The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gut-check time for wannabes
Players on bubble must step up game in next exhibition.
FLOWERY BRANCH — With the Falcons set to go through their regular-season dress rehearsal against Miami at 8 p.m. Thursday at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, the 53-man regular-season roster is starting to take shape.
There clearly are players who are locks — Matt Ryan and Julio Jones — to make the roster. There are others on the bubble, such as Sean Weatherspoon and Sean Renfree.
Also, there are some long shots, such as cornerback Ryan White and defensive end Nordly Capi, who’ll have to make an impression on special teams or try to earn a practice-squad spot in the otherwise meaningless fourth exhibition game.
Falcons coach Dan Quinn plans to play most starters into the third quarter against the Dolphins.
One position where the Falcons are unsettled is at linebacker.
The jury is still out on Vic Beasley’s conversion to strongside linebacker after he played just two plays there in the opener and missed the past game with a shoulder injury.
The middle and weakside linebacker positions are unresolved after two games because rookies Deion Jones and De’Vondre Campbell haven’t taken firm control of the spots. Incumbent Paul Worrilow appears to have the lead over Jones, while Campbell has a slight lead over Weatherspoon.
“From an evaluation standpoint, we’re going to force the issue and take a long look at a couple of guys,” Quinn said. “In general, we’ll play some of the guys longer than we did (against Cleveland), but not much. It’s really about the evaluation of a number of guys that we want to get in against Miami’s first group.”
The Falcons, who have been impressed with rookie Wes Schweitzer, have been shifting their offensive guards around throughout the exhibition season. Quinn also noted the competition at tight end has been fierce.
Running back Brandon Wilds ran hard again against Cleveland and is pushing for a roster spot.
The Falcons appear to want running back Tevin Coleman as the kickoff returner and wide receiver Justin Hardy as the punt returner, but both need to step up and earn the roles. Undrafted rookie J.D. McKissic showed he can score.
Renfree has spent three seasons with the Falcons, but with Matt Schaub on board, his days appear numbered. Renfree knows he could be auditioning for the other 31 teams in that fourth exhibition game.
“Sure,” Renfree said. “That’s the case for every spot. Guys who are said to be starters here know that everybody else is competing for a spot on this team and they’ve said, all the time, that you are competing for other spots as well.”
There are still roster spots to earn, but not many. “The evaluation part of the (exhibition) season is such an important one that it overrides most things,” Quinn said. “There are still a number of battles going on.”