Quinn Meets With Media During Last Part of OTA’s

Atlanta Falcons Head Coach Dan Quinn met with the media this afternoon during their last part of organized team activities.  The Falcons will have two more days of OTA’s before mid-June’s Minicamp.  Many players who had been held out to some capacity due to injury were limited participants today (Jake Matthews, Brooks Reed, William Moore, etc.)  That’s a good thing because all three men are important starters for the Falcons.

Vic Beasley (strained shoulder) and Jon Asamoah (ankle) were held out of today’s practice.  Reading between the lines, perhaps Beasley was held out more for contract negotiations as he is still unsigned at this point.  There are reports that the team’s first round draft pick will have his rookie contract all squared away by the end of the week.

More from Atlanta Falcons

• Atlanta Falcons Yet Again Making a Terrible Move Signing Matt Schaub
• Atlanta Falcons Must Make This Off-Season Move
• Dan Quinn’s Press Conference Was Filled With Notable Moments. Here’s Some Highlights.
• Atlanta Falcons Re-Sign Kicker Younghoe Koo In Solid Move
• Atlanta Falcons: Is Devonta Freeman’s Time With Falcons Over?

Quinn spoke highly of WR Leonard Hankerson and DB Ricardo Allen as two guys who have really improved this past offseason, Allen entering Year Two in Atlanta and Hankerson coming over from the Washington Redskins.  When asked about what was his favorite part of the team he inherited after coming over from Seattle, Quinn stated it was “the quality of people that were already in the organization.”  That speaks highly of Arthur Blank and Thomas Dimitroff, as Quinn has worked with Pete Carroll and John Schneider in the Seahawks organization.

Coach Quinn likes his DC Richard Smith and Defensive Passing Game Coordinator Raheem Morris’ expertise in the front seven and in the secondary, respectively.  Smith is another one of Quinn’s ‘grit’ guys and Morris is bursting full of energy.  I really think that having Smith and Morris on the defensive staff gives Quinn the luxury of having two brilliant minds on defense, so that he can focus on being solely the Atlanta Falcons’ head coach and not also its defensive coordinator.  I think our defense is in good hands.

“He’s always challenging, trying to draw out the most in the guys.” – Atlanta Falcons HC Dan Quinn on DC Richard Smith

With these last few OTA’s Quinn said that the team is in the second phase of installation and that training camp would be the final third phase.  So these next five official Falcons’ practices, 2 OTA’s and 3 Days of Minicamp, are crucial for the team both on the field and in the classroom.  The injuries to a few key guys might have the team a little behind schedule on the field, but Quinn likes the student mentality displayed by his players in the classroom.

Quinn briefly glossed over the use of drones in practice.  While he is in favor of introducing new technologies in practices, the 2015 Atlanta Falcons will not use drones to better monitor play.  This is due to Quinn being a rookie head coach needing to have a better spatial feel to where drones could adequately operate.  I do think that Quinn coming over from Seattle make Atlanta a little more cutting-edge in the rapidly increasing analytical movement in the NFL.  It’s been in baseball for nearly two decades and the NBA and NHL have been transformed by analytics within the last five years.  I envision that Quinn will get the team slightly more on the forefront of advanced statistics.

Lastly, I feel that Dan Quinn is starting to feel more comfortable with the media as the Falcons head coach.  He’s not repeating the same cliché phrases in press conferences as of late.  There’s a little more substance to with the way that he speaks now.  It’s enjoyable to hear him elaborate to some degree now.