It was a big day for the Falcons’ front office and scouting department.
Several members lined the practice field watching the team's first padded practice of training camp Wednesday.
Rebuilding the team’s offensive line was the major offseason project, and this was the day to watch first-round picks Chris Lindstrom and Kaleb McGary in full-contact drills.
Lindstrom shined while McGary held his own and battled through some rough patches.
“It’s a better evaluation for the big guys,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. “For the offensive linemen, for the defensive linemen, pass protection, pass rush, certain things that you can’t do (while not) in pads and you can in pads. So, that was the big part of what the teaching was today.”
Lindstrom played at right guard and held up against defensive tackle Grady Jarrett. He had some coaching help from center Alex Mack.
“I thought Chris all along has been improving,” Quinn said. “I told him there will be some on-the-job training. Maybe some of the guys who’ve been through that as rookie starters can share that with them.”
Quinn wasn’t ready to give a full analysis.
“What I do know about those two is the attitude that they have,” Quinn said. “Kaleb, Chris and probably on the defensive line side (John) Cominsky, the three of them have like a grinder work ethic. That’s what you like from the big guys inside. They know it takes work, especially when the padded part starts. This is where it counts the most for them.”
The Falcons had their pads on for half of the practices.
“The vision for that is to do that today and (Thursday),” Quinn said. “Then we’ll go all the time in pads from then on.”
Quinn wanted to try to avoid injuries by using a partially padded practice.
“I wanted to make sure that all of the good line of scrimmage work that we needed was in the front part of that,” Quinn said. “I thought it was important. We know the studies have shown us that the first two days is where (the injuries) are spiked up so much. It’s our job as coaches to say ‘OK, how can we shift that narrative.’”
---
Subscribe to "The Bow Tie Chronicles" podcast with the AJC's D. Orlando Ledbetter on iTunes or on the new AJC sports podcasts page.
About the Author
