to the drawing board,” Blair said. “Fix the things we need to fix from this game. Try to have a great week of practice.”
In addition to Driver, Blair tries to pick things up from the Falcons’ wide receivers.
“I spend a lot of time with really Drake and Mooney,” Blair said. “More so Drake because we have the similar body-type. I learn a lot from him from the physicality standpoint and the mindset that he has when he takes the field.”
Blair took lessons from former wide receivers coach T.J. Yates, who coached the group last season.
“He helped us to see a lot of things from a quarterback standpoint because he played the actual quarterback position,” Blair said. “He was able to tell us what quarterbacks could be thinking in those moments.”
Things are going well under new wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard.
“Having somebody like Ike, who played the position, to help us with our fundamentals and techniques that could help us go far with the receiver position,” Blair said. “I’ve learned a lot.”
