Falcons Q&A: Meet fifth round pick Kerry Meier
NAME: KERRY MEIER, Age 23
Kansas wide receiver Kerry Meier pulls in a 26-yard touchdown reception over Missouri safety Justin Garrett on Saturday in the fourth quarter of the Tigers' loss to the Jayhawks at Arrowhead Stadium on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008. ¦ ED ZURGA/The Associated Press
POSITION: Wide receiver
SCHOOL: Kansas (Pittsburg, Kan. High School)
HT, WT: 6-foot-2, 224 pounds
DRAFTED: Fifth round, (165 overall)
Q: What was it like getting selected by the Falcons?
A: “I was ecstatic. When I first saw the area code pop up, I wasn’t familiar with who it was, but I picked up the phone and they said the Atlanta Falcons. I was the happiest man on this planet. It’s something that you really can’t put into words right now. But I’m so excited to be where I am today and have the opportunity to come in there and help out in anyway possible.”
Q: How was your combine workout?
A: “It was a great experience getting to go to Indianapolis and have the opportunity to workout for all of the teams. It’s something that I’ll definitely remember. I definitely learned a lot from it. Overall, I thought I did well. You always want to do better. . .but I’m on the verge of getting an opportunity to play.”
Q: Did they come out there or did they bring you to Flowery Branch for a work out?
A: “Actually, I never really had a personal workout with (the Falcons). I had the opportunity to go down to Orlando and play in the East vs. West Shrine Bowl game. I went to the combine and had a pro day. I guess when you combine the three ordeals, I proved something to them and I guess they were happy with what I did on the football field.”
Q: As a receiver, what do you bring to the Falcons?
A: “I think I bring a lot of different things. Not only just being a receiver, coming from Kansas and being an ex-quarterback and having played quarterback, I definitely have a good knowledge of the game and just being a good football player is what I do. I’m really not going to wow you with speed or anything like that, but the one thing I do well is I pay very, very close attention to what I’m doing. I pay a lot of attention to the details. I think I do some other things extremely well. . .I’m looking forward to getting there and going to work.”
Q: After making the switch from quarterback (in 2007), at what point did you know that you were a wide receiver?
A: “Over time. There wasn’t just one instance where I thought ‘hey, maybe I can play a different position other than quarterback.’ Over the past few years I made the transition to becoming a wide receiver. I played a lot of games and had the opportunity, with the offense we ran, it was a spread offense, I caught a whole lot of balls from a great quarterback. Just going through the transition at Kansas I learned a whole lot from a great coaching staff that knew a lot about football. That is going to make the transition from college to the NFL a lot easier. I learned a lot at Kansas through coach (Mark) Mangino. . . I know there is a whole lot of work of ahead of me but I look forward to helping out the Falcons in anyway possible.”
Q: What was your favorite route at Kansas? What was your bread and butter route for the Jayhawks?
A: “I caught a lot of balls over the middle. A lot of over routes, whether if they came off of a boot or a naked (boot). I caught a lot of balls over the middle, catching like digs . . . the intermediate routes. I got a lot of mileage out of catching balls over the middle.”
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
114 comments Add your comment
Monger
April 30th, 2010
12:04 am
I agree with you Mike, TD picked up some excellent young WRs in Meier and Wolfe, both are great possession recievers with GREAT hands, both run crisp routes, can go over the middle, make all the catches, and are in general just good football players. They will surprise alot of people (except us of course), to how good they are. They may not have Wes Welker speed, but I think Meier and Wolfe, can become Ed McCaffreys or more recently like Austin Collies for our team. I think Meier gets the #4 and Wolfe the #5. My only concern is if TD and Mike Smith keep Finn around for his leadership, and teamwork mentality, he would be a good mentor to Meier and Wolfe, but he is just too old and slow, so I wish him the best, but I dont think he is better than either at this point in his career, and Weems is a good returner, and I think he could become a decent reciever in this league, but Wolfe and Meier have too much potential to risk losing to another team… I think Finn and Weems are the odd men out for the final recieving spots..GO MEIER AND WOLFE!!!!
Monger
April 30th, 2010
12:08 am
Kerry Meier and Ryan Wolfe are exactly the type of recievers this team needs to go with Roddy White and Harry Douglas, who spread the field vertically, while Meier, Wolfe, and Tony G can be grabbing lots of passes in the middle of the field with lots of seam routes and what not…Michael Jenkins can stretch the field a little too, and can run some out patterns on the side, he is an amazing blocker as well…I really like this group of WRs…TD seems to have set this up perfectly, as far as I can see…
falcon4life
April 30th, 2010
8:05 am
This is a very smart pick and I think everyone is missing the significance of it. The falcons lost Harry Douglas last year and that was a significant loss. Have you thought about how we would do if we lost Roddy White for a year ? This kid from Kansas will be Harry Douglas’ backup in the slot. If Jenkins or White go down Douglas will move over to fill their spot and it will not be a major drop off. The desperately needed a quality backup in the slot. Kudos Falcons.
waynester
April 30th, 2010
1:20 pm
The other elephant in the room in the WR discussion is Matt Ryan. Mike Smith’s philosophy is to look at his players’ strengths, not weaknesses. All these players are awesome at the intermediate passing game. Guess what matt does well? The new guys have a lot of QB awareness and we like to run the no-huddle because (again) it’s what Ryan does well. It’s a smart, positive approach to developing players that leads to confidence and (hopefully) future all-pro….
john doe
April 30th, 2010
3:33 pm
I lived in B12 country the last 3 years and saw this kid quite a bit. He was in a dead heat with Todd Reesing for the QB job before suffering an injury that ultimately gave Reesing the job. Even though he was a starting receiver he spent the last 3 seasons practicing as a QB. According to the KU people this is what they were so impressed with. He spent a major portion of his practice time not as a receiver and still excelled at the position.
john doe
April 30th, 2010
3:34 pm
Enter your comments here
HATinGA
May 1st, 2010
6:03 am
Watched his highlight clip love his hands and he gets up field quick after the catch gr8 pickup!
DePlane
May 1st, 2010
10:10 am
I’m loving what the Falcons have done with their 8 picks. Every one of the players drafted fills a need. I’m happy they got their versatile OLB, shored up DT with a dedicated (healthy) player who may be a sleeper in Corey. Shored up the OL with Johnson and Hawley, a potential starter and a Nasty Boy who fits with PB O line attitude requirements.
Franks looks to be projected to KO/PR duties and is a burner. Good cover man? We’ll find out, but another multi-purpose player.
Now to Kerry Meier…love this pick. This is a tough nosed kid and he is also multi-purpose. Loved his highlights…see him layout over the middle on the end zone catch? That is pure instinct and hard to teach. He literally plucks that ball out of the air! Comparing his height to Fin or Jenkins is silly. At 6′2 224lbs he is no small fry…this kid catches the ball like a vacuum cleaner. Peace and love to him and his family in their sorrowful time of loss.
The Birds last pick…their Mr. irrelevant? Not! He is also a utility knife with speed who will bolster ST and provide depth at S.
In all, I like the draft and the players and I see DT/MS building this team with the pieces they need for their schemes. It may not be flashy or sexy yet…but give this class time and all of them will contribute and some of them will be all-pro in the NFL.
sirenman
May 1st, 2010
5:44 pm
once again I’d like to compare the falcons with the patriots..this kid seems alot like Wes Welker and he became Tom Brady’s security blanket. Welker is not a burner either but he has really great instincts. he could be another important piece f the puzzle.
Atlanta Falcons Talk » Blog Archive » Saturday Six Pack 5/1/10: Purple Cardinals Edition
May 2nd, 2010
1:03 am
[...] D. Led: The Birds’ bow-tied beatsmith shoots the breeze with Kerry Meier, Shann Schillinger, a Joe Hawley/Dominique Franks combo, and Mike [...]
An Adult
May 2nd, 2010
9:03 am
Chopbuster
Grow up… this first thing is so high school.. oh, maybe that’s where you are in life. Hope you enjoy the prom.
Hamad Meander
May 3rd, 2010
5:04 pm
Name the fastest WR you remember playing in the NFL. What was his production? Name the best WR to ever play the game. How fast was he? Jerry Rice wasn’t a speed merchant. He had great hands and ran excellent routes. Let’s hope for the same from Kerry Meier. He could be a fine slot receiver for Matt, but not a replacement for Jenkins.
TFL
May 6th, 2010
12:03 pm
The other thing about Kerry is that he’s probably instantly your backup punter, kicker, probably starts as the holder and can be an emergency quarterback as well.
Kerry’s other older brother was a tight end for 5 years in the NFL. There’s no reason Kerry can’t get to a smallish tight end weight.
Best Case Scenario: Falcons’ Wide Receiver Kerry Meier | Blogging Dirty | An Atlanta Falcons Blog
May 20th, 2010
3:00 am
[...] D. Orlando Ledbetter’s Q & A with Meier [...]