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New York Times
28-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
‘The brutal, honest truth' about the Falcons' international kicking competition
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Younghoe Koo knew his job was up for grabs before the Atlanta Falcons signed Lenny Krieg in March. He knew his job was up for grabs before he had the worst season of his career in 2024. He has known his job was up for grabs since the moment he got it with the Falcons in 2019. 'You're always competing,' Koo said. 'You're always getting evaluated.' Advertisement He knows that because he spent almost two years out of the NFL after getting cut by the Los Angeles Chargers in 2017, when he was trying to do what Krieg is aiming to do now — take one of the league's 32 jobs. 'It's not the first time having a kicker in the locker room with me,' Koo said. 'It's just kind of how it is in the NFL. (Krieg) is a great dude. He works hard. Competition is always good. You're always competing, whether somebody is physically here or not.' The Falcons ranked 31st in the league in field goal percentage last year (70.7), and general manager Terry Fontenot said fixing it was a priority entering the offseason. Koo missed three field goals in a 20-17 loss to the New Orleans Saints in Week 10 and another one in a 17-13 loss to the Chargers in Week 13. After Atlanta placed Koo on injured reserve, Riley Patterson missed a 56-yarder that would have beaten the Washington Commanders in Week 17 and a 52-yarder that would have given the Falcons a lead in the third quarter against the Carolina Panthers in Week 18. 'We missed entirely too many kicks (last) year, that's the brutal, honest truth. That can't happen,' coach Raheem Morris said. 'We have to find a way to make those kicks. That plays into not winning the amount of games you want to win.' Koo is entering the fourth year of a five-year, $24 million deal signed before the 2022 season, which he earned on the strength of the 2019-2021 seasons, when he was the second-most accurate kicker in the league (97-for-104, 93.2 percent) behind only Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens. Last season, Koo was 35th among kickers (73.5 percent) after missing a career-worst nine field goals (25 for 34). Falcons special teams coordinator Marquice Williams said he believes Koo will return to his previous form this year because he never saw Koo's fundamentals or preparation slip last season, despite the lack of results. Advertisement 'I like his process and I know his process and I know how he prepares every single day and every single week,' Williams said. 'He'll put his best foot forward.' Koo spent the final four weeks of last season on IR with a hip muscle injury. 'I have dealt with it before,' he said. 'It was sore for a while, but it wasn't really affecting my swing that much. It just progressively got worse, so I decided to shut it down.' Koo has returned to full health and is on pace with his normal offseason schedule, which includes kicking twice a week this time of year. He plans to attend all Falcons voluntary OTAs this month to work out with his teammates and said he is happy to have Krieg alongside. Krieg is Atlanta's most interesting offseason addition. The 22-year-old German didn't kick a football until 2020 when his older brother, Jaycee, an American football coach in Germany, convinced him to see if he could turn his soccer background into a football future. Mr. Lenny Krieg. 🇪🇺🦵 — European League of Football (@ELF_Official) March 28, 2025 Lenny Krieg kicked for the Berlin Adler of the German Football League in 2021 and was then signed by the Stuttgart Surge of the European League of Football in 2022 and 2023. On most days during those three years, the fields his teams used for practice didn't have uprights, Krieg said, so he kicked over the soccer goals. 'Just imagination,' he said. Krieg's big break came in December 2024 when he was accepted to the NFL's International Player Pathway program, which led to an invitation to the NFL combine. 'It was pretty special,' Krieg said. 'My whole life changed after that call.' Krieg quit school and his real estate job and began to focus all his attention on football. At the combine, he made every kick with Williams on the field watching, which is what first got him on the Falcons' radar. Williams and Falcons special teams assistant Steven King then attended Krieg's pro day at the University of South Florida, and the Falcons signed him to a three-year contract the next day. Advertisement As a member of the IPP program, Krieg can remain on the team without counting against the league's roster limits, so Atlanta is incentivized to keep him around at least through the 2025 season. Whether he can eventually replace Koo is an open question. 'I'm just going to keep working, keep improving, make the most out of it, take it day by day and see where it takes me,' Krieg said. The competition won't just be decided on who makes the most practice kicks, Williams said. 'It's everything,' the coach said. 'It's your preparation, your process, how you operate, how you carry yourself as a professional, your mindset, your fundamentals, your technique. As a kicker, you have to be likable, too, because there is going to be a time you're going to miss a kick. It's going to happen. How are your teammates going to treat you? Are they going to be encouraging you, or are they going to be walking away from you? That's a huge part of it.' Koo didn't need the addition of Krieg to convince him this is an important offseason. 'Last year's performance, whether because of injury or not, was a motivating factor for me, but every season I try to reset and work hard,' Koo said. 'I'm always working on myself and trying to be the best version of myself, and I can live with the result.' (Photo of Younghoe Koo: Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
New York Times
20-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
How will ‘fire and ice' rookies Xavier Watts, Billy Bowman Jr. fit in Falcons' secondary?
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The first day Atlanta Falcons rookie defensive backs Xavier Watts and Billy Bowman Jr. got on the practice field, assistant head coach for defense Jerry Gray was already workshopping nicknames. 'I'm probably going to nickname them 'fire and ice,'' said Gray, who oversees Atlanta's secondary. 'When you talk to them, you'll see.' Advertisement Bowman, a fourth-round pick out of Oklahoma, is the fire. He isn't shy about what he thinks he can accomplish in his first NFL season. 'My expectations are always (to start) right away,' he said. 'I'm a guy that's an alpha, and I'm sure that the other guys here are alphas, too. We're going to come in, compete, make each other better. If I don't start, I'll do whatever I need to do to make the team better. I'm going to always put myself in position to be in that conversation.' Watts, a third-round pick out of Notre Dame, is the ice. He's the verbally bland to Bowman's bombast, and his thoughts about how he'll fit in are going to stay his own, it seems. 'I am not really expecting anything,' he said. 'I'm just trusting my teammates and coaches, and we'll see what happens.' The personality difference isn't consequential to the Falcons, though, because Bowman and Watts are remarkably similar players: offensive standouts in high school who helped their teams to undefeated state championship seasons with a track record of impressive interception numbers and went on to have decorated careers at major universities. Both players were draft values for the Falcons, too, according to The Athletic's Dane Brugler, who had Watts projected as a second-round pick and Bowman as a third-round pick. The 6-foot, 204-pound Watts was Brugler's third-ranked safety, and the 5-10, 192-pound Bowman was his fifth-ranked safety. Oklahoma S Billy Bowman, Jr. (#2). A massive 4th down tackle on Luther Burden III here, showing off some of his best traits: play speed, vision, instincts and physicality. Really good player. — Field Yates (@FieldYates) November 13, 2024 Watts led the FBS with 13 interceptions in the past two seasons, which he says was 'not by coincidence.' 'I have a really good feeling for the game of football, and I'm able to get the ball,' he said. He will have a chance to earn a starting spot at safety alongside Jessie Bates III, whom Watts says he has long modeled his game after. Advertisement 'I just think we're very similar,' Watts said. 'We're similar in size. He gets the ball. He's a playmaker. He can tackle well. So, I feel like we're very similar in all aspects of the game of football.' The Falcons would have considered taking Watts with the No. 46 pick in the second round if they had not traded that pick away, defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said. In addition to Bates, Atlanta already had free-agent signee Jordan Fuller, DeMarcco Hellams and Benny Sapp II at safety. 'It's going to be a very competitive safety room,' coach Raheem Morris said. 'Having Watts come here and compete with those guys, get a chance to get on the field and really be productive for us is something that we look forward to doing this spring.' The Falcons traded a 2026 fifth-round pick to move from No. 101 to No. 96 to take Watts because they were concerned he was going to be selected by another team, specifically the Las Vegas Raiders, who picked at No. 98, Ulbrich said. 'When we have that much conviction on a player and when we have intel about where a player can go … we know we need to get up to a certain spot, and if a player is that good, then we're going to be aggressive and go up and get them,' general manager Terry Fontenot said after Watts was selected. 'This guy's a stud. So, we're very excited. We were aggressive when we went up and got him and very excited about that. I mean, outstanding character, serious worker, competitor, high-end instincts, former receiver, ball hawk.' Fontenot used many of the same words to describe Bowman a day later. 'If you don't enjoy watching him play, then you just don't like football,' Fontenot said. 'He's got ball awareness and is just an unreal competitor. Next-level competitor. So, very, very excited about him and what he brings to our team and our defense.' Advertisement Bowman, who had 11 interceptions in his final three years with the Sooners, is being cross-trained at multiple positions in the secondary, but Atlanta's coaches ultimately envision him as a nickelback. 'He's a guy who has shown elite coverage skills,' said Mike Rutenberg, the Falcons' defensive pass game coordinator. 'He can match on a slot. He has really good short-area quickness. It takes some DNA, too, and he's built from the right stuff.' Rutenberg attended a private workout with Bowman in Norman, Okla. 'It didn't take me five minutes to realize, 'This guy loves football,'' the coach said. 'I was getting ready to head to dinner. He wanted to keep grinding on tape. Then, when we went to dinner, he wanted to keep talking about football.' Bowman, who said he had a feeling after that workout that Atlanta was targeting him, had six interceptions in his junior season and returned three of them for touchdowns. He had 251 yards' worth of interception returns throughout his college career, which he attributes to his high school career at running back and wide receiver. 'I feel like the traits of knowing and feeling routes, I can kind of see one guy do something, and I know what else is coming after that,' he said. 'I also pick up on tendencies really quickly on the offensive side of the ball, just because I've played it all the time. So, whether that's motions or a certain route and things like that, I feel like it helps me a lot, knowing and understanding the other side of the ball.' Bowman hopes to improve the consistency of his tackling, but the impact of his tackling is one of the things that caught the eye of the Falcons' personnel department. 'He's kind of got a cobra strike in a short space,' assistant general manager Kyle Smith said. 'He's got the skill set to play both safety and nickel. Why we like him at nickel is the condensed spaces, the twitch, the explosion, his aggressive demeanor.' Advertisement Watts and Bowman could be starting by the end of the 2025 season, Smith said. 'We're not just adding bodies,' Fontenot said. 'We know the versatility that we have there at the safety position, the nickel position. These are all needs for us, and it worked out that we were able to get impact players in those spots. It doesn't always work out like that. Very excited about that.' (Photo of Xavier Watts: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
Associated Press
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Falcons sign former Jaguars linebacker Caleb Johnson following tryout at rookie minicamp
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons signed linebacker Caleb Johnson on Monday. Johnson, who played the last three seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars, signed after participating in the team's rookie minicamp as a tryout player. Johnson signed with Chicago after the 2021 NFL draft and played one season with the Bears before his stint with Jacksonville. He played primarily on special teams in his 65 games over four seasons. The Falcons released wide receiver Phillip Dorsett II. ___ AP NFL:
Associated Press
09-05-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
First-round picks Walker and Pearce headline Falcons' rookie minicamp and revamped pass rush
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons' commitment to boosting their pass rush was on display at their rookie minicamp on Friday, with edge rushers Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr., each drafted in the first round, on the practice field. Free agent Leonard Floyd also was added to boost a pass rush that has been a persistent weak spot. Atlanta finished next-to-last in sacks in 2024. It marked the third time in the past four years the Falcons ranked in the bottom two in the league in that category. 'I get beat up all year about not getting sacks, and that's got to change,' coach Raheem Morris said Friday. 'And the only way you can change that is to change that. And that was a part of the process. Very intentional, going out and trying to fix the edge room.' After selecting Walker from Georgia at No. 15 overall, the Falcons traded back into the first round to take Tennessee's Pearce at No. 26. The Falcons sent the Rams their 2026 first-round pick as well as second-round and seventh-round selections in this year's draft. The Falcons also obtained a third-round selection from the Rams and then made another deal, moving up in the third round, to select Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts. The Falcons were criticized for giving up too much to get Pearce after signing Floyd and drafting Walker, but Morris said Friday: 'It's very intentional to go out and fix our rush to find ... pressure players.' Morris said it was important for Atlanta 'to be able to add three guys that were not here last year that you expect to have significant roles in your pass rush and your pressure players.' The Falcons finished 8-9 last season, their seventh consecutive losing record. Their last playoff appearance came in 2017. The Falcons had 41 players at the minicamp, with five draft picks joining undrafted free agents and players in camp on a tryout basis. ___ AP NFL:
