The Falcons announced a bevy of roster moves ahead of Tuesday’s deadline and officially posted their initial 53-man roster. I say initial because Atlanta, like every club around the league, will scourer the waiver wire for additions to tweak their team. We’ll have plenty of breakdowns in the coming days, but here is my knee-jerk reaction to the initial roster.
Offense
Quarterbacks
- Marcus Mariota
- Desmond Ridder
- Feleipe Franks
Running Backs
- Cordarrelle Patterson
- Damien Williams
- Avery Williams
- Tyler Allgeier
Fullback(s)
Wide Receivers
- Drake London
- Bryan Edwards
- Olamide Zaccheaus
- Damiere Byrd
- KhaDarel Hodge
- Jared Bernhardt
Tight ends
- Kyle Pitts
- Parker Hesse
- John FitzPatrick
Tackles
Guards
Centers
We’ll start with the offense, where there were multiple surprises. First and foremost, Jared Bernhardt made the roster, folks! I’ve been driving the Bernhardt train since the Falcons acquired the former Lacrosse star as an undrafted free agent. Damiere Byrd, a veteran speedster, also earned a spot on the roster. Both beat out Cameron Batson and Frank Darby. Colby Gossett was cut, meaning the Falcons are rolling with only eight offensive linemen at this point. Still, this is only the initial roster and is subject to change.
Defense
Defensive Linemen
- Grady Jarrett
- Marlon Davidson
- Ta’Quon Graham
- Anthony Rush
- Timothy Horne
Outside Linebackers
- Adetokunbo Ogundeji
- Lorenzo Carter
- Arnold Ebiketie
- DeAngelo Malone
- Quinton Bell
Inside Linebackers
- Deion Jones
- Rashaan Evans
- Mykal Walker
- Troy Andersen
- Nate Landman
Cornerbacks
- A.J. Terrell
- Casey Hayward
- Isaiah Oliver
- Darren Hall
- DeAundre Alford
- Mike Ford
Safeties
Moving on to the defense, there are more surprises. Beginning with Nate Landman, who was Jake’s pre-training camp sweetheart. I actually had the Falcons cutting Nick Kwiatkowski, but not in favor of Landman. Mike Ford also made the roster over veteran Teez Tabor and will look for reps at the nickel spot. Quinton Bell was another player I had making the final 53-man roster, given his stand-out play in camp and the preseason.
Marlon Davidson making the roster wasn’t all that surprising, but given his injury history and lack of development, he was undoubtedly a cut candidate. Timothy Horne making it over Nick Thurman and Derrick Tengelo was very shocking, the latter of which was one of my favorite long-shots to make the roster.
Special Teams
LS Liam McCullough
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Photographer: Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire
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