Depth chart: How the Falcons\u2019 new pieces fit the defense this season<\/a><\/p>\n3. The team is confident in Ryan Neuzil as its center.<\/p>\n
It is no surprise that the coaching staff spoke highly of Ryan Neuzil when asked about him on Wednesday. However, offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford went above and beyond to praise the lineman\u2019s work ethic. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s about the grind,\u201d Ledford said. \u201cHe\u2019s just a gritty guy that\u2019s going to do things that you don\u2019t really notice, but he\u2019s going to go above and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neuzil is participating in the Falcons\u2019 offseason activities despite remaining unsigned. He is expected to be the starting center after Drew Dalman left for the Bears in free agency. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s Ryan,\u201d said Ledford, who recruited Neuzil while coaching offensive line at Appalachian State. \u201cRyan just wants to go out and work. He\u2019s about being out there with the guys. He\u2019s about continuing to learn, continuing to grow as a player. He\u2019s a guy that\u2019s going to roll up his sleeves and go to work every day.\u201d <\/p>\n
Neuzil displays a tremendous work ethic, but his coaches also believe he possesses the required skills of a starting center. The fifth-year veteran commands the huddle, knows how to manage the play clock and is assertive when making calls. Neuzil is also athletic enough to play in space but can block.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re excited about (Neuzil) leading the charge to the offensive line,\u201d said offensive coordinator Zach Robinson. \u201cI didn\u2019t know Neuz until I got here, and then obviously, once I started seeing just the way that he works and his approach, he\u2019s got a great demeanor.\u201d<\/p>\n
4. The Falcons are analyzing \u201ceverything\u201d in the kicking competition.<\/p>\n
Marquice Williams did not provide a simple answer when asked what he looks for in a kicking competition. Instead, the special teams coordinator said \u201ceverything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s your preparation, your process, how you operate, how you carry yourself as a professional, your mindset, your fundamentals, your techniques,\u201d Williams said. \u201cYou may miss a kick, but were your fundamentals good?\u201d<\/p>\n
The Falcons\u2019 kicking competition includes returner Younghoe Koo and Lenny Krieg, who previously played in the English Football League. <\/p>\n
Koo only made 73.5% of his field-goal attempts in 2024, which marked a career low for seasons he recorded at least seven tries. Williams did not appear worried about the inconsistency since Koo\u2019s fundamentals were sound.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were some other variables that happened, which we got cleaned up,\u201d Williams said. \u201cThat\u2019s what makes Koo the person he is. He\u2019s process-driven. He\u2019s locked into what he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Koo and Krieg are competing for the starting job, but the competition is no different from any other season. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no bad egos in the room,\u201d Williams said. \u201cGuys understand it\u2019s a competition each and every day. That\u2019s the mindset in the room, whether there\u2019s an extra kicker here, or we don\u2019t have a kicker here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1. The Falcons\u2019 rookie class is a competitive one. The Falcons heavily invested in their defense during the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[2566,223,254,2554,224,7,6,3243],"class_list":{"0":"post-69082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-ajc-freelancer","9":"tag-atlanta","10":"tag-atlanta-falcons","11":"tag-atlantafalcons","12":"tag-falcons","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-rookie-minicamp"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114549114412471938","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}