The Atlanta Falcons are just a couple of weeks away from the season getting started, and while some position battles are still working themselves out in practice, many roles have already been carved out on this team. 

Throughout the course of training camp, certain guys have stood out and looked like critical pieces both on offense and defense. With that being said, there may be no one who has done more throughout the summer for their own personal stock than rookie fourth round linebacker Kendal Daniels.

After showing out in practice and getting a good bit of run with the first teams including even some green dot experience, Daniels has carried it over to the preseason games and looks like a potential future star. It's not just his play on the field either, as head coach Kevin Stefanski talked about the young linebacker getting more comfortable being himself with his teammates and acting like a future leader of this locker room.

"He's a vocal guy and he's just being himself," Stefanski said of Daniels via Falcons.com. "And that's what I love and what we appreciate about our guys. We just want everybody to be themselves. If that's who you are, be loud and talk to the defense or talk to the offense if you want. But he's just being himself. And that's how I think our guys feed off of his energy."

Linebacker may be a position more so than any other on an NFL roster where energy and juice are needed, so hearing that Daniels is getting comfortable bringing just that is not something that fans should be taking lightly.

The team has often praised the football IQ of the former Oklahoma star as well, and being an intelligent and talented player combined with a possible future guy who can help others come along in the room all combine for making Daniels a potential future franchise cornerstone.

Needless to say, Daniels will have a role on this team from early on in his career, and by the way things are trending, it seems that role may be bigger than anyone thought it could be as a fourth round rookie. He has established himself as someone to keep an eye on, and when the games get going here in just under three weeks, it seems like he won't find himself on the bench often.