Falcons free safety Ricardo Allen was excused from practice for personal reasons, and rookie Damontae Kazee took over on the first-team defense Saturday.
“Rico had a personal matter to attend to,” coach Dan Quinn said.
Kazee, a fifth-round pick from San Diego State, is trying to make the transition from cornerback to free safety, much like Allen did in 2014.
“It was a good opportunity for Kazee,” Quinn said. “He’s got such a good mentor (in Ricardo).”
The Falcons had their first padded practice. When going up against the first-team offense, Kazee didn’t look out of place.
Kazee had the responsibility of calling the secondary assignments. Quinn wanted to see if he could handle the communication part of the position.
“He did fine,” Quinn said. “He fit right in. He made the calls. He’s got a good partner to go along with in Keanu (Neal) back there, so we were pleased to see that.”
Starting cornerback Robert Alford has been impressed with Kazee’s work early in training camp.
“You can just see the progression (from OTAs) to now,” Alford said. “You can see that he went home and studied, and you can tell that he worked on his craft. He has it all. … He could play nickel, outside, he could play free safety. As you know, he played cornerback in college.”
Allen attended the Atlanta Sports Awards earlier this month with his wife, who was expecting.
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