Counting down to the final week, I'm getting psyched up for training camp. None of us can walk into this thing cold, you know. There's got to be game plans, strategy, mental calisthenics.

Unless you can talk me out of it with a better choice, I'm thinking that the guy I most need to see in action is defensive end Patrick Kerney.

This is the guy they signed for what was it ... something like $20 million in guaranteed money? And he's coming off a season in which he missed seven games and made only 14 tackles. Recovery from the torn pectoral muscled that required surgery kept him out of action in minicamps, so I've got no clue how he's going to look when he gets back.

With Grant Wistrom gone, the Hawks tentatively have Bryce Fisher at right end, backed up by Darryl Tapp, with the left end manned by Kerney and rookie Baraka Atkins (with Brandon Green and Nu'u Tafisi behind them). That seems like very slender depth to me if Kerney doesn't make a full recovery and return to studly performance.

I recall watching Kerney with the Falcons and thinking the guy was a real talent. He's had a couple seasons as a double-digit sack guy, but has 11 the past two seasons. The reputation is as a high-motor, reliable player.

This team needs that out of him.