Up until Monday morning, the Atlanta Falcons were having arguably the NFL’s quietest offseason.
Within a few hours of the NFL’s legal tampering period, the team announced it would be releasing top cornerback Desmond Trufant, starting running back Devonta Freeman, offensive lineman Ty Sambrailo and tight end Luke Stocker.
Just when fans were trying to digest losing two key members of the Falcons’ 2016 Super Bowl appearance, the news dropped that Pro Bowl tight end Austin Hooper had agreed to sign a record contract with the Cleveland Browns.
About an hour later, the Falcons traded the second-round pick that they acquired from the Patriots (No. 55 overall) and a fifth-round pick to the Baltimore Ravens for tight end Hayden Hurst and a fourth-round selection.
Hurst, a 2018 first-round pick, hasn’t yet become a reliable target, but he should be a better fit Dirk Koetter’s offense, which caters more to the tight end position.
So where do all these moves leave Atlanta? Well, the team has more cap space and flexibility to sign free agents when the new league year officially begins.
Entering the day, the Falcons were in the negative in terms of cap space and they created at least $10 million for 2020, and possibly more once the cuts become official.
At the same time, the team now has significant holes at cornerback, defensive end and possibly linebacker with De’Vondre Campbell likely to sign elsewhere.
Atlanta did find a good potential replacement for Hooper, although trading away a valuable draft pick for a player who has never topped 350 receiving yards in a season is a little risky.
One thing became clear, though, general manager Thomas Dimitroff isn’t afraid to shake things up as the team tries to get back to the playoffs after two 7-9 seasons.
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