Falcons make a flurry of roster moves following draft

164121118193 TEN at IND

Following last week’s draft, the league is still buzzing with roster moves. Plenty of big-name free agents have yet to sign, and some — Tyrann Mathieu and the Saints — have agreed to lucrative deals. Rosters are also being trimmed as teams try to get enough cap space to sign their rookie classes, which is exactly what the Falcons are doing.

Atlanta announced a bevy of roster moves on Monday, which was headlined by the release of Mike Davis.

Two touchdowns throughout the entire season is not what you want from a guy on a multi-year deal; even Davis himself admitted this was a down year. He fumbled the ball more times this season than in every other year of his career combined. The dead cap associated with cutting Davis is minimal, so Fontenot elected to draft a running back to replace Davis.

The Falcons also announced they were releasing Willie Beavers, who only played two games for the Vikings after being drafted in the fourth round in 2016,  and James Vaughters after drafting two EDGE defenders.

Vaughters only played in ten games a year ago, totaling 211 defensive snaps, but recorded four quarterback hits, one sack and one forced fumble. It seemed Vaughters had impressed the staff with the small sample size; I fully expected him to be a part of the rotation going forward. However, Terry Fontenot double-dipped at EDGE in the draft, selecting Arnold Ebiketie and DeAngelo Malone.

The last piece of news was the placement of long snapper Beau Brinkley on injured reserve. A two-time All-Pro and three-time Pro Bowler, Brinkly was brought in to replace Josh Harrs but will now spend 2022 rehabbing. The Falcons are once again in the market for a long snapper.

Photographer: Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire

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