FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — It started the way these things usually do, an eye caught in passing, a head nod, a nice word and then they’re sitting down one-on-one.
“We just always talk on the field when we are out there, like, ‘Hey, Jess, that was a good break,’ or, ‘Kirk, that was a good look off,’ and it just kind of developed with those conversations,” Atlanta Falcons safety Jessie Bates III said.
Bates was the Falcons’ top free-agency acquisition last year. This offseason, he was joined by another high-dollar veteran, quarterback Kirk Cousins, and the pair quickly developed a friendship and working relationship cemented around multiple film sessions during organized team activities in the spring.
“He asked to watch film together, which tells you something that he would even ask, and I felt like I learned maybe more than he learned from me,” Cousins said. “We have to do more of that. That’s just the tip of the iceberg right now.”
Cousins and Bates have a “cerebral” approach to the game, said Falcons quarterbacks coach T.J. Yates, who noticed their connection early.
“Soon as the play was done they’d go over to the side like, ‘What were you doing here?’” Yates said. “That’s just high-level leadership. They are both about making each other better to make the team better.”
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The one-on-one meetings with a quarterback are a first for Bates, who is entering his seventh professional season and coming off his first Pro Bowl appearance.
“With (Joe Burrow in Cincinnati), he was a younger guy, and I wasn’t comfortable enough with myself to say, ‘Hey, let’s go watch film,’” Bates said. “In Cincinnati, it was kind of DBs against everybody.”
Cousins, a 12-year veteran and four-time Pro Bowler on his third pro team, has had similar film sessions before but wishes he had done it more.
“You have to know how to get better and as a young player, I just didn’t know how,” Cousins said. “As a young player, you might not even know the question to ask, but now I know how to get a lot out of that meeting. Make no mistake, in my final years I’m going to do those things and maximize those opportunities.”
Falcons safety Jessie Bates III made an immediate impact on the Atlanta defense last season, grabbing six interceptions. (Dale Zanine / USA Today)
Bates, an Indiana native who hoped in high school to play for a Big Ten team, has followed Cousins’ career since the quarterback was at Michigan State.
“He’s seen it all,” Bates said. “There’s a lot of the game that he can pass along, and he’s willing to do that. He’s one of the top quarterbacks in this league, and it’s not by mistake. I’ve watched how he works day in and day out.”
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Cousins has passed for more than 40,000 yards in his career and was tied for the league lead in touchdown passes and second in passing yards per game when he ruptured his Achilles tendon in Week 8 last season. His daily routine in Atlanta is so regimented that Bates knows exactly when to stop by the film room to catch him in there.
“That time has been very helpful,” Bates said. “I can also pass that along to any of the other guys in our defense. Kirk, his value as a person here is going to be huge.”
Cousins said he respects that Bates had the “humility” to ask to watch film with him.
“He certainly has a swagger, but it’s not always, ‘Look at me.’ He’s just going to do his job and be a pro,” Cousins said. “There are guys in this league who are great players, but they don’t really impact anyone else around them. I feel like Jessie goes beyond just being a great player. He affects the whole secondary, the whole defense.”
The Falcons value Kirk Cousins for his leadership ability as much as for what he can do on the field. (Sam Navarro / USA Today)
The relationship between Atlanta’s offensive and defensive leaders is “exactly what you want,” head coach Raheem Morris said.
“You want a player-led environment,” Morris said. “When you talk about Jessie Bates and Kirk Cousins, you are talking about high-level ball. Anytime you get a chance to be a fly on the wall and be around those guys, it’s interesting.”
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Their film sessions allow Bates to learn what Cousins is looking at to discern coverages and how he’s making decisions about which receiver to target against which coverage. Cousins, meanwhile, has been able to learn Bates’ trick for disguising that coverage, which has been helpful considering he was flummoxed by that exact thing during OTA practices.
“He’s going to be a bit of a thorn in my side during training camp,” Cousins said. “I stopped trying to discern the coverage during the play during OTAs because it was that muddy because he’s doing such a good job disguising.”
Cousins and Bates have become so close that Cousins’ young sons will soon be getting a Falcons’ No. 3 jersey.
“I’m going to buy a Grady Jarrett jersey for my boys and I’m going to buy a Jessie Bates jersey,” Cousins said, “if that gives you any idea of who I want my kids to be like.”
(Top photos: Jason Allen / Associated Press; Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
