D. Orlando Ledbetter of the AJC reports that the Falcons expect several players to return to action in next week’s preseason game against the Miami Dolphins after missing some time. Among them are safety William Moore, cornerback Dunta Robinson, defensive tackle Peria Jerry, cornerback Brian Williams, and running back Jerious Norwood.

All five players have yet to suit up for a game this preseason. Typically, the third preseason game is the one in which the team’s starters get the majority of their playing time. And Robinson and Jerry are expected to hold down starting positions this season. Head coach Mike Smith indicated in his post-game press conference that the team had been targeting most of the injured players to return for this third preseason game from the start.

Moore has missed time by re-aggravating a groin injury he suffered in the spring. The former second round pick has seen very little action to date for the team in the past two seasons.

Robinson was held out last week with a hamstring injury, although he indicated in a television interview that he could have played had it been a regular season game. The team erred on the side of caution to allow the injury to heal.

Jerry still has lingering issues from the knee injury he suffered in September of last season and has been limited in practice since training camp began at the end of July. Williams is in the same boat.

Norwood too has been limited for most of camp with a hip flexor.

The Falcons were able to get wide receiver Harry Douglas and safety Matt Giordano back from injury for last night’s preseason game. Douglas (knee) and Giordano (groin) were held out of the Chiefs games. Douglas responded with a pair of receptions for 13 yards. It was his first action since 2008, after missing all of the 2009 season with a knee injury. Giordano had two tackles in his first action in a Falcon uniform.

The Falcons will have an open competition at the kicker position. Matt Bryant is expected to be the frontrunner, but he will be pushed by Steven Hauschka.

Bryant has the experience which likely gives him the edge since the Falcons would like to avoid any inconsistency at the position. But Hauschka has the bigger leg and longer range. The problem is that he has not been particularly effective in clutch kicking situations and showed a tendency to miss some fairly easy kicks last year in Baltimore, leading to his release. But Hauschka also has the added advantage of being 10 years younger than Bryant.

The Falcons will have options, and will likely go with the more consistent of the two. More than likely, the team will alternate them in preseason games to maximize their opportunities.

At punter, Michael Koenen’s job is safe. And while Hauschka was an effective kickoff guy for two years in Baltimore, he doesn’t like he’ll be a serious challenge to Koenen even if he wins the job over Bryant. Joe Zelenka’s job as long snapper appears safe after a good last month of the season in 2009.

The return situation will also feature some heavy competition. Eric Weems is the incumbent returner, and while he may lack explosive speed to really get a lot of big plays, he is fairly consistent with his ability to give the team good field position. Jerious Norwood has more explosive speed on kickoffs, but the team may feel his value on offense makes Weems more desirable there. As a punt returner in 2008, Harry Douglas was fairly good. But he didn’t show the most reliable set of hands and coming off an ACL injury it doesn’t seem like he’ll have that same explosive burst. Dominique Franks will get an opportunity as well. He doesn’t have great speed, but if he can show he can be a reliable set of hands and show some big play potential there, he has a shot to unseat Weems.

Michael Turner and Ovie Mughelli are entrenched as the starters, but the Falcons could see some turnover as far as depth goes. Jason Snelling had a strong finish last year, and it’s possible he could surpass Norwood as the primary backup and third down option. However, more than likely, the team will use and alternate both come the regular season to highlight their strengths and minimize their weaknesses.

The main issue at running back is if the Falcons decide they want to keep another back. Snelling’s ability to play both halfback and fullback means that the team only needs to keep four backs on the roster. But if Antone Smith or Dimitri Nance have strong preseason performances, there is a chance they could land as the fifth roster spot. Smith is more explosive, which probably gives him a slight edge due to the fact that Jerious Norwood may no longer be in the team’s long-term plans. Nance has a good combination of size and speed, and potentially projects a little better as an every-down back. Keys for both players along with their ability to tote the rock will be how they perform in pass protection and on special teams since that is likely to be their role if they make it to the regular season.

The Falcons announced today that four of their restricted free agents signed their one-year tenders today. Those players that signed their tenders were offensive linemen Tyson Clabo, Harvey Dahl, and Quinn Ojinnaka, and running back Jason Snelling.

Today was the last day that restricted free agents could sign offer sheets with other teams. No word on whether or not punter Michael Koenen or running back Jerious Norwood signed their tenders, but since they did not sign offer sheets with other teams, they aren’t going anywhere.

Clabo and Dahl will earn $2.521 million in base salary this year. Snelling will make $1.684 million and Ojinnaka $1.176 million. When Koenen and Norwood sign, they will be set to earn $2.73 million and $1.759 million, respectively.

After the 11:59 Thursday deadline for NFL teams to extend tenders to their restricted free agents, the NFL published the official list of free agents. The list indicated that the Falcons did not extend tenders to three restricted free agents: safeties Jamaal Fudge, Antoine Harris, and Charlie Peprah. Thus all three will become unrestricted free agents, free to sign with any other team.

Also to update previous reports, the Falcons tendered Jerious Norwood at the second round level rather than the first. His salary for 2010 will be $1.759 million, roughly $800,000 less than previous reported.

Updating previous reports, D. Orlando Ledbetter of the AJC now reports that in addition to Tyson Clabo and Michael Koenen, Jerious Norwood and Harvey Dahl have also received first round tenders. Ledbetter also reports that Quinn Ojinnaka received a tender, which was already reported by Adam Caplan of Scout.com on his Twitter acount. Caplan also reports that Jason Snelling received a second round tender.

This update now indicates that the Falcons have only yet to tender safeties Antoine Harris, Jamaal Fudge, and Charlie Peprah.

Like Clabo, Norwood and Dahl carry first round pick as compensation in the case they are signed by another team. They will earn salaries of $2.521 million this year. Snelling will carry second round compensation with a salary of $1.684 million.

We don’t know quite what the Falcons will do with their restricted free agent tenders. They have until Thursday to make decisions. But here is what I think should and could happen.

Chief among the Falcons restricted free agents are Jason Snelling, Tyson Clabo, Harvey Dahl, Jerious Norwood, and Michael Koenen. The Falcons will almost certainly tender all five of these players.

Because of the rules of the uncapped season, restricted free agents won’t be just fourth year players, instead fifth and sixth year players will also be restricted. And thus, because of their different levels of experience, players will have different tender levels. The way restricted free agency works is that teams tender players at certain levels to determine potential compensation if another team signs them to an offer sheet. If the original team chooses not to match the offer sheet, then they sign with the new team and the original team gets some sort of compensation, usually equaling the original round in which the player was drafted.

Snelling as a fourth year player at a minimum will be tendered with a $1.101 million tender. If that is the case, the Falcons will receive a 7th round pick in terms of compensation if another team was to sign him. But since the Falcons saw how valuable Snelling was last year both as a reserve fullback and tailback, it’s likely they will tender him at a higher level. That next highest level will be $1.684 million, which allows them to receive a second round pick as compensation.

Clabo, Dahl, and Norwood are fifth year players. Both Clabo and Dahl were undrafted free agents, which means if the Falcons tendered them at the lowest level they would receive nothing in terms of compensation. More than likely, the team will tender both starters at the first round level, which for players with their experience would be worth $2.521 million. Norwood as a former third round pick probably can be tendered at the minimum level of $1.176 million.

Koenen is a sixth-year player but since he was tagged with the Franchise tag last year his minimum tender will have to be 110% of what he made last year. The franchise tag for last season was $2.48 million, which means that the Falcons will have to tender him at $2.73 million.

The other restricted free agents on the roster include safeties Antoine Harris, Charlie Peprah, and Jamaal Fudge, and offensive linemen Quinn Ojinnaka. Ojinnaka is the most likely to get tendered because of his value as a utility backup on the offensive line. As a fifth round pick, he’ll likely be tendered at the minimum level for a fifth year player ($1.176 million).

The three safeties will be harder to decide. All three players can contribute on special teams, but more than likely next summer there will only be one roster spot available for any. So more than likely, the Falcons could probably get away with tendering one of them, whichever they see as the most valuable and most likely to win a camp competition, and let the other two walk. That player will more than likely be either Harris or Peprah. The team cut Fudge at the end of last year’s camp, and only brought him back after Brian William’s injury. So they’ve already seen him as expendable. Harris ended the season on injured reserve after tearing a PCL in December. The team can’t cut him because he’s injured, but not tendering him is a way of letting him go without having to come to an injury settlement. But a PCL tear is considerably less devastating as an ACL tear, and usually doesn’t require surgery (see Brian Finneran). Time to rest typically can heal them, so more than likely unless any complications come up during Harris’ rehab, he should be healthy enough to compete for a job come August. Peprah also ended the season injured with a sore hamstring, but that should also be healed in time for OTAs.

More than likely the team will tender both at the minimum level ($1.176 million). That would mean no compensation for Harris because he was undrafted, and fifth round pick for Peprah. If they decide to tender Fudge, it would put him in the same boat as Harris because he too was undrafted.

The minute I mention the word trade, I’m sure it’s only going to take a few seconds before Glenn Dorsey’s name pops into the head of someone out there. Why? Truth be told, the majority of Falcon fans wanted the team to draft him back in 2008 instead of Matt Ryan, and the notion that the team can still land their “franchise” defensive player along with their franchise quarterback is appealing to many.

There are rumors out there that Dorsey (along with every other Chief not named Matt Cassel) is on the block. This past summer, it looked like the Chiefs would be willing to move to Dorsey for next to nothing in order to get some return on their investment, but I don’t think that is the case anymore. Dorsey is the Chiefs best end as of today and is coming off a strong seven-tackle performance vs. the Redskins. Dorsey has 22 tackles on the season. For comparison, their other starter and first round pick Tyson Jackson has only five. The disparity isn’t that much different between that of John Abraham and Jamaal Anderson on our own roster. And when put in those terms, I don’t believe the Chiefs will simply give Dorsey away for anything less than a second round pick.

The Falcons are probably not in a position to really make any trades. The team has already dealt away next year’s second round pick. And while I think the team will get compensated with some early picks for next year’s draft because of our free agent losses this past off-season, it’s not the same. Even with an extra third and/or fourth rounder, the team has to be weary about falling into the trap that Rich McKay did in 2006 and start dealing all their draft picks away for veteran players to get them over the hump. The crappiness of the ’06 draft is one of the reasons why the team was so bad when Dimitroff took over. Draft picks are precious, particularly those from the first few rounds.

Which is why if the Falcons are looking to make any moves on this trade deadline, they are probably best trying to offer player for player deals instead of player for pick deals. Which then begs the question of which current Falcon players offer the most trade value.

Despite improved performances this year and especially the past two games, the Falcons could still look to deal Jamaal Anderson if they think they can get good value for him.

The only other players on the roster that the Falcons could afford to move and get something in return is either of the two reserve backs: Norwood and Snelling.  They might try to flip one of the reserve corners: Jackson or Hill, but with Brian Williams injury status from last night up in the air, that probably isn’t a smart move.

I think there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that we make a deal before tomorrow night’s trade deadline. And if the Falcons were, I think the best move might be to move Norwood for a cornerback, particularly if the early prognosis on Brian Williams injury isn’t too promising. If we get lucky, maybe the Texans GM Rick Smith gets drunk tonight and decides to deal us Dunta Robinson for Norwood straight up. A deal that packages Anderson and Norwood for Dorsey is a popular one on the forums is probably the most realistic (if you can use that term when speculating on Falcon trades). Dorsey is a heck of a talent, but is he really as promising as he looked a year and a half ago? Are we sure that latent Top 5 potential is still there and will emerge once he arrives in Atlanta? Or are we simply ignoring the facts that Dorsey has been a fairly average player since he’s entered the league under some false hope that Mike Smith and Thomas Dimitroff can turn everything to gold. Maybe we were just simply all wrong that Dorsey was as good a talent as we thought he was in April 2008.

Who knows? I’m sure Thomas Dimitroff has an idea. And it’s why he gets paid millions of dollars (at least I hope he does because if he doesn’t, he deserves a raise), and I just run a website.

Dan Parr of Pro Football Weekly reports that the Falcons plan to extend running back Jerious Norwood right after they work out a new deal for wide receiver Roddy White.

Earlier reports indicated that White is a high priority to get a new deal done in the near future. Both White and Norwood are entering the final years of their contracts. Due to the uncertainty of the future of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, however, it is unknown if the Falcons face any real danger of losing either player to free agency next year. Without an extension of the CBA before next March, both White and Norwood will become restricted free agents instead of unrestricted, and much easier for the team to retain.

Per Parr’s report, the Falcons see Norwood as a valuable commodity that can form a solid 1-2 punch with starting running back Michael Turner for years to come.