Atlanta Falcons News: Predicting the 53-man roster ahead of training camp

How will the Atlanta Falcons’ 53-man roster look? An early pre-training camp prediction, as well as an insight into some of Justin Hardy’s odd training is right here in the Dirty Bird Daily.

Good morning, Falcons fans. It’s Monday morning and there are no more organized team activities or minicamp sessions scheduled this week, meaning we are football-less until training camp begins on July 27. But never fear because we are on 83 days away from the Falcons’ regular season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The regular season curtain raiser between the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos is only 11 and a half weeks away. We’re almost there.

As you sip your coffee this fine (or not so fine) Monday morning, enjoy these Falcons articles from around the internet.

Hardy’s hand skills a product of odd training — Kelsey Conway of AtlantaFalcons.com

Justin Hardy has been praised often for his good hands, but this could be a product of some odd training technique he used while he grew up. Hardy used to catch bricks to help improve his catching, and it seems to have paid off for him.

Falcons’ 53-man roster projection includes Devin Hester — Vaughn McClure of ESPN

Vaughn McClure has put together his pre-training camp 53-man projection for the Falcons’ roster. McClure actually has the Falcons keeping seven receivers on the roster, although Devin Hester is listed as a return specialist and not apart of the receiver group.

Next: Ranking the best running backs in NFC South

Why OTAs and minicamp can’t tell you how good the Falcons will be next season — Jeanna Thomas of The Falcoholic

We often talk about which players ‘looked good’ in OTAs or minicamp, or which players still have a lot of work to do. In reality, we don’t know how good the 2016 Atlanta Falcons will be. We don’t know how effective (or not) the pass rush will be, or how well the likes of Alex Mack and Mohamed Sanu will settle in. Only time will tell.