Falcons defensive passing game coordinator Jerome Henderson is set to enter his second season with the team.
Henderson, 47, previously coached with the Dallas Cowboys, New York Jets and Cleveland Browns.
Henderson, a native of Statesville, N.C. played at Clemson and was a second-round pick by New England in the 1991 draft. He went on to play nine seasons in the NFL with the Patriots (1991-93, 96), Bills (1993-94), Eagles (1995) and Jets (1997-98).
He chatted with D. Orlando Ledbetter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently. Here’s what he had to say on a variety of secondary issues:
ON HIS EXPECTATIONS FOR THE SECONDARY: "With the success that the rookie class last year, by the end of the year all of those rookies where playing well for us. They all had their little bumps early in the year. You definitely look at our defense, we were better the second half of the season compared to the first half. We hope that we start at that point where we finished the season and go up from there. That's the hope."
ON KEANU NEAL AND DEION JONES MAKING JUMPS FROM THEIR ROOKIE YEAR TO SECOND YEAR IN PASS DEFENSE: "We hope that those guys, those rookies, those young guys, were playing as well as anybody in the NFL at the end of the year. You hope they come back and come back at that level. That's the expectation. I think their coaches, Coach (Doug Mallory) and Coach (Jeff Ulbrich) did a phenomenal job with those two you players (Keanu Neal and Deion Jones), getting them ready to play and having them be productive. Again, we just hope that we start at the level that we ended the season at and we go up from there.
“I think those guys made the jump from the beginning of the season to the middle of the season to the end of the season. They played a lot of football, more than most rookies. They were playing the whole way and then going into the playoffs and playing those games against really good competition. You hope that they make another jump this year.”
ON IF THERE ARE PLANS TO MOVE ROBERT ALFORD TO THE SLOT: "You can't have enough cover corners, cover guys in this league the way people are throwing the ball around the yard nowadays. When you look at us specifically, how many passes-to-runs, we saw as a defense last year, people were trying to drop back and throw it a bunch on us. So, you can't have enough cover guys. Guys are going to get dinged up. We'll need all of those (defensive backs) to play this year. They all will have to play."
ON ROOKIE DOMANTEE KAZEE: "He's doing good. The thing you like about him, if you watch his team is that he's a really physical kid. Really tough. Really competitive. Not afraid of anything. He's our type of player that flies around and plays violently, he has a nose for the ball and you hope that he brings those things here. You hope that this year's rookie class can have some of the success that last year's rookie class had on defense. If they do, we'll take another step."
ON WHERE KAZEE WILL PLAY: "(Falcons coach Dan Quinn) is looking at both (cornerback and free safety). Right now, he's getting more reps at safety. But he can play corner as well. That's his natural home, so right now I'm getting him more familiar with the safety stuff."
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