Grady Jarrett, Devin Hester held out of first Falcons OTA sessions

No NFL team is ever fully healthy, so I guess it's no surprise that the Falcons weren't today when they opened up organized team activities in Flowery Branch.

The biggest name (and biggest concern, frankly) on the list belongs to Grady Jarrett, who is projected to seize a larger role in 2016 and was held out of camp today (and the rest of the week) with tendinitis in his knee. Tendinitis is not fun, and it's even less fun when you're a big fellow and it's in your knee. The Falcons are wise to take it easy with Jarrett, get him healed up, and hopefully have him back out there in a couple of weeks.

James Stone, who is competing for the backup center gig with undrafted free agent Jake Reed and likely others in his bid for a roster spot on the interior of the offensive line, is going to miss all of OTAs and won't return until training camp. That gives someone else a decent shot to leapfrog him early on, which means you should keep your eye on Reed, in particular.

The rest of the names are no great surprise. Devin Fuller has been dealing with a hamstring issue since rookie minicamp and was limited today, Devin Hester is not yet ready to practice and may not be until training camp, and Chris Chester is still recovering from offseason surgery. Adrian Clayborn has a strained pectoral and will probably be limited all week, as well, but there's no long-term concern there.

Ultimately, Jarrett, Stone, and Hester are the three players to keep an eye on as things move along here, because Jarrett is headed for major playing time and Stone and Hester will be fighting for roster spot. Let's hope all three are healthy very soon.