Falcons Make Cuts to Get to 53 Man Roster
With the final pre-season game out of the way the Falcons have made their cuts and have gotten down to their 53 man roster. There were a few semi surprises along the way as the Falcons parted ways with Spencer Adkins, Dominique Franks, James Rodgers, Kerry Meier and Mike Cox.
A possibility for the practice squad?
The name Dominique Franks definitely stands out on the cut list. Franks looked pretty good as a punt returner during the pre-season and some thought that would help him stick with the team. Maybe more surprising that cutting Dominique Franks was the decision to keep Robert McClain. If another team doesn't grab Franks, I would look for him to get onto the practice squad (update: looking at it further with an assist from @mFalcons5 it looks like Franks is not eligible for the practice squad).
Spencer Adkins was another one of the bigger names on the final cut list. Adkins filled in as a spot starter last year due to injuries but the team essentially kept Robert James over him.
Fullback Mike Cox was also cut. This shows that the Falcons are pretty high on Lousaka Polite and also hope that Jason Snelling can give them some minutes when needed at fullback.
Kerry Meier also missed the final cut as he was beat out by Kevin Cone and Tim Toone.
As far as who made the team that you might not know.....We already talked about Cone, Toone, Polite and McClain. Tommy Gallarda get the third TE position. The Falcons kept rookie Charles Mitchell and veteran Chris Hope as back-up safeties. At RB, the Falcons kept Antone Smith. Late round draft pick, Travian Robertson of South Carolina made a late push to make the team. The Falcons kept six defensive ends including rookie Jonathan Massaquoi and second year man Cliff Matthews.
Here is a link to the full roster.
There still will be tweaks to the roster but this is pretty much the roster that we will go to battle with.
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Does Franks still have practice squad eligibility? Seems to me he has been active for way too many games. While I was rooting for him, he did have a very poor preseason. When Blaine Gabbert is picking on you, you are probably a poor player, and his special teams play wasn't enough to get a roster spot.
I wonder if Atlanta considers bringing back Ovie and play him over Polite.
@mFalcons5 Yeah I think you are right.
"Eligibility for the practice squad is limited to players who do not have an accrued season in the NFL, or were on an active list (53-man roster) for fewer than nine games during their only accrued seasons. Players that have served two seasons on a practice squad are eligible for a third season only if the team has at least 53 players on its active/inactive list for the duration of that player's employment."
Franks was on the active list for more than nine games last season, right?
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@CFBZ Yup. Per NFL.com, he was active 14 games last season and 2 the year before. I'd bet someone picks him up. Les Snead has certainly been picking up a lot of his/our old players.
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@mFalcons5 That's not Make A Wish, that's straight up blackmail. He either has some nudies of somebodies wife or a pic of TD doing some hardcore drugs.
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@CFBZ I'm as confused as you on that one. He looked OK I guess, but I have a list of dozens of players I'd rather have than him.
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@mFalcons5 Maybe I missed something, but Robert McClain? Was he a special teams wizard or something?
