Atlanta Falcons 2018 training camp: Welcome to the first week of preseason practices

Yesterday was an off day for the Falcons, a time to reflect and catch up on what we’ve seen to this point in training camp. It can be difficult to wrap up training camp with a neat little bow and know what matters, so I’m going to attempt to do that for you right now:

• The players who are supposed to look good by and large look good
• The defense has been dominating the offense at times, especially starters, and looks genuinely impressive
• Guys we didn’t necessarily expect to look good have looked good, i.e. Eric Saubert and Duke Riley
• Rookies have looked good
• Everyone is pretty healthy, all things considered
• Brandon Fusco and Wes Schweitzer are unexpectedly having an actual battle for the right guard position

That’s really about it, and you could argue that the health piece is the only one that really matters. But it’s also true that you start to forge your season identity in training camp, and all these positive reports give us even more hope for what should be a very good year. I’ll enjoy following them right up until the end.

For today, continue to look for Takkarist McKinley’s return to the practice field, the key position battles at fullback, guard, defensive tackle and the returner spots, and any pretty highlights that help make these scorching August days a little more enjoyable.

You can follow along with updates from camp with our tracker below, of course.