FLOWERY BRANCH Youth Durham Smythe Jersey , Ga. (AP) — It was just another routine throw in practice, a rookie quarterback tossing the ball to a rookie receiver.

When the two failed to connect, Julio Jones stepped in.

Do it again, he ordered.

“What a pure example of what we stand for as a group,” said Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn, clearly pleased that one of the NFL’s top players would even take the time to notice. “It doesn’t matter who the quarterback is. It doesn’t matter who the receiver is. What matters is getting it right.”

Jones’ leadership qualities could take on special importance this season.

Calvin Ridley was the Falcons’ first-round pick .

Like Jones, he went to Alabama. Like Jones, he plays receiver.

The Falcons are counting on the rookie to quickly carve out a role in an offense that has plenty of weapons but needs to find ways to lure coverages away from Matt Ryan’s favorite target.

Jones is certainly doing his part of help Ridley — and, by extension, his own pass-catching prospects.

“Everybody knows Julio is really, really good,” Ridley said. “But people don’t really know how good he is. He’s so detailed in the plays. He knows everything. He’s like a coach. He coaches me on everything.”

Early in Tuesday’s practice, undrafted quarterback Kurt Benkert — a longshot to make the team — was working with Ridley on a particular route.

They haven’t gotten a lot of time together in practice, so it wasn’t all that surprising when the two were out of sync.

That wasn’t acceptable to Jones.

“Julio was like, ‘Do that one again,'” Quinn marveled. “That might’ve gone unnoticed to some people.”

Even when Ridley makes a catch in practice Womens Eric Berry Jersey , he usually has Jones in his ear.

“He says, ‘You can do it better, you can lean on him, whatever it is,'” the rookie said. “It’s like having another coach on the field. He’s watching everything that all of us do.”

While Jones took some heat from fans and the media for skipping offseason workouts and a mandatory minicamp in a bid to land a new contract — he agreed to report to training camp only after the team adjusted his deal for this season and promised to renegotiate in 2019 — there is no question about the commitment to his teammates.

He shows it with his willingness to work with anyone who has a desire to get better, whether it’s a first-round pick such as Ridley or a fringe player such as Benkert.

Jones is impressed with Ridley’s work ethic and potential.

“I knew he was going to come in and be a hard worker,” said Jones, a two-time All-Pro who has gone four straight seasons with at least 80 receptions and more than 1,400 yards receiving. “He definitely has all the tools to be a great wide receiver. The game just has to come to him. Just seeing things on the move and not thinking, that’s the only thing. He’s a rookie. He’s going to have to think. He’s going to see unscouted looks, things like that. You can’t make that transition on the run.”

While Jones has enormous physical skills, he knows his success as a receiver goes beyond his speed, size and hands. He keeps telling the rookie to pay attention to what’s going on around him.

The eyes might be the most important attribute of all.

“Watching safeties,” Jones said. “Watching what people are trying to take away. Different concepts. Knowing what he can and cannot do on a route to help his teammates.”

To give all the rookies an idea of what they’re up against in Friday’s first preseason game against the New York Jets, Jones showed a tape of his very first exhibition contest against the Miami Dolphins in 2011.

“We have a great group of young receivers on our team,” he said. “But it’s going to get blurry out there. You’re out there at full speed Andrew Shaw Jersey , and you don’t know what to expect. I told ’em, ‘Just do what you do. Do what got you here. You don’t have to go out there and make up things. The game will come to you.'”

Someone asked Jones for a critique of that younger version of himself.

“I was flying around,” he said, breaking into a big grin. Just as quickly, he turned it into another teaching moment. “If you’re a young guy, you don’t want to bust a play and start looking around. If you bust it, go full speed. You’ll get the next one.”

Notes: Longtime Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed attended practice Tuesday at Quinn’s invitation. In particular, the Falcons coach wanted Reed to stress the importance to creating turnovers. “One the best ball hawks of all time,” Quinn said. “It was important for him to spend some time with the DBs.”

Alex Smith is frustrating Josh Norman.

Norman likes having Smith with the Washington Redskins, but practice time against the veteran quarterback at training camp hasn't been as beneficial as the big-money cornerback had hoped. That's because Smith has been so on-point with his decision-making and throws that Norman isn't getting a whole lot of work in team drills.

"You're in great position, you get there top of the route, you're ready for your play to be made and it doesn't come," Norman said. "But the ones you are a little step behind on and you're almost there to make it, he throws it. It's those games, cat and mouse, man. It's cat-and-mouse games that it just sucks when you're the mouse."

Norman feels like the mouse early in camp but hopes facing a QB like Smith each day benefits him in the long run. Entering the third season of a $75 million Authentic Russell Bodine Jersey , five-year contract, Norman is balancing the lack of work he's getting during 11-on-11 time with his usual half-hour plus of individual drills after practice as one of the last players on the field.

"That's what you've got to do to be the best, to be great like him," said undrafted rookie safety Quin Blanding, who worked out with Norman following practice Sunday. "It just shows he wants extra work no matter all the work he's done in practice. It's always find ways to get better, and that's what he's doing."

Norman is known for his post-practice regimen, whether it's going for jump balls or catching in rapid succession out of a JUGS machine. But none of that compares to team snaps, where Smith is avoiding Norman the way he would in a real game.

"I'm just staying the course and trying to understand that your technique is not flawed, continue to do what you do even though your chances are not coming," Norman said. "But when they do come, try to be better than the quarterback in making a play. He's so precise right now, so he's not making mistakes, and that's the biggest thing you've seen. Even in practice, he's not making mistakes. It's hard to try to key in on that."

Coach Jay Gruden approves. His offense is built around quick decisions and finding the right receiver to throw to, and that's not usually by challenging Norman.

"Josh is getting plenty of work," Gruden said Tuesday. "We're not going to throw a flat route out to Josh Norman and let him pick it. That's just common sense Adidas Cam Fowler Jersey , so Josh is going to have to wait for somebody else to throw it to him."

Norman is still isolating elements of his game to work on at age 30, going into his seventh NFL season. He had no interceptions last year and dropped more than a handful of prime opportunities, so at practice he's working on the little things that turn a broken-up pass into a pick.

"Being in place is the first part, but finishing the ball should be something that already is established and ingrained in you," Norman said. "It's just that six inches from making a play to not making a play."

Trying to close the gap on those inches is what goes into Norman's extra work after practice. And in the process, he's helping young defensive backs like Blanding and Kenny Ladler develop the same kind of habits.

"You fix the mistakes and then when it comes again, you don't make the same mistake," Blanding said. "You've got to be ready to work no matter if it feels like a great day of practice or if it was a bad day of practice. You've got to put that aside and you've just got to work. You've got to keep on working, and that's what he does."

NOTES: RB Chris Thompson, who's recovering from surgery to repair a broken right fibula, took his first snaps in team drills Tuesday. ... LB Mason Foster was limited at practice by a strained stomach muscle.

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