In his first offseason coaching the Atlanta Falcons, Kevin Stefanski has been keeping an open mind in regards to the depth chart. He's preached the fact that starting jobs are earned, not given, and there has been plenty of competition all across the roster throughout the opening week of training camp.
For all the attention the quarterback competition between Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa has received, it's far from the only position battle that's important. The Falcons have embarked on an open competition for their nickel corner job--and the starting spot has come down to several names.
With Billy Bowman Jr. still sidelined due to an Achilles tear, Atlanta has turned to several other options. The Falcons have given first-team reps to Darnay Holmes, Sydney Brown, and AJ Woods in the nickel, but unfortunately for the latter, he hasn't capitalized on the opportunity as anticipated.
AJ Woods does not have a good chance of making the Week 1 roster
Not only is Woods starting to fall behind in the nickel cornerback battle, his spot on the Week 1 roster feels like it's in serious jeopardy. He was on the wrong side of countless highlight plays during both rookie minicamp and OTAs, and that trend has continued throughout the first week of training camp.
Third-round rookie Zachariah Branch is starting to become quite the thorn in his side. First, Branch had him in a spin cycle during rookie minicamp, and now the 25-year-old is struggling to guard him in training camp. During 1-on-1 drills, Woods was torched by the explosive young wideout many times.
To Woods' credit, Branch's speed makes him an absolute nightmare in 1-on-1, but he couldn't even keep up. It didn't even look like they belonged on the same field. To think that this guy was reported to be leading the pack in the nickel conversation is how you know we are very early into training camp.
Almost every clip we've seen of the 2024 undrafted free agent has been him getting beat. He struggled in a rep against rookie WR Vinny Anthony as well. No matter who he's been matched up with, Woods has looked like the weak link to the point he's playing himself onto the roster bubble.
The nickel corner battle is still very much wide open, but Bowman and Brown should be ahead of him--as should Avieon Terrell. And once you add outside starters A.J. Terrell and Mike Hughes into yhe equation, plus dark horses like Clark Philips III or C.J. Henderson, the Falcons have no room for him.
From my perspective, AJ Woods' roster spot was never going to be safe, but with each passing day he's giving the Falcons more reasons not only to go another direction in the nickel, but to pull the plug on him.
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