Atlanta Falcons News & Rumors

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/3/21

Here are Friday’s practice squad moves:

Atlanta Falcons

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New York Giants

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Washington Football Team

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/2/21

Here are Thursday’s minor moves, with the list being updated throughout the day:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

  • Placed on IR: WR Aaron Parker

Cincinnati Bengals

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Las Vegas Raiders

  • Released from IR with injury settlement: LB Asmar Bial

Los Angeles Chargers

  • Released from IR with injury settlement: DT Chris Okoye, OL Tyree St. Louis

Los Angeles Rams

New England Patriots

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

  • Released from IR with injury settlement: RB Brian Hill

Washington Football Team

  • Released from IR with injury settlement: OT Rick Leonard

Falcons Sign RB Wayne Gallman

The Falcons are swapping one running back for another. The team announced that they’ve signed Wayne Gallman and released Qadree Ollison.

Gallman joined the 49ers back in April but earned his walking papers earlier this week. The 26-year-old had a career season in 2020 filling in for Saquon Barkley, finishing with 796 yards from scrimmage and six touchdowns. In his previous 38 games for the Giants, Gallman collected 1,146 yards and five touchdowns, and he’ll continue to profile as more of a backup.

In Atlanta, he’ll provide some depth behind Mike Davis and Cordarrelle Patterson. The team is also rostering Caleb Huntley and D’Onta Foreman on their practice squad.

Ollison was a fifth-round pick by the Falcons in 2019. After getting 23 touches in eight games as a rookie, the running back was limited to only three games and one carry in 2020. Ollison also saw time on special teams during his stint in Atlanta.

Wednesday NFL Transactions: NFC South

Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline Tuesday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters. In addition to waiver claims, teams can begin constructing their 16-man practice squads today. These moves for the BuccaneersFalconsPanthers and Saints are noted below.

Here are Wednesday’s NFC South transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day.

Atlanta Falcons

Claimed:

Signed to practice squad:

Carolina Panthers

Release from IR:

Signed to practice squad:

New Orleans Saints

Released: 

  • K Aldrick Rosas; Rosas is expected to re-sign later this week, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets

Claimed:

Signed to practice squad:

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Signed to practice squad:

Falcons To Place G Josh Andrews On IR

The Falcons will make an adjustment to their preferred starting lineup come Week 1. The team had planned to use Josh Andrews as one of its starting guards, but a recent injury will force the team to change course.

Andrews suffered a broken hand during practice Tuesday, and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets the Falcons will place him on IR to start the season. While this surgery is not expected to sideline Andrews too long, he must sit until at least Week 4.

Atlanta added Andrews in late March, signing the former Eagles, Colts and Jets blocker to a one-year deal worth the veteran minimum. Andrews and Chris Lindstrom were expected to be the Falcons’ Week 1 guard starters. Andrews, 30, has started just four career games — all coming with the Jets last season.

Falcons Cut 27 Players, Down To 53

The Falcons are down to 53. With several hours to go before the 4pm ET/3pm CT deadline, the Falcons have released 27 players to meet the new max.

Some of these players will re-appear on the Falcons’ 16-man practice squad, if they’re not scooped up by another team. None of the cuts are particularly surprising, though D’Onta Foreman‘s name stands out on this list. The former UT star is still looking to reprise his rookie year with the Texans when he notched 327 rushing yards and two scores in ten games. However, he’ll have to do it somewhere else.

For now, the Falcons are keeping both of their backup quarterbacks. That means Feleipe Franks and Josh Rosen could be on the roster for the season opener, backstopping Matt Ryan.

Here’s the full rundown:

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/30/21

We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here. Teams have until 3pm CT Tuesday to pare their rosters down to 53 players.

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Chicago Bears

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

  • Released from IR via injury settlement: LB Darron Lee

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Vikings Waive RB Ito Smith, 2 Others

Ito Smith‘s Vikings stay will end up being short. Five days after signing the young running back, the Vikings waived him. They also waived offensive lineman Cohl Cabral and defensive tackle Zeandae Johnson.

This marks the third time a team has cut Smith this year. The Falcons waived him in April, and the Cardinals moved on from the fourth-year back earlier this month. Smith spent barely a week in Arizona. These quick exits do not bode well for the former Atlanta rotational back to land out a meaningful role in 2021. Though, teams’ backfields often change due to injury, opening the door to street free agent ball carriers.

A fourth-round pick in 2018, Smith has averaged north of 4.3 yards per carry in each of the past two seasons. He totaled 268 rushing yards on 63 attempts last year, splitting time with Todd Gurley and Brian Hill. Of the Falcons’ top three 2020 backs, only Hill has a gig (with the Titans) presently.

Teams have until 3pm Tuesday to cut their rosters from 80 to 53 players. Many of the players waived next week will be candidates to land practice squad jobs, with the NFL greenlighting a second season of 16-man P-squads. Players waived early, however, obviously stand to have less of a chance to stick around in that regard.

Falcons Worked Out QB Blake Bortles

Before the Falcons signed Josh Rosen yesterday, the team took a look at another disappointing former first-round pick. According to ESPN’s Field Yates (on Twitter), Atlanta worked out Blake Bortles recently.

The former third-overall pick has only seen the field for three games since the 2019 season. He spent the 2020 season bouncing on and off the Broncos active roster and practice squad, and he ended the campaign on the Rams practice squad. He signed a deal with the Packers earlier this offseason, but he was cut by the organization last month.

Bortles, of course, disappointed during his five seasons with the Jaguars, where he completed only 59.4-percent of his passes for 92 touchdowns and 58 interceptions. More notably, he had a 24-49 record as a starter, although he did have a three-game postseason run with Jacksonville in 2017.

The Falcons were hunting for a quarterback following the season-ending injury to backup A.J. McCarron. Rosen will likely step up as Matt Ryan‘s primary backup, and the team is also rostering rookie UDFA Feleipe Franks. If Rosen and/or Franks prove that they’re not worth their roster spot, perhaps the organization would give Bortles a second look.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/24/21

We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here. Teams had until 3pm today to cut their rosters down to 80 players.

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

  • Waived: QB Kenji Bahar

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

New England Patriots

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

  • Released from IR via injury settlement: OT Casey Tucker

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

  • Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: K Ryan Succop
  • Waived/injured: OT Chidi Okeke

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team