The Atlanta Falcons opened their first day of training camp on Thursday, and we got a good look at potential starters for their Week 1 opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
There is fierce competition on the defensive depth chart for starting positions and roster battles as well. One of those battles may have been lost by former Green Bay Packers second-round pick, cornerback Kevin King, who was released Thursday afternoon, according to the team.
We say "may have been lost," because procedural moves are made all the time with back-of-the-roster guys, and there's no guarantee that King won't return at some point. But it's not a good sign for the six-year veteran who played 15 games for the Falcons in 2024, starting one. He had 10 tackles and a fumble recovery, and was a regular on Atlanta's special teams.
King was the first of several moves announced by the Falcons.
Undrafted free agent Cobee Bryant has high expectations for a player who wasn't drafted, but he's been placed on the Non-Football-Injury list (NFI). The NFI means the player was hurt away from football and isn't paid for as long as he remains on the list.
If he starts the season on NFI, he must sit out at least four games. Bryant was joined by defensive tackle LaCale London and linebacker Malik Verdon.
London was a rotational piece for the Falcons in 2023, but didn't see any game action in 2024. Verdon is a camp longshot to make the squad after being signed as an undrafted free agent out of Iowa State.
Head coach Raheem Morris spoke highly of Bryant after the draft, but his non-disclosed injury certainly puts him at a disadvantage of making a suddenly competitive 53-man roster.
“Cobee is the most famous undrafted player I've ever been around," said Morris ahead of rookie mini-camp. "I mean, my kids know him. It's unbelievable, all the stuff that he has and the accolades. But, when you go back and watch the tape, you're not shocked that he's well-known. The amount of players that he's played against and the guys that he's able to compete against when you watch his tape is exciting."
The Falcons called their class of undrafted free agents "the eighth round," and they specifically targeted Bryant, who was considered an early Day 3 pick going into the draft.
"It's the reason you're able to get a guy like Cobee," said Morris. "We didn't take an outside corner in the draft. There's a guy that you can go and sit down and talk with and really talk about it, convince him to come in here, having a great opportunity to go out there and compete and be the best version of himself.
"We were fortunate enough to be able to bring him here on a 30 visit and to get a chance to meet with him and get around him and really find some real interest and be able to grow. Then, when it came down to that – let's call it what it is, the recruiting process – I had a real clear vision and was able to really speak to him in a real clear fashion because I had watched the tape. I'd been around him. I knew what he can do.
"I knew what he was capable of. Whoever we were competing with basically didn't have a chance.”
As of now, Bryant is competing with himself to get healthy and get onto the field at Falcons training camp. They'll be in action again on Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. at IBM Performance Field in Flowery Branch.
