Falcons sign Michigan product Christopher Hinton (No. 15)
The Atlanta Falcons made a handful of roster moves leading up to their Week 5 outing against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Their most recent one was announced on Friday, October 7 when the team signed rookie defensive lineman Christopher Hinton to their practice squad.
OFFICIAL: Falcons have signed Christopher Hinton to the PS.
The name might sound familiar to many longtime Falcons fans as he is the son of former Falcons offensive tackle, Chris Hinton.
The senior Chris Hinton is a seven-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman. He played four seasons (1990-93) for Atlanta, where he earned Pro Bowl honors in 1991 and first-team All-Pro honors in 1993.
Hinton Went Undrafted This Year
Hinton recently entered the league when the New York Giants picked him up this past spring after he went undrafted out of Michigan.
He didn’t last long in New York before he was released ahead of the 2022 season and then briefly signed by the Miami Dolphins.
Hinton played in 13 games last season for the Wolverines where he made 32 tackles as a junior.
While Hinton comes with little NFL experience, he does join a team that is in need of depth on the defensive line with players injured and others released.
In a corresponding move, the Falcons sent defensive lineman Derrick Tangelo to the practice squad’s injured reserve.
The Falcons Also Signed a Veteran DL to Practice Squad
Aside from Hinton, the Falcons also signed veteran defensive lineman Jaleel Johnson.
Johnson, an Iowa product, was originally selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the fourth round (109th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft.
Through five seasons so far, the 6-foot-3, 316-pound defensive lineman has logged 110 total tackles (54 solo), 5.5 sacks, 11 tackles for loss, one forced fumble and a fumble recovery in 65 games (20 starts) for the Vikings and Houston Texans.
Most recently, Johnson appeared in 12 games for Houston last fall where he recorded 23 total tackles (11 solo), two tackles for loss and one fumble recovery.
Since the Falcons moved on from starting lineman Anthony Rush, there’s no doubt that they won’t be elevating one or more defenders from the practice squad to take over his role.
The release of Rush came as a bit of a surprise considering he had started in all four games for Atlanta thus far. However, head coach Arthur Smith appeared to have expected more out of him than what he was producing––though he wouldn’t really say.
“There are some things I’ll keep private, but there’s nothing major,” Smith said on Friday, via AtlantaFalcons.com. “This is a performance business.”