Will this finally be the Dirty Birds' year? It has been a painfully long time since the Atlanta Falcons consistently played above-.500 football. While they did boast their best mark since the last made the playoffs last season, they only went 8-9, losing their final two games to come up just shy of an NFC South crown. Fortunately, this team's young core is ascending with plenty of new reinforcements, too.
One of the things that has me excited is how quickly many of these rookies are expected to make an impact with the team. While No. 15 overall pick Jalon Walker is the only one tabbed to be a starter on the Falcons' depth chart over on Ourlads, you can also see that James Pearce Jr., Xavier Watts and Billy Bowman Jr. are slotted as primary backups already. Even Jack Nelson is only two deep in this.
So that should account for all of their rookies of note, right? The Falcons only had five draft picks this past spring, all are accounted for, and every single one of them seems to be at worst, in a rotational role. Well, what about the two undrafted free agents of note? I am talking about wide receiver Nick Nash and cornerback Cobee Bryant. Both are three deep, but Bryant is the one I am concerned with.
He is slotted as the third-stringer in the nickelback spot behind Dee Alford and fellow rookie Bowman.
How crucial is training camp for Cobee Bryant and Nick Nash in Atlanta?
Upon first glance, you would probably say "so what?" Well, Atlanta can never have enough good receivers or defensive backs. Anytime the Falcons are even the least bit good they have depth at both positions of note. The reason why I like Nash's chances of making the team slightly more than Bryant's right now is who is in front of him on the depth chart. Bowman could serve as a roadblock.
For Nash, he is behind Ray-Ray McCloud III and newcomer Jamal Agnew for the slot wide receiver position. We know that Drake London and Darnell Mooney are this team's WR1 and WR2, respectively. McCloud shined in an expanded role last year, but WR3 could be up for grabs if he struggles. The same applies to WR4 and WR5, which may go to special teams guys like Agnew and KhaDarel Hodge.
Simply put, if Nash can beat out Casey Washington and Chris Blair, he stands a great chance to make the team as the sixth wide receiver. As for Bryant, he needs to hope Alford struggles in camp and that Bowman does not effectively transition from safety. A.J. Terrell and Mike Hughes have the two other starting cornerback spots locked down. With Watts at safety, is there room for Bryant with Atlanta?
I would argue that if they both impress Bryant and Nash will make the team. Again, we are talking about a 53-man roster. But, they were thought highly about enough to give them contracts to be a part of this team a day after it. Bryant was an All-Big 12 performer, just like Bowman was before OU joined the SEC. I want to see them all make the team, y'all.
However, I look at a guy being third on the depth chart at a tertiary position and I have my concerns.