The Atlanta Falcons’ OTAs are over, and there’s only one thing left on the calendar before the team takes its brief summer break — mandatory minicamp next week. That makes this a good time to unload some of the thoughts that kept popping up over the last three weeks.We’ll touch on everything from a notable Drake London quote to concerns about the defense to, yes, James Pearce Jr.Say what now?Let’s start with a quote from Drake London earlier this week. The newly extended wide receiver was asked about the biggest difference this spring under first-year head coach Kevin Stefanski.“I would say we’re working. It’s a huge difference. We’re working right now. We’re getting after it. Everybody is here at the moment, and we all have the same goal in my mind. The biggest difference right now is genuinely the same goals are in place.”Wow! That reads like a very pointed statement. Was it directed at previous head coach Raheem Morris and his staff or even the one before that under head coach Arthur Smith? After all, London has played for three head coaches in four professional seasons.Some context is necessary, though. First, every player after every coaching change in the history of football has said something like this. (In college football, it’s “This new strength coach has really got us working!”) Second, London’s personality doesn’t suggest he’d be taking a public shot at anyone. Third, he said this after the season finale last year: “I love Coach Morris. He’s brought back my love for the game and the fun of the game. I love him to death, and I hope he’s still here.”So, we need not make too much of this comment. But I’m putting a pin in it.Rebuilding the middleThe Falcons are optimistic that their defense will be better in 2026 than it was in 2025, and they may be right. But I can’t just hand-wave away the fact that linebacker Kaden Elliss and defensive tackle David Onyemata are gone. Neither was a Pro Bowl-level player in Atlanta, but both were proven professionals. How many of those are there now on the defensive depth chart? By my count, two: Jessie Bates and A.J. Terrell.It’s not that Mike Hughes isn’t good or Xavier Watts, Jalon Walker and Brandon Dorlus don’t have a chance to be very good. But proof is better than projection, and Elliss and Onyemata proved themselves over multiple seasons.Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich isn’t hand-waving it away either.“Both were tremendous players and even better people. (They’re) going to be hard to replace on the field, off the field and everywhere in between,” he said. “We miss them, love them, respect everything they did here. They won’t be replaced by necessarily one person. It’s going to be a little bit by committee, but I do believe we’ve got the guys in the building to get it done.”Pearce’s place still in questionThe Falcons have been able to sidestep the question of James Pearce Jr.’s return so far this offseason because OTA attendance isn’t mandatory. (“I’ll deal with next week next week,” Stefanski said Monday when asked about Pearce.) That gets harder, though, in mandatory minicamp. If Pearce is not there, it will be notable, and there’s no tidy way for Atlanta to handle it.Pearce has not been found guilty of a crime and could have all charges stemming from a February incident with former girlfriend Rickea Jackson wiped away by this time next year. The NFL hasn’t made any ruling about his status and likely won’t during the offseason. (The league’s choices once the season begins will be to suspend Pearce, put him on the commissioner’s exempt list, wait until the final resolution of his case or do nothing. For the record, doing nothing feels incredibly unlikely.)If Pearce is going to play again in Atlanta, the uncomfortable part of the process — reintegrating him into the locker room, where he will certainly be asked about the incident — will have to happen at some point. The Falcons might figure the (relatively) quiet NFL offseason is the best time to get that part over with. Or, maybe they figure out a semi-polite way to tell Pearce he shouldn’t stop by next week and deal with it in July when training camp begins.We’ll know Tuesday (or sooner).Ulbrich, for now, seems to be preparing for at least a stretch without Pearce on the field this fall.“Whether a guy gets fined or hurt, there are always so many things at play at this level,” the defensive coordinator said. “The guys that are here today are the ones we’re going to ride with and develop and feature. We’re just going to coach the guys we have the best we can and go from there.”The Falcons drafted Pearce with the 26th pick last year after trading away their 2026 first-round pick to make the deal. He led the team and all NFL rookies with 10.5 sacks.Learning the systemI appreciated Tua Tagovailoa’s honesty when he said “there are more bumps in the road” than easy times for a quarterback learning a new system. But I don’t know what to do with this part of his quote: “I wasn’t good in school growing up, so studying isn’t my best forte, but football is universal. We’re all trying to get to the same spots on the field, run the same plays, basically.”To be clear, Tagovailoa studies. He makes flashcards to learn plays and has his wife call out plays at home so he can walk through them in his mind. He’s going to need to lean into that this year because Stefanski and his offensive staff have every right to expect a six-year veteran to be buttoned up on the offense when the season begins.The (hopefully) feel-good storyIt’s hard not to root for Bralen Trice. The Falcons’ third-round pick from the 2024 draft has yet to play an NFL snap after tearing his ACL in both the 2024 and 2025 preseasons. The 25-year-old edge rusher was cleared for all activity during OTAs and “looked excellent,” Ulbrich said.Atlanta needs edge-rushing depth even if Pearce is available this season, but outside linebackers coach John Timu pointed out that Trice will have mental hurdles to clear between now and the start of the season.“When the game has been taken away from you so long, it’s like, ‘Now what?’” Timu said.Up-and-coming coach?Speaking of Timu, he has a shot to be a defensive coordinator somewhere in two to three years if Atlanta has success. The 33-year-old Californian is in his first full-time coaching position this year after a three-year playing career with the Chicago Bears and then three years with the Los Angeles Chargers as a secondary assistant.He started only nine NFL games, and by the end of his time with the Bears, he thought of himself as a coach as much as a player.“Even when I was playing, I always thought if a coaching opportunity came, I would leave playing for it,” Timu said.Bowman’s road backListening to Kirk Cousins speaking (mostly after the fact) about how his return from Achilles surgery slowed him more than he realized, I’m concerned about Billy Bowman Jr.’s ability to win back his starting nickel spot this season. Cousins was able to play but with slightly diminished mobility. At quarterback, there are ways to overcome that. In the secondary, I’m not so sure.Bowman did not participate in on-field work during OTAs. I expect him back on the field during training camp, and I’m optimistic about his long-term future after being very impressed with his ballhawking skills last year. But I worry about this year.Could that leave the nickel spot open for second-round pick Avieon Terrell? He can play inside or outside, Ulbrich said, but I don’t think that’s a slam dunk. During OTAs, free-agent addition Darnay Holmes was on the field a lot.Stepping up at linebackerThe linebacker spot next to Divine Deablo seems destined to go to Christian Harris by necessity. Fourth-round pick Kendal Daniels and veterans Troy Andersen and JD Bertrand were sidelined throughout OTAs by injury. Like everyone else, I’m skeptical Andersen ever contributes meaningfully again, which stinks. When he was healthy and knew where to go, he looked like he was shot out of a cannon.UDFA on the radarWith apologies to Cash Jones and Jack Strand, I’m going with center James Brockermeyer as my undrafted free agent to watch in training camp. He played at Alabama, TCU and finally Miami, and the Falcons need a backup center.The B-Rob backfieldFree-agent running back Brian Robinson is talking like he’s going to be sort of a 1B to Bijan Robinson’s 1A, and I’m wondering how it’s actually going to break down.After three years as a starter in Washington, Brian Robinson only got 92 carries in San Francisco last year. He’s taking the place of Tyler Allgeier, who got 143 carries behind Bijan Robinson last year.“Brian is a really, really talented football player who matches exceptionally with what we want to do,” Stefanski said. “We want to have an attack that is not just a one-person attack. I think Brian gives us that.”We’ll see what that translates to in terms of carries.The quote of OTAsUlbrich: “You can’t be an a–hole in this defense. You can’t be a self-promoter. If you are, you’re going to stick out, and you’re not going to be accepted or part of it very long.”