FLOWERY BRANCH — Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter is not overly concerned that he won’t get to see tight end Tony Gonzalez in the team’s new offense until training camp.
Gonzalez has been excused from the team’s mandatory minicamp because of the death of his stepfather of 25 years. Gonzalez has mostly stayed in California over the offseason, but was on hand for a couple of organized team activity sessions.
“Tony does most of his communications through coach [Chris] Scelfo, the tight ends coach, and coach [Mike] Smith,” Koetter said Wednesday. “They have that contact with him.”
Gonzalez, 36, is set to enter his 16th season in the NFL. The 12-time Pro Bowler holds most of the modern-day records for the position and caught 80 passes last season.
“I can’t wait to be around him and spend more time with him,” Koetter said. “Tony is proven and knows what he needs to do. Unfortunately, he’s not here right now because his family situation.”
While there are some major changes to the playbook, Koetter doesn’t expect Gonzalez to have a hard time picking things up.
“Tony is one of the greatest tight ends to ever play the game,” Koetter said. “We are not re-inventing football out here. ... He’s seen it all and done it all. We don’t need to be worried about that. He’ll be fine.”
With Gonzalez out, some of the young tight ends turned in a fine practice. LaMark Brown and Tommy Gallarda both made some nice catches.
“We had some good production by the tight ends,” Smith said. “[The catches came] on some of the crossing routes today, which we are trying to work on along with some of our play-action stuff. We got them a little more involved with the linebackers stepping up to play the run.”
Abraham a little behind
Defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, who was John Abraham’s first defensive coordinator with the New York Jets in 2000, noticed that the defensive end is a little behind the rest of the linemen who attended the organized training activities.
“I’ve known him a long time,” Nolan said. “He’s missed some of the OTAs, and we are a little bit at an advance state as far as the language. ... Right now, John is kind of going a little bit slower. He’s having to ask more questions because he wasn’t here for those classes. But, nonetheless, John is a good player.”
Nolan said he wasn’t worried about Abraham catching up to the group.
“The problem is that if a guy is thinking too much on the field because of terminology, then he’s not playing fast,” Nolan said. “That’s a lot of what the OTAs and minicamp try to get out of the way. When they come back at training camp, a lot of that is behind them and hopefully, they can just concentrate on trying to be a better player as opposed to ‘what’s that call mean.’”
Etc.
The Falcons worked out tight end Daniel Graham on Tuesday. Graham, 33, played with Tennessee last season. The 10-year veteran has also played with the Patriots (2002-06) and Broncos (2007-10). ... Linebackers Akeem Dent and Lofa Tatupu, who will compete for the starting middle linebacker job, are alternating with the first-team defense. Spencer Adkins and Sean Weatherspoon are the first-team outside linebackers. ... Former Falcons Alge Crumpler, Brian Finneran and Morten Andersen attended the afternoon practice. ... Thursday’s final minicamp practice from 10:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. is open to the public.
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