The Atlanta Falcons have made one of the strangest leaps in the NFL this past offseason. One of the worst teams in the league in 2023, the NFC South group addressed the team’s prior quarterback issues and tightened up its defense, which desperately needed a boost in the pass rush and secondary categories.
Atlanta also hired its first Black coach, Raheem Morris, this offseason, to go along with Black general manager Terry Fontenot. In the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, the team selected Michael Penix Jr., a Black quarterback out of the University of Washington, as its quarterback of the future. The selection came to the delight of many fans, given his admiration of Michael Vick, the franchise’s figure fans have longed for since he last played for the team in 2006. The team also signed its quarterback of the present, veteran Kirk Cousins, who is consistently regarded as one of the best starters in the league. Despite his reputation, Cousins is 36 and coming off Achilles surgery. He’s been held out of action in the 2024 preseason.
“I feel good,” Cousins told rolling out after a Training Camp practice on Aug. 21. “I feel the best I’ve felt. The ball’s coming out well, and yeah. I feel really, really good.”
After appearing in the first preseason game of the season at Miami, Morris also shut down Penix Jr. from playing the remainder of the preseason.
“The league’s changed,” Cousins said. “I can tell you all the different ways the league’s changed. When I came in, it was the first year we weren’t doing true two-a-days, so that was different. Then, the preseason has changed. It used to be that starters would play the entire half in multiple games, but now it’s evolved. There used to be a fourth preseason game, which would’ve been next week for us, but now you don’t have that.”
On the defensive side of the ball, the Falcons made two of the biggest splashes in the league by trading for outside linebacker Matthew Judon from the New England Patriots and signing safety Justin Simmons within the past two weeks.
“It’s great,” Falcons linebacker Lorenzo Carter said to longtime Falcons beat reporter Darryl Ledbetter, before smiling. “The more help you can have, the better. So, we got a lot of help. Now, we have a lot of guys who have played high-level football, and we plan on keeping that high level up and making it even higher.”
Carter also is elated at the team having “no mess” — literally.
“There’s just no mess,” Carter said. “We don’t have a lot of mess in the locker room. People clean up after themselves. We’ve got a lot of good guys in there. We can come into the locker room later at night, and you’ll still see players hanging out with each other. We’ve just had that type of connection. It’s been a fun training camp. I can’t even lie.”
The added talent and early meshing of personalities have led to competitive practice scrimmages and, more importantly, better football than the team played in 2023.
“You can trust that a guy’s going to be there to cover up for you,” Carter told rolling out. “Even when you go take your shot, you know someone’s going to be there to clean it up. It’s been fun, man. I love this team.”
Atlanta plays its final preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Aug. 23 at 7 p.m. before kicking off the regular season against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 8 at 1 p.m.
