Movin’ on up

DeAngelo Malone

Since being drafted four years ago, Malone is someone who has struggled to find a good fit. He was drafted under the guise of being a versatile piece, but whether it be the changes in defensive scheme every year, or coaches finding it hard to place him anywhere defensively, he’s gotten lost in the shuffle. He’s still done well for Atlanta on special teams, but the value beyond that was questionable.

Friday’s game showed, however, that there is more value to Malone than what was previously established. Since the tail end of last season, Malone began cross training as an inside linebacker along with still getting a few traditional edge looks. His ability to step into the inside linebacker position is not only good for him, but good for the Falcons.

Last season’s injuries to the inside linebacker corp created the necessity to build depth at the position. Lingering injuries to Troy Andersen and injury history of JD Bertrand has carried that notion into this preseason. Enter Malone, who took all of his first-half reps at inside linebacker alongside Josh Woods. Though Woods had the green dot and was calling the defense, Malone held his own at the spot. He finished with five combined tackles, slightly behind Woods on the defensive team leaderboard.

By the start of the second half, the Falcons had moved Malone back to the defensive front, coming off the edge. His versatility and the way the Falcons are deploying him through practice to get reps at both positions skyrockets his importance on this 53-man roster, in my opinion.

DeMarcco Hellams

Hellams returned with a vengeance, didn’t he? After a year off the turf because of an injury sustained in last season’s first preseason game against Miami, you couldn’t miss Hellams on Friday night. He was everywhere, showcasing the physicality that earned him the nickname “Bamm-Bamm” by his teammates.

As we have discussed all throughout training camp, Hellams is well in the fight for a starting job alongside Jessie Bates III. He’s actively competing with Jordan Fuller and Xavier Watts. And of the three, it was Hellams who had the loudest and most notable performance Friday. How does that shake out the competition? If anything, I think it makes it even more heightened as joint practices get underway this week. For this specific position battle, this week may be the one we turn to when discussing who solidified themselves prior to Week 1.

Easton Stick

When Raheem Morris announced that neither Michael Penix Jr. nor Kirk Cousins would play in Friday’s game, I will be honest that I didn’t think much of the quarterback situation beyond that. And that was my mistake, or maybe, it just left me pleasantly surprised by Stick’s performance in the first half Friday. I dubbed it a “sneakily solid outing,” because all of a sudden I looked up and we were in the waning minutes of the second quarter and Stick’s stat line was pretty dang good.

He finished his evening 15-of-18 through the air, accumulating 149 passing yards and tossing one touchdown. Perhaps because the run game never got going (more on that later) I assumed too quickly that the entire offensive performance was a wash. That wasn’t the case. In fact, looking back, Stick was impressive in his reliability. He managed a very clean operation — something that is difficult to do in a preseason setting. All of this knowing that in the week leading up to the first preseason game, Stick got very few reps. In Wednesday’s scrimmage, he got a couple series to get into a flow. The bulk of his workload — I would argue — in total came in Friday’s first half. The fact he managed a performance so clean and without many errors is a testament to him and what the Falcons have in him.

If there was a doubt whether the Falcons would carry three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster, I think Stick won me over Friday to keep a spot open for him.