Atlanta Falcons Rookie WR “Killing It” in OTAs, Minicamp

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – Atlanta Falcons rookie wide receiver Casey Washington stood behind a microphone with multiple cameras capturing his every word. He turned to the left, raised his left arm in the air and made a sign.

“Drake London, sitting over there,” Washington said last week at Falcons minicamp. “He’s my teammate. It’s still crazy.”

Little did Washington know that London, now perched on a hill while talking on his cellphone after the Falcons finished their last practice before summer break, had praised his work moments before.

“He killed everything there,” London said. “He’s done his job. He’s fitting in really, really well.”

Perhaps nothing sums up the start of Washington’s career with the Falcons better than that – feeling awestruck but earning praise from the right people around him.

Washington, drafted in the sixth round out of Illinois last April, was an early winner during Atlanta’s OTA and minicamp workouts, which ended informally June 11 at Flowery Branch.

From the first session of rookie minicamp on May 10, Washington found strong chemistry with first-round quarterback Michael Penix Jr., noting after the session that he watched Penix from afar last college football season.

It was the start of surreal moments for Washington. He said he still felt nervous whenever he spoke with four-time Pro Bowl quarterback Kirk Cousins ​​​​in the hallways of the team’s facilities.

Now, a month and a half into his time as a professional with just over a month of experience in Flowery Branch, Washington’s feelings haven’t changed.

“Still being here, you would have thought at this point maybe I’ve settled in and it’s normal for me now, but it’s still pretty new,” Washington said. “Being in the NFL is super exciting and it’s still crazy to think about it sometimes.

“But just to be here every day with my teammates, for me to improve, build relationships with my brothers and try to be the best every day.”

Washington, 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, jumped on Atlanta’s radar with a strong finish to the season and a 39.5-inch vertical, which he paired with a 4.46 40-yard dash during his professional day to form a convincing athletic profile.

Through the first nine games of the 2023 season, Washington has caught 27 passes for 295 yards. He was still searching for his first collegiate touchdown despite making 52 appearances.

In its last three games, Washington has exploded, hauling in 22 receptions for 375 yards and four scores. He had the best performance of his career in his last outing for the Fighting Illini, making nine catches for 218 yards and three touchdowns.

Falcons wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard agreed with the idea that Washington is an ascending player — but what matters going forward is what he does, not what he does did.

“You only get better or worse in this league,” Hilliard told FalconsSI. “We want to limit mistakes. You can’t make the same mistakes all the time, otherwise you’re going to slow things down for us as a group and you’re going to hurt your chances of being a team.

“The good thing about Casey is he’s working to fix the things we want to fix. Is he getting better every day? Is he going to pass the tests, sort of, all days? That’s what we’re looking for.”

After rookie minicamp, Washington began OTAs working with the third and fourth string offenses. Amid OTAs, he began blending into the first and second team units, catching passes from Cousins ​​and Penix.

Hilliard believes the move, orchestrated by Falcons head coach Raheem Morris, allowed Washington to better establish itself and learn more about how it operates in these situations.

Washington, 23, has handled his opportunities well so far, Hilliard said, but the Falcons expect more. They don’t put players into boxes upon arrival and demean their work because of the capital used to acquire their services.

Washington has yet to experience a padded practice as a professional, and workouts in shorts can’t tell much – but Hilliard thinks the switch to pads, which will take place during training camp in late July, will show some of Washington’s best traits.

“Casey is a tough kid,” Hilliard said. “We didn’t get to put pads on and he didn’t get a chance to show it, but it’s on tape. You’ll see the aggressive nature he plays on tape, and I like it when he s “It’s all about wide receiver play.”

Hilliard, a longtime NFL wide receiver who has received praise from those in attendance for his perspective and ability to teach the game in different ways, is a central figure in Washington’s development.

The same goes for offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, who followed Morris to the Los Angeles Rams and will be calling plays for the first time in his coaching career.

Robinson has extensive experience with the quarterback position, having both played and coached it, but comes from a Los Angeles system where receivers played regularly. This stands in stark contrast to the run-heavy offense the Falcons had previously deployed under head coach and offensive play calling Arthur Smith.

In 2021, Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp won the triple crown, leading all wideouts in catches, yards and touchdowns. Last season, fifth-round pick Puka Nacua set several rookie records in Los Angeles.

Washington shrugged off comparisons to Nacua during rookie minicamp, but the two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection believes there’s a place for him in Robinson’s system.

“If you look at this offense and where it comes from, it can bring some success,” Washington said. “If you think about goals and where we can get, it’s fun to think about. But the most important thing for me, what I rely on, is taking things one day at a time.

“Just being present, trying to be my best self that day, I think it’s really important for me to break things up. Getting better on offense and being more at comfortable, and I guess we’ll see where it goes.”

Hilliard believes Washington has the traits and skills to meet the design requirements required by the Rams-type offense.

“He has unique hand-eye coordination; rare, very strong hands,” Hilliard said. “That’s key to this offense because sometimes we’re going to ask our receivers to play in tight spaces, and you have to trust their hands and catch the ball in the air. I think he’ll do that on a coherent basis.”

Hilliard said the goal for Washington and all other receivers is to get better every day. Washington believes he has proven he can show up and compete every day, a trait he learned working alongside London and Darnell Mooney this summer.

As a sixth-round pick, Washington recognized he didn’t have as much wiggle room for mistakes as others when it came to securing a spot on the team. He actively participated in special teams drills and said he gave everything he had, no matter what role he played.

Mistakes happen, and Hilliard knows it. He also recognizes that many of Washington’s problems are fixable.

“There is some room for growth, as there always will be with younger players,” Hilliard said. “Coming from college systems, when you flash maps and it tells you to follow a hitch route, it’s a little different here. So it’s gotten better every day and that’s normal.

“Casey just has to play faster in some cases, and that’s going to come with more time on the turf.”

The Falcons have six weeks off before returning to Flowery Branch for training camp near the end of July. This is the first real break for rookies since last summer, when college practices and games quickly transitioned to pre-draft training, workouts and visits. Washington was drafted on April 27 and arrived in Atlanta just 12 days later for rookie minicamp.

But Washington has no plans to treat this as a vacation. He plans to work on technique and route details while spending time in the playbook. Taking care of his mind is a focal point, as he wants to come back with the right energy and be in the right headspace to help the Falcons this fall.

In essence, summer getaways are hardly those of Washington.

“I’m going to do everything I can for the next six weeks off,” Washington said. “I’m going to come to my senses, get my body back in order and come back in the best possible version.”

Where that ultimately places him in week one remains to be seen. Morris said players who work the hardest in their free time, whether it’s reps or staying in shape, often see the fruits of their labor during the season.

Washington projects to be one of them, but in an offense that should see London, Mooney, tight end Kyle Pitts and running back Bijan Robinson dominate target share, his role could be limited.

For now, everything is unknown: his place on the regular season team, his playing time and his long-term prospects. But this much is true: Hilliard and the Falcons like the way Washington has started. It is now up to him to continue his momentum until the fall.

“We’re just going to work to hopefully continue to have that growth and limit the mistakes,” Hilliard said. “And we’ll see what he can do when it’s time to step under the lights and play football.”