Falcons found building blocks in season of despair

This season, the Falcons, who have been ravaged by injuries, have had several players post strong seasons and that should help the franchise moving forward.

The biggest step forward was made by tight end Austin Hooper, who was selected as a Pro Bowl alternate on Wednesday.

In addition to Hooper, free safety Damontae Kazee and linebacker Foye Oluokun have proven that can play at a high NFL level. Veteran linebacker De’Vondre Campbell and cornerback Brian Poole have performed decently when asked to take on more responsibility.

Hooper has caught 64 passes for 557 yards and four touchdowns, all career-highs, in his third season.

The seeds for his improvement were planted over the offseason with 8 a.m. workouts at various parks near Matt Ryan’s house. The two would meet and sometime throw for hours or until Ryan said they were done.

“It’s not sexy,” Hooper said. “You’re getting up at 8 in the morning and going to an empty park and just running routes until Matt says we’re good. That’s something that was just a lot of hard work that nobody saw behind closed doors so to speak. It was just between me and him.”

The Falcons had high hope for Hooper when they selected him in the third round (81st overall) of the 2016 NFL draft.

He played as a rookie and caught 19 passes to help the Falcons reach Super Bowl LI.

In 2017, he was the starter and showed flashes while catching 49 passes for 526 yards and three touchdowns.

His catch rate has climbed steadily from 70.4 percent to 75.4 percent to 80 percent this season.

“I’m glad that work came to fruition,” Hooper said.

Ryan has been pleased with Hooper’s play this season.

“He’s worked really hard and is playing the best football of his career and I think his potential is to keep improving and to get better,” Ryan said. “I think he’s going to be a really (crucial) and good player for us in this league for a long time.”

Ryan also pointed to the offseason workouts improving the connection between the two players.

“It’s come a long way for sure,” Ryan said. “His understanding of the offense, one, and what our expectations are for him on certain routes, versus certain coverages. What we expect him to do, he’s been spot on for that this year.”

Hooper has been in the right place at the right time and has battled to the ball for first downs and touchdowns.

“That part of his game has really improved and I think his confidence has really improved,” Ryan said. “You see that when he’s making contested catches and big plays and going up and using his size and his length to his advantage.”

Hooper and Ryan believe their relationship should grow moving forward.

“Keep my head down and keep working,” Hooper said. “That’s been my mantra since I’ve been here. I’ve just gotten better and better every year that I’ve been here. I’m just going to keep going on that trajectory. There is still a lot more that I can do and I feel like there is another level that I can go to.”

Kazee was drafted in the fifth round (181st overall) of the 2017 draft as a cornerback. When Keanu Neal (knee injury) went down, Kazee was forced into the lineup. When Ricardo Allen (Achilles) went down, Kazee took over at free safety.

He has played the deep middle of the Falcons’ cover three zones well and has 71 tackles and six interceptions.

While Kazee’s future may be at nickel back, he’s proved that he can play.

Oluokun was forced into action after middle linebacker Deion Jones suffered a broken foot and Duke Riley was slow to take hold of the vacancy.

Oluokun, a sixth-round pick from Yale, was scouted as a safety originally by the Falcons. But with the need at linebacker they didn’t want to experiment with the rookie.

“Foye (Oluokun) is someone who has jumped out to me from early on,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. “I said, ‘I think we have something here with this linebacker. He’s square. He’s smart. He knows how to play and he can play man-to-man.’ We’ve given him more as we’ve gone (through the season) and he’s definitely someone we’ve relied on.”

Oluokun kept passing the tests and the Falcons kept adding more to his plate. That helped to boost his confidence as he made the jump from the Ivy League to the NFL.

Campbell had mostly played strongside linebacker and covered tight ends. But with Jones hurt, he’s played all three linebacker positions.

“He did a good job of what we asked him to do,” defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel said. “Be the (middle linebacker). Be the (weakside linebacker). Help Foye out. Call the plays on defense. Cover tight ends. Cover running backs. Tackle.

“Before he was Spiderman or Batman. Now, he had to be the Justice League.”

Manuel has stressed to Campbell that he must take the lessons he learned with him.

“You can’t go backward,” Manuel said. “You have now become the guy who can talk. The guy who can run the defense. The guy who can pull (up) guys on the sidelines.

“They guy who gets guys in practice and brings guys in early in the morning. Deion (Jones) is going to add to it, but you can’t go backward.”

Poole stumbled when the Falcons tried him some at safety against the Bengals. They didn’t get through the game and had to switch to playing man-to-man, which was costly on the game’s final play.

However, Poole recovered and is playing well down the stretch.

“I sat down with him and told him, the first part of the season you weren’t playing like the guy I know,” Manuel said. “What I mean by that is a guy who plays tough. Every play wasn’t a big play, but you played tough football. Sound football. You were tough in coverage.”

Poole has responded.

“So, I challenged him to go out and be a tough football player,” Manuel said.

So, even in this losing season of despair, the Falcons are hoping that some players have learned the lessons that will lead to a turnaround in 2019.

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