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The Atlanta Falcons are continuing to perfect their 2021 roster and by doing so, they waived players on Saturday afternoon.
Defensive tackle John Atkins, cornerback Marcus Murphy and offensive tackle William Sweet were all cut, along with wide receiver J’Mon Moore who was waived with an injury designation.
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Atkins Is a Former Bulldog
It’s always nice when the Falcons sign a fellow Georgie Bulldog and hurts when they don’t make it through the final cuts just as Atkins didn’t.
Atkins played in 36 games as a Bulldog, tallying 81 total tackles and zero sacks.
In 2018, Atkins went undrafted but was signed by the New England Patriots as a free agent. He made it through training camp before agreeing to a deal with the Lions. In two seasons (2018-2019) in Detroit, Atkins saw action in 14 games with six starts and recorded 22 total tackles (14 solo) and one tackle for loss.
Atkins opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19.
As for cornerback Marcus Murphy, he had a roughing-the-kicker penalty against the Titans on Friday which ultimately led to Tennesse scoring and the Falcons lost 23-3.
Atlanta signed Sweet to a one-year deal back in May. He was originally signed by the Arizona Cardinals following the 2019 NFL Draft out of North Carolina and has spent time with San Francisco and Dallas but has not appeared in an NFL game.
And Moore signed with Atlanta in July. The 2018 Packers fourth-round pick has not appeared in a regular-season game since his rookie year, but played six snaps on Friday.
Atlanta will have until August 31 to get their roster down to 53 players but the first round of cuts, which requires teams to get down to 85 players, is scheduled for Tuesday, August 17. And then, the Falcons must fall to 80 players by the 24th of the month.
Second-Year DT Had an Outstanding Performance vs. Tennessee
Falcons head coach Arthur Smith was not happy with the team’s overall performance on Friday night, but he was please with second-year defensive tackle Marlon Davidson.
“He’s had a good camp,” Smith said after the game via Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It was good. He was a guy that is a second-year, sophomore class that didn’t get the (exhibition games) or offseason last year.”
As a 2020 second-round pick out of Auburn, Davidson failed to live up to the hype while battling a knee injury. He played 34 defensive snaps (51%) and three plays on special teams in the loss to Tennessee.
Davidson was proud of his performance which included three tackles and one quarterback hit.
“I felt that I played pretty good,” Davidson said. “I felt ecstatic. Put it like that. I had fun.”
Last fall, Davidson played in just eight games and had eight tackles and one pass defensed.
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