Matt Hennessy will 'get first crack at' at Falcons open LG competition

This isn’t shocking. This has been the M.O. of the new regime. Rookies will earn their stripes in Atlanta, which isn’t a bad thing. Still, it wouldn’t be great if Hennessy was the opening day starter.

The left guard position has been a revolving door since Arthur Smith took over. The Jalen Mayfield experiment failed miserably, and he’s back at right tackle this training camp. Last year, Elijah Wilkinson had admirable performances but an injury forced a slew of others into the fold, including Colby Gossett and Matt Hennessy.

The former Temple center didn’t fill in terribly, but there was a clear drop-off from Wilkinson, which isn’t saying much. The Falcons traded up for a collegiate tackle to move him inside to guard for the second time. Only time will tell if this round nets better results.

Granted, Matthew Bergeron is a much different player than Mayfield. He’s bigger and more powerful than the Michigan product and doesn’t have to completely switch sides of the line of scrimmage, which is a more significant deal than most believe.

None of this is breaking news and is what was expected. If I had to wager, I’d bet Bergeron comes out of camp as the starter. The Falcons better hope he pans out because they invested a premium draft pick on the Syracuse product.