With the threat of rain subsiding a bit and the sun frequently peering through the cloud cover over Flower Branch, we got a more traditional kickoff time of 9:30 a.m. for practice this morning, and the team absolutely hit the ground running already taking the first snap of walkthroughs the second that time marker hit.

While Day 1 was heavy on walkthroughs, that was only about a 10-minute portion of practice at the very beginning on Day 2. Right from the get go it was clear that there would be a clear ramp up today and that we would get some real competition.

Read on for my observations from Day 2 of 2024 Falcons training camp!

Kirk Cousins ravages everything in his path

Those who figured that there would be a night and day difference in how the offense does against the defense during camp this year vs. last needed nothing more than today to be justified in their prediction. While the defense had the upper hand most days last year, they looked absolutely helpless against the offense today.

The initial 11-on-11 period featured the first team offense facing the defensive reserves and it just looked way too easy for QB Kirk Cousins. While it’s difficult to gauge how good the run game might look before pads come on, it was not difficult to see that the passing game had a clear upper hand.

Overall Cousins went 10-10 against the reserves in the initial portion of 11s, then he went 1-2 in the red zone drills which followed (the only incompletion being on a pass which featured tight coverage from CB Clark Phillips III) and finished up with a 3-3 day against the first team defense in follow up 11-on-11s. Overall, Cousins went 14-15 passing today, spreading the ball around to a number of different weapons in the process.

He also had the longest completion of the day — a home-run shot to WR Ray-Ray McCloud, who beat CB Jayden Price’s one on one coverage for what would have been a 50-yard touchdown on a go route. The pass was placed in the bread basket.

Michael Penix slices up the first-team defense

So with Cousins and the first-team offense working against the reserves in 11-on-11 drills, you would think that the first team defense would have its way against QB Michael Penix Jr. and the second team offense, right? Logic says yes, but what we saw on the field was the rookie quarterback absolutely dicing up the first teamers.

Penix started his day with a picturesque back-shoulder pass to WR Rondale Moore, who secured the reception against CB A.J. Terrell, and from there looked like a 10-year veteran facing off against overmatched rookies.

Penix went 4-5 against the first-team defense in initial 11-on-11s, with the lone incompletion being a pass which hit TE John Fitzpatrick in the chest. He was 3-4 in red zone drills which followed, with the lone incompletion once again being a pass which hit Fitzpatrick in the hands. And concluded by going 1-4 in the final 11-on-11s portion, but one of those was a perfect highlight reel home run pass to Rondale Moore down the sideline and between two defenders which was dropped.

Overall, Penix went 8-13, with three of those being unfortunate drops. His first 11 passes of the day were all right on the mark. The rookie was aggressive and confident and while Raheem Morris said yesterday that there would be a split in second-team reps between he and QB Taylor Heinicke, I did not see Heinicke get a single rep in today in either 11-on-11s or red zone — Penix is firmly the QB2 right now.

Richie Grant gets more snaps at safety, Nate Landman may be in the lead at starting ILB, Mike Hughes continues to firmly be CB2

The main camp battles to note from yesterday were between S Richie Grant and S DeMarcco Hellams for the starting strong safety role and ILB Nate Landman versus ILB Troy Andersen for the starting inside linebacker role. Those four were rotating among themselves a lot on Day 1.

Today, it felt like a bit of a swing of the pendulum in Landman’s direction for the role next to ILB Kaden Ellis. While the rotation continued, Landman seemed to get the first snaps over Andersen and looked to be out there a tad bit more frequently (at least from my memory of it as I do not count the number of snaps everyone plays).

While the rotation at ILB continues to be prevalent, what I saw less of was the frequent rotation at strong safety, as it seems like Richie Grant has a tighter hold on the starting spot as of right now. There was less of DeMarcco Hellams rotating in, although he hasn’t fully been cast aside either.

While Clark Phillips III did get some run on the “first-team field” with the backups (the second team frequently rotated in with the first team), the CB2 spot continues to belong to CB Mike Hughes who seems to have a stranglehold of it as of today.

Zach Harrison gets some extra reps, and Kaden Ellis is on the outside in some looks

Second-year man DE Zach Harrison got some very limited snaps in yesterdays walkthroughs on the first team field, but he seemed to be a bit more prevalent today. What was interesting is that there were some looks where he lined up on the interior in 4-3 packages, while also slotting in as a DE in 3-4 looks.

It was a very light day for DT Grady Jarrett, who continues to manage his return from injury, and in his absence there was an opportunity for Harrison, DT Ruke Orhorhoro and DT LaCale London to get some extra work on the inside.

An interesting wrinkle I noticed in walkthroughs that was not there yesterday is that Kaden Ellis was lined up as the outside linebacker on a few 3-4 looks. Ellis has proven to be a standout blitzer in his career and it seems as if the team intends to utilize some of his pass rushing prowess.

Ta’Quon Graham and David Onyemata were the standouts amid a cooked defense

While it was mostly really bad for the defense out there today, there was some consistent interior pressure thanks to a push from DT David Onyemata and DT Ta’Quon Graham against the second team offense in the 11-on-11 snaps against Penix.

There was a play where Onyemata combined with OLB Arnold Ebikete to secure a pressure against Penix, which may have resulted in a sack in a real game setting.

Graham had a couple of standout plays himself, at one point recovering a fumble on a botched snap (it was tough to tell if it was the center’s fault or if Penix just mishandled it) and getting a sack in the red zone later on.

While we are in the very early stages of camp, I would say it is fair to worry about the defense at least a little bit at this point. This feels like an inverse to the worries I had about the offense in the early stages of camp last year.

Slot WR continues to be Ray-Ray McCloud’s show

I noted yesterday about the surprise of seeing WR Ray-Ray McCloud, thought to be on the team as a return specialist, getting all of the first team reps in the slot. That continued today with Rondale Moore exclusively running with the second team offense.

McCloud very likely widened that gap for the starter role today thanks to his 50-yard touchdown reception from Cousins in 11s, combined with Moore’s drop on a similar highlight reel throw from Penix when he had his own chance.

Beyond what we saw in live action, McCloud was also very consistently the second wide receiver to catch passes from Cousins in initial throwing drills, right after WR Drake London. He and London also took every single rep from Cousins (as opposed to Penix or Heinicke) in these drills.

Other Notes

• It was a strong day for WR Darnell Mooney after a slow start. While Cousins spread the ball around, Mooney was his favorite target today, even impressively beating Mike Hughes one-on-one on an intermediate pass near the sideline.

• DE James Smith-Williams continues being a visible player on the field, once again getting run with the first team as maybe the “starting” pass rusher opposite OLB Lorenzo Carter right now. I put quotes around the word starting because of how heavy the rotation is at that spot, with Ebikete, DE Bralen Trice and even Ellis factoring in.
• Trice and Orhorhoro were once again the only rookies getting any run on the “first team field.”
• It was a really rough day for John Fitzpatrick, who had two bad drops on passes from Penix.
• The primary kick returners during special teams drills continue to be McCloud and RB Avery Williams.
• WR Drake London left practice a little early, drawing some concern from the media members in attendance who saw him talking to trainers. We were told that he will be completely fine, with the term used to describe the ailment being “overheating.”
• Yes, DT Eddie Goldman is out there and getting consistent run as the second team defensive tackle option.
• TE Kyle Pitts, who had a good day of practice, let us know that both his camp roommates Kirk Cousins and Michael Penix are in bed by 9:30 p.m. every night.

That’s all from me for today. For more coverage, you can follow me on Twitter (X).

Tomorrow’s practice will be at Seckinger High School and will be starting at 6 p.m. Expect tomorrow’s recap article to be published either very late in the evening or very early the next morning, as a result.