Hey, I got the snap counts much earlier this week!
Here’s a breakdown of playing time for the Atlanta Falcons against the Tennessee Titans, plus notes about playing time and battles worth mentioning. If I didn’t mention your favorite here, definitely add your own notes via the comments.
There’s plenty of yarn to pull at here. Sills appearing early in both preseason games and exiting early suggests the Falcons feel they don’t need to see much of him, which in turn tells you he has a strong chance of sticking around. Chark’s late playing time, meanwhile, tells us the battle may be much more uphill for him. Blair, Drummond, and Nash are getting long looks as potential practice squad players, and the Falcons may legitimately keep all three in that capacity. With Casey Washington not playing, Sills seemingly lining up for a spot, and three guys taking the bulk of the preseason snaps, it’ll take luck and a terrific third preseason game for the likes of Skinner, Chark, and Matthews to make it.
Carter, meanwhile, made his case in the best possible way. After getting stonewalled Week 1 alongside Dotson and Corbin, Carter broke multiple big runs—I know one was called back, but still—and showed explosiveness and some pass catching ability. Carlos Washington seems to be his primary competition, and if he’s too banged up to be ready for the season, Carter feels like a strong bet for RB3.
The TE3 battle is an interesting one. Quitoriano not playing on offense would seem to suggest that he’s in line for duties there, but he did log significant special teams snaps while the team got a long look on offense at Simon and to a lesser extent Franks and Kalinic. I think this comes down to Quitoriano and Franks, ultimately, but I still like Simon’s pass catching chops and hope he’s done enough to merit practice squad consideration. Quitoriano and Franks offer the special teams ability the Falcons need—and didn’t really get from that spot a year ago.
The offensive line is kind of a mess, but I do think history tells us what we can expect here. Storm Norton is a lock for swing tackle as long as he’s healthy, Kyle Hinton is a trusted guard option despite some struggles this summer, and Jovaughn Gwyn is a player the Falcons appear to like enough to keep around. That leaves maybe one spot on the roster and a handful of practice squad spots, and the long, long look at Joshua Gray tells me that they are very seriously considering keeping him around. He was shaky in pass protection throughout but showed well as a run blocker on Friday night, and that might be enough to earn him some kind of spot if he can repeat it next Friday. Fellow rookie Jack Nelson, meanwhile, scuffled with penalties but did show a little better as the game went on, and the Falcons will likely find a way to keep him around, too.
This was a very good game in limited action for Simeon Barrow, who needed to impress given how crowded this defensive line group is. With a pressure, a run stop, and some eye-opening strength shown in 22 snaps, he did enough to push for a practice squad spot, if the Falcons aren’t already stacking Kentavius Street and LaCale London there.
Dee Alford, meanwhile, played a much better game on balance than the up-and-down effort from a week ago, and still seems to be in the driver’s seat for nickel cornerback duties. He, Natrone Brooks, Billy Bowman, and Dontae Manning had fine days in coverage on an evening where Mike Ford and Lamar Jackson had cover-your-eyes moments, and given that Brooks and Bowman are extremely competent special teamers and Alford can contribute there, that likely spells real trouble for Ford and Jackson. That’s without CJ Henderson getting up to speed or Clark Phillips and Cobee Bryant being able to play, too, so while there’s a logjam here we can feel pretty confident a couple of guys are not in the running for roster spots at this stage.
Safety is still not a position where we have much clarity. DeMarcco Hellams did not play Friday night, and it’s unclear whether that was due to a mild injury he suffered in joint practices earlier this week or because the Falcons think he’s lining up to start in Week 1. In his absence, Jordan Fuller had a mostly solid game where he was one of two defenders on the wrong end of the Gunnar Helm touchdown grab, while Xavier Watts continued to look like a promising but still adjusting rookie. Watts would still be my bet at this point, but Hellams has done an impressive job of inserting himself into this conversation, and I’m genuinely unsure who Raheem Morris and Jeff Ulbrich will select.
One thing’s for sure: The Falcons want a long look at Pearce. It’s surprising to see such a valuable player getting so much run in preseason, but the Falcons clearly want him to get the work and get up to speed for what I can only assume is a significant regular season role. Pro Football Focus credited Pearce with a team-high four pressures on his 48 snaps, as well as a missed tackle, so the pass rushing promise is there even if the consistency is not. I do wonder if Pearce will continue to log a huge number of snaps with one more game left until the season, or if he’ll largely be in mothballs after this one.
It was good to see Bralen Trice out there, and on his 21 snaps he more or less looked as advertised as a run defender, making him easily one of the most effective Falcons Friday night in that regard. He’ll need to show more as a pass rusher as the season wears on to earn a significant role, but as an early down option in an EDGE group without a lot of proven high-quality run defenders, he should be out there.
Finally, the inside linebacker depth feels a bit iffy beyond Kaden Elliss, Divine Deablo, and Jalon Walker’s part-time role, but the Falcons are throwing a lot of options at the wall and hoping someone sticks. Nick Kubitz had some big plays on very limited snaps, Malone is picking up work inside and outside, and Josh Woods was solid again, but JD Bertrand, Ronnie Harrison, and Caleb Johnson scuffled for stretches Friday night, and I would have told you heading into preseason that both Bertrand and Johnson were favorites for roster spots. With no clear indication that Troy Andersen is coming back in time for the regular season, I wonder if the Falcons will simply chalk preseason up to preseason and go with the expected depth options and hold Woods or Kubitz as practice squad players, or if they might sniff around other cuts given how much injuries hurt the defense at this point a year ago.
If you’re a borderline roster guy, you need to play special teams, as the truism goes. That’s probably bad news for Elijah Dotson and Nate Carter—though Carter’s strong day as a runner should matter—and good news for Corbin, who logged a ton of work on teams Friday night.
It’s also why Quitoriano, who had a standout play where he forced and recovered a fumble on a return, should be considered in the mix despite the lack of a role on offense, and it’s also why Franks has long been my pick for TE3 regardless. He primarily contributed on special teams last year for the Panthers and has improved as a blocker since entering the league, and perhaps he and Quitoriano will get more even chances to battle it out in the third preseason game. Kalinic appears to be out of consideration for that role.
Johnson and Harrison are getting their shots to prove they belong not only on defense, but on teams, and as mentioned above there’s a lack of clarity around A) how many players the Falcons will keep if Troy Andersen is out and B) whether JD Bertrand is a lock to be one of them. Malone playing inside complicates the picture here, because the Falcons have repeatedly said they like what he offers on special teams and they’re having him work with both the inside linebackers and the EDGE group. That probably gives him a leg up on everyone else here, ultimately.
It’s worth noting that while the Falcons had Koo handle field goals and extra points, where he was perfect on Friday night, Krieg took all five kickoffs, with four quality ones and one that failed to fall into the landing zone, getting Atlanta penalized. I can’t imagine a scenario in which the Falcons keep both Krieg and Koo, but they appear intent on getting Krieg plenty of work as they presumably ready to stick him on the practice squad as their 17th practice squad player and International Pathways Player. Despite the hiccups we’ve seen along the way, he seems well worth keeping around even if Koo is back to good health and reliability.