FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. --The Falcons may have trimmed the roster over the weekend to get down to a league-mandated 53-man total, but they in no way clipped their wings.
The team is excited about the talent that remains, which includes a mix of 11 rookies, 12 players with one or two years experience, 23 with three to nine years in the league and seven with 10 or more years in the NFL.
Here's what we find when breaking down the roster with thoughts from President and General Manager Rich McKay, Head Coach Bobby Petrino and others.
QUARTERBACK: Perhaps the most interesting roster numbers when it comes to the 2007 roster are at quarterback, where the team opted to keep two players on the active roster -- Joey Harrington and Chris Redman. Casey Bramlet, who spent the majority of the preseason as the third-string quarterback, was added to the practice squad.
Flipping through a stack of notes on his desk, McKay found a simple explanation for the team's decision.
"It's a little more of a trend in the league," the veteran General Manager said matter-of-factly. "We saw last year there were 12 teams that kept two quarterbacks. This year I think we are now at 14 teams that kept two. That may go up, that may go down as time moves on. It doesn't mean we'll have two all year but it does mean that we're going to start with two. As I say, it's become a little more of the league norm as opposed to the exception."
Harrington shined in the preseason, especially in game No. 3 when he saw the bulk of his work. The six-year veteran threw for 283 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in exhibition work. Redman led the Falcons with 346 passing yards and two touchdowns, but it was Harrington that topped the club with a 92.5 passer rating.
McKay said game prep won't be affected by having just two quarterbacks since a third quarterback on the practice squad -- in this case Bramlet -- could lead the scout team. Petrino said he's also comfortable with the team's current quarterback situation.
"Casey did do a nice job when he was in there in the game the other night so we felt like, at this time, the best thing for us is to have him back working on the practice squad," Petrino said. "He understands the offense (and) knows what we're doing already. I think that's what's best at this time."
RUNNING BACK: The Falcons pushed through the preseason with injuries to first-stringer Warrick Dunn and his backup, second-year man Jerious Norwood. The two are healthy heading into Week 1 however and were able to get their share of reps in the preseason.
Norwood finished second on the team with 65 rushing yards in the preseason and scored one of two rushing touchdowns in the Falcons 3-1 exhibition season.
Dunn saw action in the third preseason game after spending much of training camp recovering from back surgery. He rushed six times for 8 yards this preseason but has a resume NFL fans are very familiar with.
Dunn’s 5,261 rushing yards as a Falcon are fourth all-time on the club’s rushing list while his 9,461 career rushing yards rank third among active NFL running backs. He also has 15 career receiving touchdown and three seasons with 50 or more catches.
In just 14 games last season Norwood rushed for 633 yards and two touchdowns, including an explosive 78-yard scoring run. Norwood also had two catches for touchdowns in the preseason.
Petrino looks forward to using that big-play ability in his offense.
"It lets me know that we have to get the ball to him more," Petrino said. "We actually talked about turning small plays into big ones in the meetings all week and that’s exactly what Jerious did. It’s all about making guys miss and yards after the catch, which are two ways to make big plays. I don’t want our players to think that it’s all about throwing the deep ball down the sidelines or middle, but they have to happen on normal calls."
The team also signed five-year veteran Artose Pinner, who has three career rushing touchdowns with the Vikings and Lions, Monday.
WIDE RECEIVER: Harrington said midway through training camp that the Falcons have the "best" group of receivers he's worked with since he's been in the NFL. Play in the preseason backs up his words.
Adam Jennings led the way with 113 receiving yards and the only receiving touchdown notched by a receiver in the preseason -- a 28-yard connection with Harrington in a win over the Bengals.
Veterans Joe Horn and Michael Jenkins combined for eight catches while Roddy White, tied for the team lead with nine receptions. Each of the five receivers that made the final roster averaged more than 10 yards per catch, led by Horn's 16.5-yard average.
Rookie Laurent Robinson finished second on the team with nine catches for 103 yards in the preseason despite missing the last two exhibition games with a hamstring injury. Petrino talked at length about the rookie's potential throughout the preseason and said before the Ravens game the team wanted to err on the side of caution in regards to the injury.
"We want to make sure that he is ready to go," Petrino said. "We don’t want to lose his availability in the game versus Minnesota... We’re shooting for the season opener."
TIGHT END: The news this offseason at tight end has centered around Alge Crumpler's recovery from knee surgery. On the field, however, the other two tight ends that made the team's final roster have been making their mark.
Dwayne Blakley caught five passes for 85 yards in the preseason while rookie tight end Martrez Milner made one catch, but started the first two exhibition games and was a key figure in the team's running attack. Blakley has appeared in 47 games in his career and has 14 receptions and one touchdown.
Petrino said Crumpler, a four-time Pro Bowler who led the team in receptions for a third straight season in 2006, should be ready to go by the season opener. He saw action in the third preseason game, taking his limited time to make one play that reminded fans of his hard-nose attitude.
Crumpler's second catch of the night went for a first down, but not before he lowered his head and barreled ahead for extra yards.
"I love to play," Crumpler said. "I'm not a great spectator. I love playing the game of football. Getting out there was encouraging to my teammates. You could see it in their eyes in the huddle. I could feel the crowd again and made a few plays.
"I'm going to try to get the first down. I'm never going to run out of bounds. I'm a big guy."
OFFENSIVE LINE: McKay said the Falcons looked for adaptability along the offensive and defensive lines when trimming the roster over the weekend.
"Depth in this league comes down to guys being able to be versatile," he said. "If they can't be versatile, then you don't have depth because you will have injuries. You will have guys who are going to have to miss two or three games in the season. You may have a guy that's a nose tackle that's now going to have to play some under tackle because of the injuries. You need that, especially on the defensive line and the offensive line... We do feel pretty good about what we have this year."
The Falcons return four starters along the offensive line in 2007 -- Wayne Gandy, Todd McClure, Kynan Forney and Todd Weiner. Rookie Justin Blalock is listed as a starter at left guard and the team kept reserves at each of the five positions. Atlanta also kept undrafted rookie Renardo Foster.
Blalock, who started 51 straight games at Texas, joins a group of offensive linemen that have a combined 48 seasons of NFL experience.
The line started picking up a new system this offseason. After clearing the way for the league's best rushing attack in 2006 the unit blocked for a more balanced attack in the preseason that averaged 97 yards on the ground and 197.8 yards per game through the air.
DEFENSIVE LINE: Here the Falcons parted ways with three contributors from 2006 -- Tommy Jackson, Darrell Shropshire and Paul Carrington. The team now has 10 defensive linemen on the roster.
"It didn't necessarily shake out the exact way that we thought it would," McKay said when asked about the defensive line. "I really thought, based on last year, that Paul Carrington would have some upside and make the team. But Paul, to his own admission, would tell you he didn't have as good a camp as he would have thought. That's disappointing. What's really disappointing is, because of the rules, he can't be on the practice squad."
Carrington wasn't eligible for the Falcons practice squad because he was active for 15 games last season. Practice squad rules enacted two seasons ago allow eligibility for players for three seasons unless they have been active for eight or more games in a year.
Players that remain along the defensive line include two Pro Bowlers -- John Abraham and Rod Coleman. Rookie Jamaal Anderson was steady in the preseason, finishing with 13 tackles and two sacks. The Falcons also have defensive end Chauncey Davis, who has 18 starts in his two-year career and Josh Mallard, who saw time at tackle and end through the preseason.
Rookie defensive tackle Trey Lewis, who had 1.5 sacks while playing at both tackle positions, also stuck on the final roster.
LINEBACKER: The Falcons worked through much of the preseason without weak side linebacker Demorrio Williams as he recovered from a torn pectoral. Williams returned for the first practice of training camp, but was held out of game action until the third preseason game.
Rookie Stephen Nicholas started three preseason games and finished third on the team in tackles (14).
"I think the first thing that really stands out to me, an initial reaction to his game (against the Jets), was how he seemed comfortable," linebackers coach Brian VanGorder said. "He wasn't paralyzed by the first NFL game experience. I thought he held up real well."
In Williams, Keith Brooking and Michael Boley, the team returns three of its top four tacklers from 2006.
SECONDARY: Three Falcons draft picks made the roster in the secondary, the most of any position group.
Cornerbacks Chris Houston and David Irons and safety Daren Stone represent three of nine draft picks that made the 53-man roster.
"It's a credit to the coaching staff and scouting staff," McKay said. "One, it's getting it right in the first instance and getting the right guys. Then, second, it's giving (coaches) a chance to develop them and work with them. That's a lot of rookies to make the team. I thought all of them, to a man, earned it. They played pretty well in the preseason, had good (organized team activities) and were pretty productive. We are certainly going to be counting on a few of them to help us this year."
Stone and Irons will likely be asked to contribute on special teams immediately, where they both excelled during the preseason. Houston, a second-round pick battled veteran Lewis Sanders for the starting job opposite DeAngelo Hall for most of camp.
Sanders, an eight-year veteran joins 12-year pro Lawyer Milloy as an elder statesmen in a secondary that underwent its share of change in the offseason, particularly with Jimmy Williams' swap from corner to free safety.
Williams battled Chris Crocker for the starting job in the defensive backfield and got plenty of playing time in the final game of the preseason as Crocker nursed a bone bruise.
The unit returns its top players, however in interceptions (Hall) and tackles (Milloy).
SPECIAL TEAMS: Here, the Falcons made several moves at the roster cut deadline.
Veteran cornerback and return man Allen Rossum was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers for an undisclosed draft pick Sept. 1, opening the door for Jennings to take on all the return duties and gain a spot as the team's fifth wide receiver.
McKay said it was tough to part ways with Rossum, who leaves as the franchise leader in punt return yards in a season (1,723), career kick off return yards (5,489) and touchdowns on punt returns (two).
"That was driven by Adam Jennings and the faith we have in him as a return," McKay said Monday. "We drafted him last year to do that. He's developed really nicely and we think he can do both (punt and kickoff returns). So we felt like it was in Allen's best interest and our best interests to go ahead and make the change now."
The other move on special teams was made at kicker, where the Falcons went with a player who spent just three days on the roster before final cuts. McKay acknowledges that keeping Matt Prater over Billy Cundiff may appear strange, but noted the team knew plenty about the 23-year-old kicker before bringing him in for a workout Aug. 29.
Petrino said the workout, along with Prater's game performance against the Ravens, helped with the decision, which he called the "best thing for our franchise."
"It looks unusual, but it really isn't unusual in the sense that people think: 'Well, you only had him on your roster for three days and then you kept him over a kicker that you had for a number of months,'" McKay said. "But, in reality, you scout those players on a continual basis. We kept track of him on a continual basis. We saw him in Detroit. We saw him when he was in Miami and we had been waiting for him to come free in Miami this preseason just so we could have a look at him. It just happened that we only got those three days for a look.
Stay with AtlantaFalcons.com throughout the week and throughout the season for in-depth coverage of each week's game.
