Before April’s draft the Falcons already had good depth at inside linebacker with Nate Landman, Kaden Ellis, and Troy Andersen. All three of those guys right now seem more than capable of being mic linebackers, so when the Falcons drafted JD Bertrand with the eighth overall pick in the fifth round there were no real expectations put on him right away, and they still aren’t, but the Falcons rookie linebacker has been making a name for himself ever since he got to Flowery Branch.
Earlier today on The Morning Shift, Ali Mac, Mike, and Beau talked about how the Falcons may’ve potentially found a “Nate Landman-esk” player in Bertrand.
“With Bertrand you really just want him in the right place at the right time. These linebackers you see it a lot through the league with the way they play offenses, and really the way defenses are going. Dude just do your job, be in your space, and be ready and I think they're going to get a Landman-esk player in Bertrand.” Beau Morgan said.
If there’s anybody you want Bertrand to look like if you’re the Falcons or a Falcons fan it’s Landman because that’s who Bertrand is behind on the depth chart. JD joined The Midday Show with Andy and Randy yesterday, and he talked about how being a part of a young linebacker room has helped him, and he also mentioned some advice Nate gave him as well.
“I think it’s helped me a lot because them being a younger group they can be like hey my first open practice or my first joint practice was only a year ago, only two years ago, and so now they’re like hey this is kind of what I needed, or the first day of pads like Nate came up to me like hey just try to lay a boom on someone like get that respect from the defense, but like if he was year six, seven, he may not be thinking like that because it was so long ago, and so it’s actually helped me a lot.” Bertrand said.
After the breakout season Landman had last year, if JD Bertrand can be similar to him then the Falcons are truly set up for now and the future at the linebacker position.
