The Falcons released 13 players Saturday and the list includes some familiar names.
Former Georgia standouts Thomas Brown and D.J. Shockley were released along with two players from the team’s 2009 Draft class: cornerback William Middleton and defensive tackle Vance Walker.
The team also released wide receiver Troy Bergeron, offensive lineman Michael Butterworth, wide receiver Robert Ferguson, linebacker Robert James, wide receiver Aaron Kelly, defensive end Maurice Lucas, tight end Jason Rader, offensive guard Jose Valdez and linebacker Jamie Winborn.
“Today is never an easy day for anyone in the organization,” General Manager Thomas Dimitroff said. “With that said however, we are pleased with our roster heading into the 2009 campaign. Our staff did a tremendous job of evaluating the entire team throughout the offseason, which included mini-camp, OTAs, training camp and preseason games.”
Shockley was the team’s third quarterback in 2008 but lost the position to undrafted rookie John Parker Wilson, who put up solid stats in the preseason in limited snaps.
Brown worked as a kickoff return man and reserve running back in the preseason after missing all of 2008 — his rookie year — with a groin injury.
“It’s always difficult to see players being released especially considering how hard everyone has worked,” Head Coach Mike Smith said. “I feel like we have a good group of guys in place and I’m looking forward to moving on to the regular season.”
Winborn was signed just before the start of Russell Falcons Training Camp and provided support at linebacker and on special teams during the preseason.
Kelly, Valdez and Lucas were rookies that joined the Falcons after the NFL Draft.
James was a 2008 Draft selection that spent the season on injured reserve.
Rader joined the team for the second time in 2008 and played in five games (one start) after former tight end Ben Hartsock went on IR.
Ferguson joined the Falcons early in training camp after No. 3 receiver Harry Douglas tour an ACL in his knee. He spent the first part of his career with the Packers and Vikings.
Bergeron spent three seasons with the Georgia Force of the Arena Football League. He was in his second stint with the Falcons, working with the team 2006 training camp.
Butterworth worked at right tackle through the preseason. He joined the Falcons as an undrafted free agent in 2008.
The final roster breakdown includes:
- Nine defensive linemen (four tackles, five ends)
- Six linebackers (three starters and a backup at each position)
- 10 defensive backs (five cornerbacks and five safeties)
- Five wide receivers (including 11-veteran Marty Booker)
- Three quarterbacks (two will likely be active on gameday)
- Three tight ends (Keith Zinger wins the final spot over Rader)
- Nine offensive linemen (Quinn Ojinnaka continues to backup multiple positions)
- Five running backs (three tailbacks and a pair of fullbacks: Ovie Mughelli and Verron Haynes)
- Two kickers (Jason Elam and Michael Koenen)
- One long-snapper (returning starter Mike Schneck)
The Falcons can establish an eight-player practice squad starting on Sunday.
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128 Comments
I don’t know, JMike. I thought Thomas Brown would beat out Snelling. Snelling just looked a little too slow when I watched him. You think they’ll keep Brown on the practice squad?
Valdez played great!!! And their gonna be sorry about Kelly and Brown!!!
thats BS. Thomas Brown deserves a spot on that roster, Snelling shouldve been cut. Bad decision
Well, one thing I believe the FO had troubles with is, like they said, they (actually had) trouble picking who to cut. If that’s the case, they’ll keep young guys like Brown and Kelly around on the practice squad to coach them up like they did with Weems. I think Brown did well in his limited duties. He was the pass blocking RB for Redman on his game winning TD drive against the Chargers, as well as Redman’s TD run in that game. We’ll see this week.
But I agree with CCantrell, T.Brown is more versatile than Snelling. However, Snelling is more of a Turner type runner, which could have factored into the (unfortunate) decision.
Durability!
I completely agree. Brown simply produced more than Snelling. Why didn’t we get rid of Haynes and then keep Brown/Snelling?
Come on man stop smoking the CRACK get of the JAWJA football players.They are all not that good.
Totally disagree with you guys on Brown. You must be Georgia Fans. Snelling consistently pick 4-5 yards and he can work at fullback if we need him. I was suprised by the cutting of Shockley. I thought they would keep him and try to put JPW on the practice squad, but JPW may have played well enough that someone might have picked him up as #3 QB. Is shockley elligible to be on the pratice squad if no one picks him up. Lastly, don’t be surprised if a DE,DT, or CB is picked up from another team like Jacksonville, or the NYG.
LL
No way…Jason Snelling is a bruiser, he can catch, he is a good special teams tackler, and he can also fill in at fullback. Don’t let your UGA bias get in the way.
Snelling had better # as a back during preseason. Weems had better # as a punt returner.
Running back is crowded, especially with Turner and Norwood taking No. 1 and No. 2. That’s unquestioned. Not sure about the practice squad. Players have to clear through waivers before the practice squad can be formed — at least 24 hours before news on that.
Want to remind everyone early that the blogs are moderated just like the boards. There’s some great debate going on about the roster moves (I encourage it). But, if it breaks down to name-calling, personal attacks or bad language we have a problem. Thanks everyone!
@Falconrob: While I am a UGA fan and freely admit it, I’m just calling it like I see it. Snelling can’t return kicks, and we have a backup FB in Haynes now so Snelling doubling as a FB is a moot point.
@Les Low: I don’t understand how you can be not surprised about Brown but surprised about Shockley. Shockley had it coming to him with unfortunately poor play. JPW played better and it showed both in the games and on paper. However, I feel that Brown should have been kept over Snelling based on my observations. Brown got a ton of time in pass-blocking opportunities with the second team and did reasonably well. I don’t recall seeing Snelling do much of that, either.
To be honest, I expected both Snelling (A Turner-like runner) and Brown (A Norwood-type runner) to be kept and have Haynes get cut.
Agree with cuts: However, I would like to see another quality Defensive
Back with experience and more height.
Btw, Thanks JMike!
@ Zippo: True Shockley wasn’t his best. But he had at leat 3-5 dropped passes that would have resulted in keeping drives alive, which keeps confidence going. Check out the tapes they don’t lie, Finneran drop, Chandler drop, two of his intersections hit receivers in the hand. So he deserved better. But don’t get me wrong i liked what i saw in JPW and just wish theres a way to keep both via the practice squad. The way i see it Redmon will eventually be pushed out and Parker COULD BE i repeat COULD BE the backup in about 1-2 years. Because we all know Matty Ice ain’t going no where unless of course something happens . . .(don’t want to speak it).
LL
LL
QB: In the pros, you have to make quick decisions and accurate throws. JPW has already showed more promise at doing those two things than D.J. did.
RB: I’m a UGA grad, and I always thought Thomas Brown was a little overrated. In college, he could power through people or run away from them, but he showed zero instincts as a running back. He always seems to run right into the pile, including when running back kicks. That won’t cut it in the pros.
Hooray for Verron Haynes! Great person, good veteran backup, can do everything—block, catch, run. Love the guy. Glad we kept him around.
WR: Can’t keep Ferguson over Weems and Booker. Just a numbers thing.
TE: Zinger looked like a beast in the last game, as if someone had pumped him up with an air pump or something. First time I’d actually seen him play. I guess he’s got more upside than Rader.
OL: Pray for the health of our starters, because there’s no Todd Weiner to step in this year. Knock on wood, maybe the backups are up to it if called upon.
DE: Let the Sidbury Era begin. (LOL) Seriously, hope a rotation of Chauncey, Sid, and Kroy can get after the QB.
DT: hope they put Vance Walker on the practice squad. I think we are deep and talented here. Congrats to Thomas Johnson!
LB: a little suprised they cut a vet like Winborn. Guess Coy Wire backs up Peterson, because Adkins can’t be ready to be anything but a special teamer and situational guy. Who knows. Maybe they pick up someone here.
Safety: the grizzled vet A.Harris sticks around, probably for his versatility and experience. Time to step up, Mr. DeCoud. Is it a lost season for William Moore, or do they work him in for real snaps?
CB: Okay—five young guys with lots of talent. Time to coach ‘em up. Middleton to the practice squad?
Thanks for indulging me…one other thing. Koenen is a valuable and underrated guy; no one ever returns punts. And is anyone worried that Elam missed an extra point and a short field goal this pre-season? Yeah, me neither.
I dont see why they released thomas brown i felt like he should stay because he was doing good on special teams. What sucks is that chris houston is still on the team, he should go. One can only hope that some defensive players get released from other teams that are of good quality that we can pick up.
WHAT!!!!im SHOCKED about troy B. and kelly, troy caught those deep passes from redman, at the end of the chargers game to set up the game winning catch by weems.??? EXPLAIN yourself for this move??im lost?? and pretty mangry:(
j.mike need ur comments on this please, i am actually surprised that if the falcons had to cut vance walker and william midlleton why draft them ? if they were not good in college then why waste time with them in training camp and then finally release them
I am a little surprised by the cuts of D. J. Shockley, Thomas Brown, and Jamie Winborn. D. J. had many things happen that were out of his control during the preseason games others have already enumerated upon. I thought Thomas Brown is the better value over Verron Haynes, again turning this into a numbers game, because he is 23 and Verron is 30, and 30 is the age the overwhelming majority of running backs start to have significant drop-off in production. Jamie Winborn was unblockable against us in our only home loss last season when he was with Denver. Maybe Spencer Adkins was kept because he is younger and less costly against the salary cap?
Troy bergeron should have been kept! He’s a hard worker and has great hands! Why didn’t they keep him? He looked great and most important he was consistant in the slot!
@Mr. E
hey mr e, why don’t u play cornerback for us this year and we will release houston
Falcon #1,
William Middleton and Vance Walker were drafted because they were graded to be the best available player in our needs based draft system at the pick they were selected at. William Middleton may or may not have practice squad potential, remember we drafted Wilrey Fountenot, CB, as a seventh round pick and he was cut. Vance Walker lost out in a numbers game. If Thomas Dimitroff had not found Thomas Johnson, Vance makes the team. Vance should be on the practice squad, without question – if another teanm does not sign him to their 53 man roster.
When will all the GA fans realize it is not about them but what is best for the Falcons. This is not GA North! Experience is Snelling. Durability is Snelling. Shockley is not a passing quarterback. I hope Walker and Middleton will be signed to the practice squad.
Some surprises… I hope we can find some defensive surprises from.some other teams cuts.
I don’t know why people are surprised by the cuts the falcons hate UGA. haha no really they make sense shockley didn’t play as well as JPW and as for all those people who are talking about thomas brown’s return skills two words….Jerious Norwood
to me all those cuts were no brainers! Shockley is a very inaccurate qb who can’t read a middle school teams defense and t brown couldn’t read blocks!a rb w/o good field vision is worthless! Booker over fergerson is a no brainer we already got a good special team wr n Finneran, would u rather cut finneran? No! Valdez walker Middleton will make our practice squad we will pick up the other 5 guys from tha FA pool tha other cuts will be picked up by other teams
@Les Low: I agree with you in what you were saying about Shockley. People were calling for his head after the 2nd game, and I came to his defense (somewhere on JMike’s blog) saying that he had several dropped passes including his INT. That being said, excuses only last for so long. I think the negatives just outweighed the positives in Shockley’s decision, especially with the surprising numbers put up by JPW.
@Dave K: I like your analysis of T. Brown, and now that I think back on some of his games, you’re right on how he ran the ball. To be honest, when Knowshon Moreno stepped into the starting role a couple years ago, T.Brown got pushed to the wayside, probably because of his running style (on top of Moreno’s running)
I think Spencer Adkins was kept because he’s faster than most tailbacks. (Reports said he ran a 4.3 40) He could be an excellent special teamer with that kind of speed, as well as maybe develop into a rocket LB in the future.
@The Real Falcon: Please don’t make hasty generalizations about ALL UGA fans. It hurts your credibility and irritates me that your post makes me believe I can’t tell you I’m a UGA fan and you not think I’ve got some blind bias towards all UGA players. Thanks.
Also, Troy Bergeron played well, but he was a victim of the numbers game. He had a couple clutch catches in the Chargers game.
@Buzkill: Obviously, Norwood is the starter at KR. I think that’s a given, but you can’t just assume you’re going to be injury free throughout the season. You MUST, MUST, MUST evaluate backups at ALL positions. You MUST assume there’s going to be an injury to the starter (and pray there isn’t one) and you need to have quality backups who can fill the starter’s role to make sure you reload instead of regurgitate.
The Bears have released Rod Hood, The Texans released Delta O’Neil while Daunta Robinson continues to hold out, and the Seahawks are close to signing Law Dog so that isn’t going to happen. Lets pick someone up and pray they can learn our d quick.
best wishes to D.J… you were better than your receivers made you look… and more of an asset than the playbook ever let you be.
That being said, John Parker made a believer of me too.
Deep breath… time for 2009.
…
@robertussen
I agree man we need help I haven’t like wat I’ve seen out of Houston since we drafted him and Anderson jus doesn’t have wat it takes 2 b successful n tha NFL. Let’s give some of these cancers on the team (grimes20 Houston23 Anderson98 decoud28 and yes even Owens21) and bring in some real players. We are not in rebuilding mode anymore so TD needs 2 b way more aggressive with our roster mgt
Agreed Mike Franklin, and ohhh man. Let’s get Rod Hood!
hey falcon #1 first of all im not on here to have a pissing contest with anyone im just like everyone else im on here expressing my opinions …im not saying i would be a a great corner back but its obvious that when chris houston continously got burnt in that chargers game and even in games last year that he is not ready for the falcons system.
also forgot to add that the saints released rod coleman…i know he has had injury problems in the past but he could help out on the defensive line cause when healthy he was a beast…anyone agree?
Thanks, Zippo. I think coaches and personnel guys fall in love with Thomas Brown, because he can lift a truck over his head and all that, and then they scratch their heads at why he’s not getting more yards when the game starts. He did have that one great bowl game, if I remember correctly.
Oh well, moving on… (And speaking of moving on, the less said about the Dawgs game today, the better. Man, oh man…)
I am very, very curious to see what we pick up from other teams’ cuts. I don’t know a lot about the available DBs other than the name recognition. Do these guys have anything left?
Let me just say that I really like our young talent on defense, but they are going to have to grow up in a hurry. It’s kind of like the Braves banking on Kelly Johnson and Francoeur to hit at the beginning of this year, but let’s hope it works out better for the Falcons.
@Mr. E: I don’t see Rod Coleman coming back here. I think they feel pretty good about the DTs we have. I would take him in his prime, but not now.
We’ve stuffed the run pretty well, especially the past two games. I’m not worried about our DTs. I’m more worried about pass rush and DB play. I know I’m not saying anything earth-shattering there, but I do want to give them credit for stopping the run.
And the one thing I’ve been kind of in shock about since the Chargers game is Chris Houston. He didn’t get toasted like that the first two pre-season games. I mean, Grimes will always be kind of around the ball, and Chevis Jackson is a pretty good option at nickel. But I guess it was too much pressure to have Houston step up to No. 1 corner.
Houston has a ton of talent, but hopefully they can get his head straight. Even if Tye Hill takes his job, we may need him down the road in case of injury. It’s too early to give up on the guy.
Of course, I’m the eternal optimist. One thing I will say is that if it needs fixing, I’m glad TD and Smitty are the ones in charge.
Yeah, Dave. The Dawgs game was rough to watch. :/ Rod Hood was on the Cardinals last year. He started at safety (it was definitely a secondary spot) in the Super Bowl, I believe. He may be too old at this point, but could be a band aid until the younger guys get coached up.
@Walt: Those players you named aren’t cancers. T.O. is a cancer. Grimes and Owens are too young to be considered busts. I’m giving Anderson the beginning of this season before I consider him a bust, and Houston has looked good at times. Grimes looked better in the Chargers game than Houston did, in my opinion.
Also, let me clarify something. “Rebuilding Mode” doesn’t end when you set the base of the house. You still need a roof. We’re still building the roof. Be patient. I hate that we got Tony G. so late in his career because that is a “Want to win Super Bowl now” move, but we’re still in somewhat of a rebuilding mode, especially defensively. The house is almost done. Just give it time.
I completely disagree with those who say Snelling, not Thomas Brown, should have been cut. Everything I saw from these two players showed me that Snelling was the more aggressive and more effective running back. In fact, I thought he was more effective in the pre-season than Jerious. It really makes me wonder if those who favor Brown are disgruntled UGA fans. Sorry, but it looks like a bias to me. Brown showed me nothing more than average ability. Haynes, too, is a much tougher back.
gfweis
thomas brown should’ve been kept over snelling any day. he had speed, good cutting ability, a great utility back, and is above average on pass protection. snelling is a joke. as far as shockley goes, its sad but we all saw it coming. he was outplayed. the falcons made a big mistake with brown. and why did we bring ferguson in just to cut him? gfweis, you must be watching a different game
@gfweis: I don’t know if you know this, but Haynes is also a UGA grad.
Say what you want, but I’ll reiterate what I wrote earlier. Based on my observations (encompassing more than just YPC), I felt like Brown was the better option. However, if you were a coach and you had to pick between a back-up for Turner and a back-up for Norwood, obviously you’d pick a back-up to your #1 back if the backs were of similar skill. That’s really what it boils down to, I believe.
@gfweis
I completely agree with your assessment. I felt Snelling did a better job during the preseason as a whole, and thought you could even argue he may have outperformed Norwood as well.
you both are nut jobs. he brings nothing to this team
Well, he brings a Turner style of running to the team, but in NO way is he better than Norwood. Both Turner and Norwood are big play threats every time they touch the ball. Snelling is not. He’s just not fast enough, from what I’ve seen.
ive seen lineman run faster than snelling
I glad we are keeping both Snelling and John Parker Wilson
I’m not sure where the hate for Snelling comes from. He’s been with us for a couple of years, and whenever he’s had the opportunity to play, he’s been productive.
Last year he averaged 4.1 yards per carry in real games, with no fumbles.
Admittedly, this pre-season Snelling was only at 3.8 yards per carry, with the Ravens game dragging him down (sorta took one for the team, there). But he’s shown plenty the past two years plus for the coaching staff to keep him around, and that’s good enough for me.
By the way, Thomas Brown averaged 2.4 yards per carry this pre-season. Just sayin’.
what about kick returns and over all ability? hes got smelling beat by a mile
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