Knee-jerk reaction to Falcons initial 53-man roster

falcons

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

Running Backs

Fullback(s)

Wide Receivers

Tight ends

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

Outside Linebackers

Inside Linebackers

Cornerbacks

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

K Younghoe Koo

P Bradley Pinion

LS Liam McCullough


Photographer: Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire

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