3 Players to Watch as Atlanta Falcons Begin Mini-Camp

The Atlanta Falcons begin mandatory mini-camp on Tuesday afternoon in Flowery Branch. Camp battles will begin in earnest, and we take a look at three players who have a chance to make a move on the depth chart this week.

Player #1: Clark Phillips III, Nickel, Slot Corner

Dee Alford got burned quite often last season. Pro Football Focus (PFF) graded him as the No. 88 cornerback out of 116 eligible players. Fans will remember the Week 14 matchup against the Vikings, where wide receiver Justin Jefferson left Alford lying on the ground en route to a 52-yard score. Jefferson ended the game with seven catches, 132 yards, and two touchdowns. Alford is credited, or blamed, by PFF for giving up 127 yards that game. 

The Falcons re-signed Alford this offseason. According to Spotrac, he signed a one-year, $1,500,000 deal that includes $230,000 guaranteed. With just $230,000 guaranteed, Alford is not guaranteed to make the roster.

The biggest issue with Phillips is his size. He is just 5-foot-10. He’s been misused at outside corner his first two seasons, but he enters mini-camp at a more natural position of nickel/slot cornerback. He will compete with Alford and rookie Billy Bowman Jr. for the starting role.  

Clark Phillips has shown out in camp before. Link to tweet: https://x.com/ATLFalconsMuse/status/1684592896878465024

Despite playing out of position early in his career, Phillips has made an impact with the snaps he has gotten. Against the Panthers in Week 6, he had the game-clinching interception, which he would have taken all the way back for a score if not for the selfless move to step out of bounds and secure the win. In the Week 8 overtime thriller against Tampa Bay, he had a touchdown-saving tackle early in the game, which helped hold the Buccaneers to a field goal. 

Phillips saw 40 or more snaps in five games last season. In three of those games, he did not surrender more than 22 yards, and in four of five, he gave up less than 70 yards. Meanwhile, Alford saw 40 or more snaps in 10 games last season. He only gave up less than 22 yards in one of those games, and on average, gave up 54.4 yards in those games. He gave up the third-most yards in the entire NFL last year with 706 surrendered. 

Player #2: James Pearce Jr.

Fans may forget that prior to the bye week, the Falcons not only had an abysmal pass rush, but it was historically bad. The team had registered just 10 sacks in the first 11 games of the season. Not even good enough to get one sack per game. Raheem Morris became more involved with the defense after the bye week, and the Falcons got 20 sacks in the final six games. However, they had to do it with blitz packages that left the secondary vulnerable. 

Jalon Walker is a great player, but he will eventually fill a hybrid inside/outside role, not the pure pass rusher role. Therefore, Atlanta will need James Pearce Jr. to emerge as that premier pass rusher off the edge. Pearce has all the tools to be one of the great pass rushers, and he’ll have ample opportunities for the Falcons defense early and often in his career. 

He had a 23.0% pass rush win rate in college. That mark is higher than No. 3 overall pick Abdul Carter (22.6%) and Mike Green (20.2%), who led college football in sacks last season. 

If the Falcons really did fix their pass rush in this offseason, it will start with James Pearce Jr.

Player #3: Arnold Ebiketie 

Arnold Ebiketie has finished each of the last two seasons with six sacks. He led the team in sacks last year and was 0.5 sacks away from leading the team in 2023. He was a second-round pick in 2022, and fans have been waiting for him to take the leap and become a double-digit sack artist for the last two years.

In 2023, he had a seven-game stretch from Week 6 to Week 12 where he collected 5.5 sacks. He only had half a sack over the next 13 games when he finally added another Week 9 last year against the Cowboys. 

He had another flurry of sacks to close 2024. He had five in the last six games. With a strong close and plenty of competition at edge this season, can he step up and continue his pace for an entire season, or will he fall by the wayside?