On the Atlanta Falcons‘ first official depth chart of the season they have two rookies starting on defense, including second-round pick Avieon Terrell in the nickel spot with his older brother A.J. on one side and veteran Mike Hughes on the other boundary.
Just because Terrell has the starting slot position going into Week 1 doesn’t necessarily mean the job will be his for the rest of the season, though. Terrell has benefited from the Falcons’ starting nickel from last season, Billy Bowman Jr., being out with an Achilles tear that sidelined him for most of the team’s offseason program.
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Bowman is getting back into the swing of things, though, and he may soon be ready to return to the lineup. Here’s what head coach Kevin Stefanski said about Bowman’s progress at his Wednesday press conference.
“Really excited for Billy to be back practicing and being part of individual periods last week,” said Stefanski. “Seeing him move around and he’s feeling really good. He’s getting close. We’ll continue to bring him along this week and see where we can get to but that’s one that we just need to monitor and see how he feels in practice. And how he recovers from those practices.”
Here’s the full clip of Stefanski’s conversation with the media.
Bowman won the starting nickel job in training camp last season and was having a strong year prior to the injury. In six games Bowman gave up just 219 yards in coverage to go with zero touchdowns and a 76.0 passer rating.
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It’s going to be tough for Terrell to beat those numbers out of the gate – but even if he can’t hold off Bowman there are other ways he can contribute. Jeff Ulbrich told reporters earlier this offseason that Terrell will also get reps at Mike Hughes’ right cornerback spot.
This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: Falcons head coach gives update on CB Billy Bowman Jr.
