Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn embracing virtual offseason

Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn is a direct descendant of Pete Carroll's "new-school" form of coaching. Quinn doesn't scold his players and only yells and screams when he's excited about a tremendous accomplishment. He preaches brotherhood and togetherness, creating a culture where the player comes first.

Yet when the 'new school' Quinn faced the situation this offseason where his team could only train through virtual means, he was uncertain.

"I gotta be honest, when we first talked about a virtual program, I was definitely hesitant at first and like, 'How the hell am I going to do this?'", Quinn said during a virtual press conference on Tuesday. "[But] I found that there can be some great additions to what we're doing."

Quinn explained one of those great additions is each player's customized online training program. The team designed the program to be specific to each player and tailed to individual needs. Quinn described it as "very helpful."

This week, the Falcons are hosting a virtual rookie mini-camp. The veterans have the time off, but the whole team will meet virtually starting on May 18.

With states beginning to open economies around the country, it may not be too much longer until Quinn can meet with his team in person, but there isn't a plan in place yet for how the NFL will open its team facilities. Last week, Pittsburgh Steelers coach and longtime member of the league's Competition Committee Mike Tomlin stressed "competitive fairness" when it came to NFL teams reopening practices.

"I intend to agree with Mike (Tomlin) to make sure that from a player and a coaching standpoint that we get all the same opportunities and access to the players," Quinn said.

The Falcons coach added that the organization was in discussions with the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills about joint practices this offseason. If possible, Quinn says he still wants those scrimmages to happen but admitted it will depend on the guidelines coming from the league office.

Quinn is managing the unprecedented 2020 virtual offseason on the fly like all 32 NFL coaches, but due to the coronavirus, the Falcons will no longer lose a home game to the NFL International Series and a trip to London. Quinn remained "politically correct" in saying that the team will have "tea with the Quinn another time," but was obviously pleased to have the eighth home game as normal.

The Falcons already have one of the toughest 2020 schedules on paper. Playing a home game in London would have likely made it the consensus "most-difficult" slate in the league this fall.

From an on-the-field standpoint, Quinn added during his virtual press conference that second-year defensive end John Cominsky will play defensive end on early downs and rush inside on third downs. Cominsky appeared in 10 games as a rookie in 2019 and posted 11 combined tackles with 0.5 sack and two quarterback hits.

Cominsky played on under 10 percent of Atlanta's defensive snaps last season, but it sounds as though he's in for a much bigger role in 2020.

With more 'virtual' pressers to come, stay tuned for more updates from Atlanta Falcons' coaches and players. Here's a link to Quinn's full presser on the team's website.

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