Catching up with recent Falcons items... The team had 17 tryout players at the rookie minicamp. Shortly after the minicamp, they released two of their undrafted free agent signings: kicker Casey Barth and defensive back Momo Thomas. Now they've signed two more prospects to take their place. Saeed Lee (cornerback, Alabama State) was one of the tryout players at the rookie minicamp. Apparently he passed the audition and will be a camp scrub later this summer. The new kicker is Jeremy Shelley, from Alabama. Signing him does NOT necessarily mean the team is looking to replace Matt Bryant. Many teams like to have two punters and two kickers available for special teams sessions during training camp. However, ditching Barth and bringing in Shelley is a rather curious move. Shelley was Alabama's version of Matt Bryant - known for deadly accuracy, not distance. 'Bama had someone else attempt field goals over 40 yards. The mystery on Michael Palmer's status is over. The Falcons did NOT offer him a qualifying tender before the start of the new league year, so he did not have restricted free agent status. He was fully unrestricted. And now he has signed with the Giants. That gives the Falcons a total of seven free agent losses: Lawrence Sidbury, Chris Owens, Brent Grimes, Will Svitek, Vance Walker, Luke McCown, and Palmer. Atlanta has signed two: SJax and Osi. If all of them end up counting towards the compensatory formula, Atlanta could even sign one more player and still end up with the maximum of four compensatory draft picks next year. They'd likely all be late rounders, but we'd have four of them. And frankly, I have to say I like what our front office did with this year's four compensatory picks better than I like what they did with the regular fourth, fifth and seventh rounders. No one with the team has commented, at least on the record, but D-Led (for anyone dropping by our message board, that's Atlanta Journal-Constitution beat writer D. Orlando Ledbetter) said the word is that offensive line prospect Phillipkeith Manley showed up for the offseason conditioning program weighing north of 360 pounds and possibly even up around 380. On the plus side, general manager Thomas Dimitroff did specifically say in a press conference that backup center Joe Hawley is doing very well in the team's new conditioning program. DT watch... there's another interesting name now available as a free agent. A few weeks ago, Patriots starting DT Kyle Love was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. He dropped some weight before being diagnosed, and to this point has only been able to regain about half of it. The Patriots weren't sure how long his recovery time would be, so they released him earlier today. Even at his current weight, he's bigger - and better - than Peria Jerry, and I have no doubt he'd be capable of playing by the start of training camp. He's 26. He's a starter. And he has local ties - he's from College Park, playing his high school ball at North Clayton. Landing him would certainly make up for the loss of "Swagger" Vance Walker. For that matter, it would be an upgrade.
It does seem strange that the Patriots are releasing Kyle Love in May - they are not even letting him fight for his position in camp. Patriots do have quite a number of DTs (that is as far as I go defending the Patriots). Type 2 Diabetes is less serious than Type 1, there are quite a number of professional athelets who have successful careers with Type 2. Hope all goes well for Kyle, I agree with Torgo he would be a nice upgrade.
Kyle Love http://www.backyardsportsblog.com/2012/12/patriots-dt-kyle-love-has-really-skinny.html http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1884863/fatguy_1_-_1.jpg Come on man!
Update: two more draft picks have now been signed to contracts. DEs Goodman and Maponga signed yesterday, following the safeties Motta and Ishmael, who signed earlier. And the "State Of The Franchise" event was last night. For those not in the Atlanta area, it's an annual event where season ticket holders are invited to come hear the coaches and front office guys talk about the team. The video is up on the team's official web site, so you can see it all for yourself. Go to www.atlantafalcons.com and click on the Media Lounge on the red menu bar. Look for "Electric Evening".
