They are rookies no more – but remain under a watchful eye.
The Falcons relied heavily on a pair of undrafted linebackers last season when the unit was thinned by injury and evolved to feature the faster, quicker youngsters. Paul Worrilow and Joplo Bartu played major roles as they finished first (137) and third (96), respectively, in tackles on a team that lost starter Sean Weatherspoon to a season-ending knee injury after five games.
Worrilow and Bartu are back and are unknowns no longer. Weatherspoon will miss the entire season after he tore his Achilles tendon in offseason workouts. Starters Stephen Nicholas and Akeem Dent were jettisoned in the offseason. That leaves the two, with one season under their belts, right in the thick of it again.
Worrilow and Bartu will patrol the middle of the field in the Falcons’ hybrid 3-4/4-3 defensive scheme. They might be the only linebackers on the field when the team uses what amounts to a 5-2 alignment being worked on in training camp with a front of Kroy Biermann, Tyson Jackson, Paul Soliai, Jonathan Babineaux and Jonathan Massaquoi.
“Now, I’m out there with the head set on,” said Worrilow , out of Delaware. “I’m making calls. I’m more comfortable in this camp. I feel like I have a chance to really progress my game – learning from everything I did last year and building off of that.”
Last season, Worrilow played 491 snaps and missed eight tackles at inside linebacker and was ranked 45th in the league by Pro Football Focus. He played 309 snaps at outside linebacker, had four missed tackles and was ranked 25th in the league.
Bartu played 789 snaps at outside linebacker, had 12 missed tackles and was ranked 22nd in the league.
“It’s better being on the other side of the fence this year,’ said Bartu, out of Texas State. “Last year, we were having to go through the plays and learning the defense and this time around we are just working on technique and executing each technique and perfecting each play.”
The scrutiny will be intense.
Some the biggest position battles during this training camp will be at linebacker.
The Falcons added Prince Shembo at the position. The fourth-round draft pick is highly regarded and could eventually push for one of the inside positions. That figures to take a little time. The last time Shembo played inside linebacker was in the ninth grade. He played outside the rest of his career through his tenure at Notre Dame.
“It’s a different view,” Shembo said of the move. “Before I was chasing the quarterback and having the C-gap. Now, I have the whole field. It’s different. I like it.”
The Falcons are cross-training Shembo on the inside to add versatility to the 46-man game day roster. Shembo began the process during OTAs and it’s in full gear now.
Shembo said the transition has been aided by the extra work he has put in on his own.
Coach Mike Smith wants the flexibility with the linebacker unit – including the use of Biermann and Massaquoi as hybrid defensive ends.
“We will not pigeon-hole guys into certain positions,” Smith said. “Some of our other linebackers are going to sometimes line up with their hand in the dirt and sometimes they are going to line up in two-point stances and I think that’s going to create identification issues for the offense.”
The Falcons finished 4-12 last season. It’s one of the reasons every position is being so closely monitored. The organization broke from the past by parting with Nicholas and Dent. There has been time to deal with the loss of Weatherspoon.
“To get better,” Bartu said of the goal of the upcoming season. “To get way better than last year.”
The Falcons have added several veterans to the competition. Pat Angerer, who is coming off microfracture surgery in December, and Tim Dobbins are in camp.
“I don’t think any of us think we have a job locked up,” Worrilow said. “The whole purpose of camp is to come out and compete at the highest level, earn your spot and get better at the same time.”
