Photo by Chris Bernacchi/Diamond Images via Getty Images The Braves look to snap a four-game skid Thursday night against the Mets Chris Sale will make his first start since the All-Star break Thursday night when the Atlanta Braves begin a four-game series against the New York Mets at Citi Field. Atlanta is looking to snap a four-game losing streak while the Mets come in having won three-straight. Luis Severino will get the start for New York. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET and can be seen on Bally Sports Southeast. Game Notes Braves reinstate Austin Riley, recall Daysbel Hernandez Thursday’s Preview Thursday’s Lineups

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports Falcons training camp has finally arrived, and hosts Kevin Knight and Adnan Ikic are here to bring you live notes and reactions from the first day of on-field action in Flowery Branch. Fellow Falcoholics, welcome to episode 294 of The Falcoholic Live! Atlanta Falcons training camp is finally here, and hosts Kevin Knight and Adnan Ikic are here to bring you live notes and reactions from the first day of on-field action in Flowery Branch. Tune in for an update on the health of Kirk Cousins and Grady Jarrett, initial notes on the first-team offense and defense, and much more! Watch the stream below or on YouTube beginning at 8 PM ET You can also listen to all of our video shows in an audio-only podcast format, available on all your favorite podcast platforms or by using the player below. The podcast typically posts the morning after the live show records. If you’re interested in supporting the show, become a Channel Member or check out our Patreon page to unlock access to exclusive perks including Patron Q&A sessions, Discord perks, live shout-outs and more! Be sure to check out the new community Discord server here! Come chat with your fellow Falcons fans about the show, the team, the NFL draft, and more. You can watch the show here on The Falcoholic, but we recommend watching on YouTube for the best experience—including full 1080p HD video and access to the live Q&A in the chat. You can also access the show using your smart TV or device using the YouTube app for the real big-screen experience! We hope you enjoy the show! If you have comments, we’d love to hear them. Send them to us on Twitter (@FalcoholicLive), leave them below, or e-mail the show at falcoholiclive@gmail.com. Thanks for watching!

A late start to camp today due to weather featured a lot of walkthrough and some key players coming off of major injuries. As the clouds descended upon the fields of Flowery Branch, so too did the Atlanta Falcons descend upon the football field at IBM Performance Field for the first day of a new training camp. There was a buzz in the air as the media room was more full than I have ever seen it in the past, with everybody ready to take in a new season of new expectations. Before the first football was snapped the team already had to make adjustments with a rainy morning forecast in Flowery Branch pushing practice back by a couple of hours. That was time enough for the excitement to build even further, with it boiling over when Raheem Morris came to the podium for his press conference to kick camp off. This is my absolute favorite time of year, and I look forward to brining you every bit of information that I can from camp, especially with no fans allowed on the hill this season due to ongoing construction. Read on for my observations from Day 1 of 2024 Falcons training camp! Kirk Cousins and Grady Jarrett are medically cleared and both practiced today. At the podium today, Raheem Morris opened things up by letting us know that everybody reported and that RB Robert Burns is the only player starting out on the PUP list. Both QB Kirk Cousins (torn Achilles) and DT Grady Jarrett (torn ACL) were medically cleared to return ahead of camp and both were out there today. Jarrett was sporting a leg sleeve and likened the return from injury to re-learning how to ride a bike, while Cousins noted how much better he feels now in comparison to six weeks ago. QB1 is at the podium. Says he feels much more athletic and much less pain even compared to 6 weeks ago. Remarked how tomorrow they’ll pick up the tempo a bit. He’s fully medically cleared. pic.twitter.com/LGUaZTO7K7— Adnan Ikic (@SayWhichWay) July 25, 2024 Morris let us know that there may be some modifications to each player’s training regimens as we go along but that those would be minor. Cousins for his part said that his goal is to be out there every day and to not suffer a setback. Jarrett was active next to DT David Onyemata and DT Ta’Quon Graham running with the first team, and Cousins took every single rep during the very long walkthroughs we were seeing. Kirk Cousins leads a huddle. He is out there for every rep of walkthroughs. pic.twitter.com/wP5j4ddYPZ— Adnan Ikic (@SayWhichWay) July 25, 2024 Mike Hughes CB2, Dee Alford gets reps out of the nickel A huge battle to watch during camp and preseason this year will be in the secondary room with a number of cornerbacks vying for the starting job opposite CB A.J. Terrell. CB Mike Hughes seems to have an early grasp of that CB2 role and it’s a bit tighter than I anticipated it to be. While there were very frequent rotations happening in what appears to be a couple of other wide-open camp battles (we’ll get to that in a second), Hughes was pretty frequently out there opposite of Terrell. Likewise, CB Dee Alford has an early lead in the nickel spot, frequently lining up on the inside of the secondary without as much rotation as I would have expected. CB Clark Phillips III and CB Antonio Hamilton were guys who got in through rotations eventually. A lot of presumably second string guys rotated in with the first teamers in what was Kirk Cousins’ walkthrough field on the near side closest to the media, with more depth guys running on the far field. As a note, both Hughes and Aflord were also active in the special teams drills, as returners, at the very beginning of the day as well. James Smith-Williams gets a lot of run with the starters One of the more surprising names getting a lot of first-team run, and someone who looked to even be the primary starting edge, was free-agent signing DE James Smith-Williams, who spent the past four seasons with the Washington Commanders. Smith-Williams was among the first players on the field, flanking Jarrett, Onyemata and Graham, opposite of OLB Lorenzo Carter, but there was plenty of steady rotation among those edge guys with OLB Arnold Ebikete and third-round pick DE Bralen Trice also getting plenty of reps in with the first team. James Smith-Williams is consistently out there as well, with Lorenzo Carter on the opposite side of him. Might be a name to watch.— Adnan Ikic (@SayWhichWay) July 25, 2024 The edge question is far from answered but Smith-Williams seems to be a major player in this battle. The wide-open battles: Troy Andersen vs. Nate Landman; DeMarcco Hellams vs. Richie Grant Two spots where there still seems to be no early clarity as to who will be the Week 1 starter are inside linebacker and strong safety. The coaching staff seemed to have set a strategy of almost 50/50 snaps split between the respective candidates in each of these battles. S Richie Grant and ILB Troy Andersen seem to be the early leaders atop the depth chart on paper, but these roles are by no means secured. ILB Nate Landman, who did a fantastic job of filling in for the injured Andersen last season, rotated in plenty next to ILB Kaden Ellis at the inside linebacker position and sophomore S DeMarcco Hellams, a standout seventh rounder last season, rotated in plenty next to Jessie Bates at strong safety. Inside LB is rotated between Andersen and Landman, SS is rotated between Hellams and Grant. Trice, Ebikete, Carter and Smith-Williams are rotating on the edge. All are getting some reps with the 1s. These seem to be the primary competitions from what I can see.— Adnan Ikic (@SayWhichWay) July 25, 2024 If Richie Grant does lose his starting role, he’s a name who may be on the roster bubble, as he accounts for a $3.96 million cap hit this season. Ray-Ray McCloud is more than just a returner It was no surprise to me to see WR Ray-Ray McCloud working with the returners. He was the first person to field a punt return (the opening drill of the day) and was the first to field a kickoff return with Avery Williams right next to him to take the next rep (the return battle figures to be fierce between these two). After all, McCloud was the return specialist in San Francisco. What did come as a bit of a surprise was just how many reps Ray-Ray got with the first team offense as he looks to be entrenched as the team’s primary slot wide receiver in the early going. Ray-Ray McCloud looks to firmly be the starter in the slot as of right now.— Adnan Ikic (@SayWhichWay) July 25, 2024 WR Rondale Moore, whom the team traded Desmond Ridder for this past offseason, was thought by fans and media to be the team’s primary slot WR coming into camp, but he mostly worked on the other field with the backups. Moore seems to be in a camp battle of his own with McCloud, and it’s a battle with a clear leader at the moment. If Ray-Ray McCloud does go into Week 1 as the team’s primary slot option, he will be poised to have a career year on offense as his career-best receiving mark was 277 yards in 2021, with the Steelers. Bijan Robinson sings OC Zac Robinson’s praises RB Bijan Robinson was made available to the media post practice and he spoke about being more of a vocal leader this season, how he’s looking to help the team in both the rushing and receiving game as well as an emphasis he’s put on himself to take better care of the football moving forward. Bijan’s eyes absolutely lit up when talking about new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, however. It feels like the second-year man out of Texas is thrilled with what he’s seen out of the first-year play caller, saying that the two sit down and frequently talk strategy together, even drawing up new run plays through collaboration. Bijan says he and OC Zac Robinson talk a lot about the run game together, even drawing up plays together. “Having an offensive coordinator that hears you and that asks questions is everything to me. It reminds me of the Sark days at Texas.”— Adnan Ikic (@SayWhichWay) July 25, 2024 There were some formations on offense which featured both Robinson and RB Tyler Allgeier, which were interesting to see. The fullback position seems to have been rendered fully obsolete in this offense with Robinson’s arrival. Just saw a play where Bijan goes out in motion from the left side to the right before a handoff to Tyler Allgeier in walkthroughs. Some two RB backfield action.— Adnan Ikic (@SayWhichWay) July 25, 2024 Other Notes: Cousins let the cat out of the bag a little bit today by letting us know that he likely will not play during the preseason. If and when that decision is made it will be at the behest of the coaching staff, as Kirk stated his desire is to play, even going as far as to insinuate the possibility of him attempting to persuade the coaches into letting him suit up. Cousins says that he wants to play in the preseason but notes that he likely won’t be allowed by the coaching staff. Noted that he may attempt to persuade Morris to let him play.— Adnan Ikic (@SayWhichWay) July 25, 2024 The first-team offense seems very set with TE Kyle Pitts, WR Drake London, WR Darnell Mooney getting plenty of run along with the aforementioned McCloud. An interesting thing of note was that while RT Kaleb McGary continues to start at right tackle, T Storm Norton did rotate in with the starters for a number of plays. Speaking of Pitts, he was moved all over the formation today, lining up in the traditional tight end spot, being split all the way out wide and lining up seemingly everywhere in between. He will be a strong bounce-back candidate in Zac Robinson’s offense. TE Charlie Woerner also got some run. He is very solidly the TE2 on this team behind Pitts. Raheem Morris confirmed that QB Michael Penix Jr. and QB Taylor Heinicke are splitting second-team reps, as the battle for backup QB seems to be on. Both figure to get plenty of run in the preseason with news that Cousins is unlikely to play in the exhibitions. Fantasy football players may want to take heed of Bijan Robinson’s answer when asked if he should be the first pick in fantasy drafts this year. With no hesitation he let me know: “Yes. Yes. That’s it. Is that confident enough?” Cousins also let us know that the roommate situation at camp is the three quarterbacks and Kyle Pitts all together. Unfortunately, there were no videos to record today as walkthrough was off limits. Today was strictly a day of special teams drills and walkthroughs without much else happening. Coach Morris let us know before practice that the team will ramp things up day by day, so hopefully we get more live action tomorrow. That’s it from me today. I will be back at Flowery Branch bright and early tomorrow morning and will continue my coverage all the way up until the team departs for Miami for the join practices. For more coverage you can follow me on Twitter (X). Is there anything you are looking to see at camp in the coming days?

Photo by Casey Sykes/Getty Images Outfielder Forrest Wall is headed to Miami after he was claimed off waivers by the Marlins. Wall, who spent the past two seasons with the Atlanta Braves, was designated for assignment on July 22 when the Braves added Nacho Alvarez Jr. and Whit Merrifield to the roster. Today's roster update presented by @UMiamiHealth: pic.twitter.com/Hp91KnACYH— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) July 25, 2024 Wall is a great story in perseverance. He was drafted way back in 2014 but didn’t make his major league debut until last season with the Braves. He was part of the team’s postseason roster for the Division Series. Wall turned in a good performance during the Spring and broke camp with the team in 2024 although he saw limited playing time. He had a couple of stints on the active roster, but appeared in just 13 games while going 7-for-29 at the plate with three runs scored. He was 3-for-6 in stolen base attempts. The Marlins optioned Wall to Triple A Jacksonville but hopefully we will see him in the majors again at some point.