This one is a bit of a surprise, but we have a new defensive system and almost a completely new defensive coaching staff. It's inevitable that some players who were hand-picked for the previous staff or the one before that will fall through the cracks and not fit in so well in the new scheme. We already saw it happen with Mykal Walker, who was drafted by Thomas Dimitroff for Dan Quinn's defense. And now Jaylinn Hawkins, the other fourth rounder along with Walker in that same 2020 draft, has also been released. Hawkins moved into the starting lineup last year, but this year he was replaced by free agent Jessie Bates. The team also added Demarco Hellams in this year's draft. Hellams has developed well so far and was starting to take Hawkins' snaps in the "big nickel" role. So Hellams now takes over the #3 safety role, and practice squad defensive back Micah Abernathy has been signed to the roster to fill the empty spot. Offensive lineman Josh Miles was also signed away from the practice squad by the Giants - the same team that signed Jalen Mayfield to their own practice squad after the Falcons released him. They tried Mayfield in a game and he struggled badly. Apparently they aren't afraid to try more Falcons linemen though. The Falcons have filled the practice squad openings by signing safety Arnold Tarpley and running back Jacob Saylors. Saylors was an undrafted rookie from East Tennessee State who spent camp with the Bengals. Tarpley was an undrafted DB from Vanderbilt in 2018 who played the last two seasons with the Pittsburgh Maulers in the USFL.
A bit of a controversial comment from assistant head coach Jerry Gray... defensive lineman Ta'Quon Graham became a starter last year and appeared to be an emerging star for the defense before he suffered a season ending knee injury. He's back this year but has apparently been tentative with the knee, still not able to go full tilt. His playing time has vanished, and he (along with a few other defensive linemen) has been relegated to the inactive list for the last two weeks with newcomer Albert Huggins taking his place as the backup in rotation. Gray's comments implied that Graham's performances in practice were the reason he's not more active on the defense. He didn't call out Graham specifically for poor effort, so hopefully it's a matter of getting himself back up to true "football speed" after the injury. Unfortunately for the Falcons, we've seen plenty of defensive tackles have their entire careers derailed by that type of knee injury. Two examples that jump to mind are Trey Lewis, who earned a midseason starting job as a rookie out of Washburn, then blew out his knee and never started again, and first rounder Peria Jerry, whose rookie season ended after just two games and who could still only play limited snaps at the end of the following season.
