The official Falcons web site still hasn't mentioned a thing about it (somehow this isn't surprising), but the NFL site shows that Atlanta picked up two players on waiver claims. So,,, you heard it here first ! Offensive tackle Chuma Edoga was waived by the Jets. Atlanta's initial 53-man roster only listed eight offensive linemen, so it fits that they're adding another via waiver pickup. Edoga is originally from the Atlanta area. He played high school ball and ran track (??!) at McEachern, then played at USC. He was second team All Pac-12 his senior year and was drafted by the Jets in the 3rd round in 2019. This is the final year of his rookie contract. Much like Jalen Mayfield for the Falcons, he was thrown into starting duty for eight games as a rookie. To date, he has appeared in 24 games, starting 12. I'll step out on a limb and guess that he's the new swing tackle. The only other candidates for that role are Mayfield (reportedly still dealing with a back issue), Germain Ifedi (hasn't played the left side, now practicing at guard), and whoever loses the starting center battle (will be the active backup interior lineman, so someone else needs to be the swing tackle). The other player that Atlanta picked up is defensive tackle Matt Dickerson, who was waived by Kansas City. He was previously with the Titans from 2018-2020 and appeared in 18 games in that span. Dean Pees was Tennessee's defensive coordinator in 2018-2019, so Dickerson will have a headstart in learning the system. The only backup defensive linemen on the initial 53-man roster are Marlon Davidson (who is injured) and prospect Timmy Horne, so the addition is expected. For that matter, I wouldn't be surprised if the team adds another player to the DL group - perhaps a vested veteran in week two, at which point the contracts are no longer fully guaranteed. But for now, Dickerson is an obvious choice for an injury replacement player since he already has two years of experience with Dean Pees. Two players had to go to make room. I haven't seen the transaction listings for those moves yet, but IR listings on the NFL page tend to be one day later than the actual move. For example, Dorian Etheridge and John Raine are listed as going on the IR list as of today, though they were moved off the roster yesterday as part of getting down to the 53-player limit. So, best guess is at least two more players are going on IR. The most likely candidates for that (they will have to miss at least four weeks) are Davidson (had arthroscopic knee surgery a few weeks ago), Mayfield (lower back might be an ongoing issue), and TE John FitzPatrick (unknown injury kept him out of the final preseason game). I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if all three of them get placed on IR. Edoga and Dickerson are obvious replacements for Mayfield and Davidson. I suspect the team would resign tight end Anthony Firkser to replace FitzPatrick.
Just announced... five players have been put on IR: Marlon Davidson, Jalen Mayfield, John FitzPatrick, Deion Jones and Isaiah Oliver. Safety Dean Marlowe and CB Mike Ford were initially bumped to make room for the two waiver pickups, but they're apparently back already. The team has also resigned LB Nick Kwiatkoski, OL Colby Gossett and DL Abdullah Anderson. Surprising: TE Anthony Firkser has not been re-signed. My roster guesses would have had Firkser on the roster and Ford not on it. Otherwise, the full list is just about as expected, though I still wouldn't be surprised to see a veteran signing for the defensive line. Also noteworthy: several of last year's Falcons have been put on IR by their new teams. CB Kendall Sheffield (Texans), WR Tajae Sharpe (Bears) and OL Willie Beavers (Washington) have all been put on the shelf this week.
Well, he's on the practice squad, so maybe and Im not too privy on how all this roster switchamaroo goes, he's just 1 injury away from being signed back on.
Yep, you beat me to the next update. There's still one more practice squad spot open as well. So far everyone on the practice squad is a familiar name from training camp except for one. The new guy is Josh Ali, a WR from Kentucky who is coming back from knee surgery. Positives: good punt return abilities, sure hands as a receiver. Negative: may need a year to get back to full route running ability. I'm guessing the punt return potential is the main reason why he's here. The practice squad is a perfect way to work him out over an extended period of time and see how he does. As for Firkser, the biggest surprise is that he's on the practice squad while Parker Hesse is on the main roster. Hesse had flash moments in the preseason games, including doubling as a fullback. But he had drops in two of the three games, while Firkser was clean in his appearances and had a highlight catch against the Jets. Ultimately I expect to see both on the roster together. With FitzPatrick on IR, the only other backup TE is Feleipe Franks, who also doubles as QB #3. As much as Arthur Smith likes to use TEs (multiple TE formations), I would expect that Firkser would be too valuable to his system to keep him off the roster.
