Are Richie Grant & Falcons Rookies Ready on Defense?
The Atlanta Falcons kept all nine draft picks and an undrafted free agent on the 53-man roster. Nearly 20% of the team is first-year players. Six of those 10 players are defenders.
New defensive coordinator Dean Pees will be counting on several of those players, including safety Richie Grant, to provide depth for the Falcons in Sunday's season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles.
READ MORE: Updated Depth Chart Eagles vs. Falcons
Pees is realistic about what to expect from the defensive rookies on Sunday.
"I just put them all together," said Pees. "I'm not going to talk about any one of them individually. I think as a rookie group, whether they were drafted or undrafted and they made the team, that speaks for itself. Even if they are a practice-squad player, that means you saw a lot in them or you felt like there's a lot of potential in them."
Pees is quick to remind everyone where they are in their careers and to expect to take the good with the bad.
"They've all played like rookies," said Pees. "They've all had great days; they've all had average days. Vets do, too. I think it's a good rookie class; I'm really pleased with the rookie class. I'm pleased with the rookies that we have. I don't think there's anybody there that's not capable of being an NFL football player."
He added: "Rookies are rookies. It's a lot different. There's a lot of things going on. Even though some of these guys have played in big games, it's different in the NFL in games. The speed of the game, all that stuff changes."
Pees explains that the preseason isn't always the best way for outsiders to judge what they see on the field.
"You get a little big of it in preseason," said Pees, "but most of the time what happens is it's really backups playing against backups. Now if a backup gets into a game, he's not playing against a backup," Pees said with a grin. "So it may be a lot faster and a little quicker, and the only way you're going to find that out is until it happens.
"You can speculate, everybody does. Nobody knows. Everybody seems to have an answer about how this guy's gonna be and that guy's gonna be. You have no idea how they're going to be until they play."
Of the 10 first-year players, six of them are on defense. Not all of them will see action on Sunday against Philadelphia, but Atlanta needs several of them, including Grant, to step up and play big roles this year.
Atlanta Falcons Defensive Rookies, 53-Man Roster
#27 Richie Grant, S, 2nd Round, UCF
#34 Darren Hall, CB, 4th round, San Diego State
#95 Ta'Quon Graham, DL, 5th Round, Texas
#92 Adetokunbo Ogundeji, DL, 5th Round Notre Dame
#35 Avery Williams, CB, 5th Round, Boise State
#48 Dorian Etheridge, LB, UDFA, Louisville
