The Atlanta Falcons began their offseason program under new head coach Kevin Stefanski in Flowery Branch, Ga., with an early start permitted by league rules for teams with first-year coaches, according to a May 22 announcement. The team is focusing on building foundational skills and ensuring all players, both veterans and rookies, learn the new system from the ground up.
Stefanski said, “This is the time of the year where you’re going to make a mistake and then we’re going to learn from it. We’re going to identify the reasons that it was made and we’re going to correct them. So, I think you’re seeing from the, certainly the veterans that have been around, you’re seeing them continue to get better in each rep, get better in each practice.” Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. added, “For us to go out there on the field and have the same mindset and have the same understanding of what’s going on around us, it’s only going to help us be better. It’s been really good.”
The coaching staff is emphasizing a common language for communication between players and coaches as they install their systems. Penix said, “I feel like for the new coaching staff, they want to come in and make sure that we’re all speaking the same language, we’re all on the same page… For us, it’s like everything from last year is flushed. So I can’t come and ask coach, ‘Hey what is this route,’ and call it a route from last year whenever I’m in a new system.” Stefanski described how technique adjustments are being made: “We coach so much on footwork because everything comes ground up when you’re talking about technique… Having said that there are subtle quarter-turn adjustments that I think you can make with technique…”
Quarterbacks are practicing dropbacks under center under quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt’s supervision—an area of emphasis for Penix who had one such snap last season according to Next Gen Stats.
Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees said coaches use this time of year not just for player development but also scheme evaluation: “Everything in football is trends right? Like things come in and come out pretty cyclically throughout time… You want to have some foresight on where things might be going or where things might be transitioning into.” Rees concluded by saying there has been strong buy-in among players: “Our focus really offseason-wise is like fundamentals technique mastering offensive system… And there’s always going to be things to clean up but that’s why we’re here right now and [I’m] looking forward to rest of it.”
The Atlanta Falcons compete in the National Football League’s NFC South division as an expansion team established in 1965 based in Atlanta; they advanced twice to Super Bowl appearances—in 1998 and 2016—and feature Freddie the Falcon as their mascot, according to the official website.