- D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that the Falcons, who are moving towards an extension for Desmond Trufant, want to re-sign tight end Levine Toilolo, safety/linebacker Kemal Ishmael, and fullback Patrick DiMarco before free agency opens. The team is expected to let Jacob Tamme hit free agency and to wait until after the draft to make a decision on Dwight Freeney. Atlanta is also waiting to hear back from guard Chris Chester, who is contemplating retirement.
- The Falcons plan to upgrade their defensive front in free agency and the draft, as Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com writes. The club is expected to re-sign Courtney Upshaw, and McClure names Cowboys’ DT Terrell McClain as one potential target for Atlanta.
Negotiations between the Falcons and top cornerback Desmond Trufant are “heating up,” according to D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Atlanta GM Thomas Dimitroff said last week that locking up Trufant was going to be the club’s next major move, and it appears as if he is making good on his word.
Trufant, the 22nd-overall pick of the 2013 draft, quickly established himself as the Falcons’ best cover corner and was named to his first Pro Bowl in 2015. He picked up right where he left off in 2016, but he suffered a torn pectoral in Week 9 and missed the rest of the season, which was a major blow to a pass defense that struggled even with Trufant in the lineup. At the time of the injury, Trufant ranked as the 32nd-best corner in the NFL out of 119 qualified players, according to Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics, and he had picked up an interception and two sacks. For his career, he has seven interceptions and three sacks.
He had also been highly durable before the injury, having started every game from Week 1 of his rookie season to Week 9 of 2016 (a total of 57 contests). He is already under contract for 2017, as the Falcons picked up his fifth-year option, but the team obviously wants to keep him in Atlanta for the foreseeable future.
Of course, Trufant will not come cheap. The market for top cornerbacks seems to increase dramatically with each passing year, and Trufant can use recent deals for Darius Slay (five years, $51.33MM) and Janoris Jenkins (five years, $62.5MM) as benchmarks.
Per Ledbetter, Dimitroff and head coach Dan Quinn met with Trufant’s agents until midnight last night. The club is also trying to resign safety Kemal Ishmael, tight end Levine Toilolo, and fullback Patrick DiMarco.
- After playing through foot problems last season, all-world Falcons receiver Julio Jones will undergo surgery Monday, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Marc Sessler of NFL.com). Fortunately for Jones and the Falcons, the procedure will be minor and won’t affect his training camp availability.
The Falcons will apply a $2.81MM second-round tender to restricted free agent wide receiver Taylor Gabriel, reports Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com. Doing so will entitle Atlanta to a team’s second-round pick if that club signs Gabriel to an offer sheet and the Falcons don’t match it. Gabriel told McClure he’d like to be a “Falcon forever,” though, and the two sides will be able to negotiate a long-term contract if they want.
The speedy Gabriel just finished his first season in Atlanta, which claimed him off waivers after the Browns jettisoned him leading up to Week 1. That proved to an excellent move for the Falcons, with whom Gabriel averaged a lofty 16.5 yards per catch on 35 grabs and scored seven touchdowns (six receiving, one rushing) in 13 regular-season games. The 26-year-old then added another nine catches for 171 yards in the playoffs for the NFC champions.
Since entering the NFL in as an undrafted free agent in 2014, the 5-foot-8, 167-pound Gabriel has amassed 99 catches, 1,441 yards (14.2 YPC) and eight scores scores in 42 games.
- The Falcons are likely to re-sign defensive lineman Courtney Upshaw sometime in the next week, per Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Upshaw joined the Falcons on a $1.25MM deal last year and went on to post modest numbers (23 tackles, a forced fumble and a half-sack) in 13 appearances and five starts.
- On the heels of his productive season of his career in 2016, Cowboys defensive lineman Terrell McClain is drawing significant interest – including from the Seahawks and Falcons – as free agency approaches. McClain, 28, put up personal-best totals in starts (15), tackles (39), sacks (2.5) and forced fumbles (two) last year.
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- The Falcons are moving on from defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux but it is believed the 35-year-old will continue playing elsewhere, Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com tweets. Babineaux, he notes, has connections to coaches around he league. It sounds like the veteran doesn’t plan on retirement, but in a league that is getting progressively younger, it’s not a given that he’ll find work.
- The Falcons, Broncos, Vikings, Lions, Colts, Seahawks, and Jaguars will be making a run at the top three or four guards available in free agency, Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports tweets. Robinson doesn’t name names, but I consider Kevin Zeitler, T.J. Lang, Ronald Leary, and Larry Warford to be the four best guards on the board. For the Falcons and Seahawks, price will be a factor and neither team will engage in a bidding war (Twitter link).
With their contracts soon to expire, Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and Lions signal-caller Matthew Stafford should each be in line for extensions this offseason. But their respective general managers indicated Wednesday that new deals aren’t imminent.
“I’m saying that eventually, we will address Matt Ryan and his contract,” said the Falcons’ Thomas Dimitroff (via Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com). “Right now, our focus is going to be on this year’s class, understanding that Matt is a very important part of our future, as every knows — an extremely important part of our future.”
- Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff said wide receiver Taylor Gabriel and guard Ben Garland will be tendered as RFAs (Twitter link via Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com). He did not specify what level, however. Gabriel was the far bigger contributor of the two last year, when he averaged 16.5 yards per catch on 35 receptions and combined for seven touchdowns through the air and on the ground. Garland appeared in all 16 of the Falcons’ regular-season games, but he didn’t start any.
- Dimitroff also announced that the Falcons will let defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux become an unrestricted free agent after 12 years together, D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes. Conversely, the Falcons are trying to re-sign fullback Patrick DiMarco (Twitter link). Babineaux, 35, has totaled 185 appearances, 133 starts, 27 sacks and 10 forced fumbles in Atlanta, which selected him in the second round of the 2005 draft. He’s coming off the eighth 16-game season of his career, in which he picked up six starts and 22 tackles. DiMarco, a four-year Falcon, has three 16-appearance seasons in a row under his belt. He made eight starts in 2016.