Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports cites multiple team sources with the Atlanta Falcons that believe that tight end Tony Gonzalez will likely return for another year with the team. Throughout last year, Gonzalez indicated that he was very likely to retire after the 2012 season. Gonzalez had gone his entire career without garnering a single postseason win, which was earned when the Falcons defeated the Seattle Seahawks in the divisional playoff round. Many believed that the Falcons close finish in the NFC Championship Game against the San Francisco 49ers could lure the sixteen-year veteran back for a seventeenth season with the goal of reaching the Super Bowl. Gonzalez is currently an unrestricted free agent, but is expected to return only to the Falcons if he opts not to call it a career.

Per Silver, sources indicate that Gonzalez would likely come back on the conditions that he could see a pay increase as well as be allowed to skip training camp. Gonzalez counted roughly $6 million against the Falcons salary cap in 2012 with a $3.9 million base salary and bonuses amounting to $2 million.

Gonzalez is also noted for his incredible conditioning, having only missed two games in his entire career. He is coming off a 2012 where he caught a team-leading 93 passes for 930 yards and 8 touchdowns, all of which representing his best production since joining the Falcons via trade in 2009.

Silver’s report indicates that team officials would likely accept Gonzalez’s conditions in order to return to the team.

Chad Speck of Allegiant Athletic Agency, which represents Falcons guard Garrett Reynolds tweeted that the Falcons have agreed to terms with the impending unrestricted free agent. Terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Reynolds’ 2012 season ended on injured reserve due to a back injury after starting the first 6 games of the season at right guard. He began the 2011 season as the starting right guard, before being benched in favor of Joe Hawley. Reynolds showed improvement in 2012 before his injury. He was originally a fifth round pick by the Falcons out of North Carolina in 2009.

UPDATE: The Falcons announced that Reynolds agreed to a two-year deal.

Adam Schefter of ESPN tweeted this morning that the Falcons have come to an agreement on a five-year deal with safety William Moore. Terms of the deal have yet to be disclosed. Moore was an impending unrestricted free agent as free agency doesn’t officially begin until Tuesday afternoon. But the league instituted a new three-day window that began this morning at midnight that would allow teams to begin talking to impending free agents on other teams.

Moore was widely considered to be the team’s highest priority when it comes to retaining among their free agents. Moore was a second round pick by the Falcons in 2009, and missed most of his rookie season with a hamstring injury. He would replace an injured Erik Coleman in the starting lineup in Week 2 of the following season, and would not relinquish it back to Coleman on his way to a 71-tackle and 5-interception season. His production dipped a bit in 2011 to 54 tackles and only 2 interceptions, after missing four games due to injury. He would miss 4 games again in 2012 but would see his production rebound under new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, recording 75 tackles, 1 sack, and 4 interceptions. He would be voted to the Pro Bowl as an injury replacement.

UPDATE: D. Orlando Ledbetter of the AJC reports that the deal is worth $30 million over five years with $14 million guaranteed. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports the max value of the contract is worth $32 million, presumably due to incentives and escalators. Schefter also reports that Moore is due $18 million over the first three years of the deal.

Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank and Atlanta city mayor Kasim Reed announced an agreement this afternoon between the team and the city for a new stadium to be built in downtown Atlanta. The deal has not been finalized yet, and the final site for the new stadium won’t be chosen until it is. But it appears likely that a site adjacent or near the current Georgia Dome will be chosen.

Under the proposed deal, $200 million will be contributed by the city via the hotel-motel tax. The Falcons will be responsible for $800 million themselves, as well as $50 million in infrastructure costs. There will also be investment by the Arthur Blank Family Foundation in adjacent neighborhoods for economic improvements and developments. The city and the team also reached an agreement that there will be equal opportunity for women and minority-owned businesses to participate in construction of the new stadium.

The team and the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, who owns the Georgia Dome, came to a non-binding agreement last year to build a new retractable roof stadium. The Falcons intend to begin playing in the new stadium in 2017, although construction won’t begin at least until the team and GWCCA finalize terms. They appear one step closer now.

Impending restricted free agent running back Antone Smith re-signed with the Atlanta Falcons today, signing a two-year contract with the team. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but both years were likely for league minimum base salaries. If the first year of Smith’s new deal is for the league minimum of $630,000 for fourth-year veterans, that is nearly $700,000 less than the RFA tender of $1.323 million, saving them some money for the start of free agency next week.

Smith first joined the Falcons during the 2009 season after being an undrafted free agent with the Detroit Lions. He was initially signed to the practice squad, and was re-signed to a future deal after the season. He made the team in 2010, and has added value primarily on special teams. Smith has played 35 games over the past three seasons, with only a single carry for -3 yards in 2009. But he has totaled 12 special teams tackles in that span, including 4 in 2012.

The Falcons other potential restricted free agent is Michael Palmer. Because he was an undrafted free agent, if Palmer is tendered at the lowest $1.323 million level, the Falcons would receive no compensation if he was to sign with another team. If the Falcons cannot work out a deal with Palmer between now and the start of free agency on March 12, then they will likely tender him at the $2.023 million level. Then the team will receive a second round pick if Palmer was to sign with another team.

There was some back and forth over the notion whether the Falcons were going to use the franchise tag on one of their prospective free agents. Well, today the team made the decision not to, as no Falcon players were among the eight players officially tagged by today’s deadline. Safety William Moore was the likeliest candidate to receive the tag. Instead, he could test the market if the team can’t agree to a new contract before the start of free agency next week on March 12. However this year, new rules allow for a three-day window prior to the start of free agency in which players like Moore could begin to talk to other teams to gauge the market.

Last year the Falcons used the tag on cornerback Brent Grimes. Grimes is set to the hit market again next week as the Falcons and him did not come to an agreement prior to last July’s deadline for signing franchise players.

The eight players tagged by other teams included offensive tackles Branden Albert (Kansas City Chiefs) and Ryan Clady (Denver Broncos), safety Jairus Byrd (Buffalo Bills), defensive end Michael Johnson (Cincinnati Bengals), defensive tackles Henry Melton (Chicago Bears) and Randy Starks (Miami Dolphins), punter Pat McAfee (Indianapolis Colts), and linebacker Anthony Spencer (Dallas Cowboys).

Adam Schefter of ESPN tweeted early Friday morning that the Falcons are expected to make three bold moves today by releasing running back Michael Turner, cornerback Dunta Robinson, and defensive end John Abraham. The move has since been confirmed by the team’s official site. The move to cut Turner has long been expected after a lackluster 2012 season for the veteran runner. Robinson’s status seemed iffy, although the value of his play on the field didn’t appear to match the value that would be reaped in cap savings if cut loose. Abraham’s future seemed to be a bit less tenuous given he led the team in 2012 with 10 sacks. Per D. Orlando Ledbetter of the AJC, the Falcons have now saved roughly $16 million in cap space for 2013. Brian McIntyre of NFL.com puts the cap savings higher, approaching $19 million.

Turner is coming off a year where he led the Falcons in rushing, but only had 800 yards on 222 carries (3.6 avg) and 10 touchdowns. For his career, Turner played five seasons with the Falcons, rushing for 6,081 yards and 60 touchdowns, placing him second all-time on the team’s rushing yards list, and first on rushing touchdowns. Turner was the Falcons first major move of the Dimitroff-Smith Era back in 2008, being signed by the team at the start of free agency. He proved to be the foundation of the Falcons offense for the next three years, but with the continued growth of Matt Ryan and the Falcons passing game began to take a backseat on offense in 2011. That ultimately culminated with a 2012 season where many believed that his backup, Jacquizz Rodgers was the better option in the starting lineup. The Falcons freed up about $6 million in cap space by cutting Turner.

Robinson had a bit of a resurgent year in 2012 after struggling in 2011. But he still had issues in coverage, despite being able to make more plays vs. the run and as a blitzer off the edge. Robinson was signed by the Falcons in 2010 to one of the biggest contracts given to a corner. He was expected to be a No. 1 corner for the team, helping solve the issues that plagued a porous secondary in recent years. But in 2010, Brent Grimes emerged as the team’s de facto top corner, and Robinson had mediocre production. Grimes is now a free agent, and the potential of his return is possibly helped by Robinson’s release. Previous reports indicated that the Falcons would free up roughly $6 million by releasing Robinson, although Ledbetter indicates that number is closer to $4 million.

Abraham first joined the Falcons in 2006, when the team parted ways with their No. 1 pick to acquire him from the New York Jets. His first year in Atlanta was an injury-plagued season where he only played in 8 games. He rebounded the following year, and led the team in sacks both in 2007 (10 sacks) and 2008 (16.5). He had a down 2009 season where he only had 5.5 sacks, but bounced back in 2010 with a 13-sack season, once again being the leader on the team. He has led the team in each of the past two seasons. Over seven years in Atlanta, Abraham has collected a total of 68.5 sacks, which ranks only behind Claude Humphrey on the team’s all-time list. Ledbetter indicates the Falcons freed up nearly $6 million in cap space by cutting Abraham.

It’s possible that the Falcons could re-sign any of the trio back to much cheaper deals. Although one could expect all three players will test the market in order to see where their statuses lie. Given his recent production, it would seem likely Abraham probably stands the best odds to sign a lucrative deal elsewhere. The Falcons have been linked to a number of potential free agents that could be replacements for either.

Rams running back Steven Jackson has been rumored to be on the Falcons radar. Pass rushers like former Colts end Dwight Freeney has also been connected to the Falcons.

The Falcons have a need at wide receiver in order to bolster their depth. They could opt to do this via the draft or free agency, or possibly both. Given their needs elsewhere, it’s likely if they choose to draft this position it may have to wait until the third day of the draft. That wouldn’t be terrible given players such as Mike Williams, Antonio Brown, Denarius Moore, Cecil Shorts, Chris Givens, and Jacoby Ford have all been taken in Rounds four through seven since the draft moved to the 3-day format in 2010. But for every Antonio Brown there is more than a half dozen receivers like the Falcons very own Tim Toone and Kerry Meier that have made very limited contributions in the NFL.

That is why if the Falcons want to upgrade their wide receiver depth, it may be smarter to sign a veteran in free agency rather than hoping they stumble upon the next Brown or Shorts. But that is by no means a sure thing either as wide receivers are notorious for fizzling out when teams try to dip into the free agent pool.

The Falcons already have three good receivers in Roddy White, Julio Jones, and Harry Douglas. While there is room to upgrade over Douglas, the simple fact is that it would take a significant signing to think a player is going to come in and supplant Douglas as the team’s new No. 3 receiver, requiring a significant investment of money. And given the Falcons have already invested a good amount of money in their current trio (roughly $75 million), it doesn’t seem like they will be looking to spend a bunch of money.

Another issue that brings up is that any fourth receiver is likely going to have to play on special teams, specifically in coverage which has been the case every year that Mike Smith has been here. The perfect receiver is someone that can not only help take the top off a defense on the outside, but also isn’t afraid to run full speed downfield as a gunner on punt coverage or kickoffs. That is a fairly specific job description, and probably eliminates a large number of players from the Falcons’ potential list of candidates.

In terms of taking the top off a defense, a name that immediately jumps to the top of the free agentt list is Pittsburgh’s Mike Wallace. But Wallace is seeking a huge contract, and certainly won’t be on the Falcons radar. Brian Hartline (Dolphins) is another prospective free agent that has made a name going down the field, but his expected price tag also will probably be too rich for the Falcons.

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Last week, it was reported that the Falcons would not retain strength and conditioning coach Jeff Fish due to “philosophical differences.” At that time, it was reported that A.J. Niebel would be replacing him in the role. Well, earlier this week the team made that move official. They also announced that Marty Lauzon would be promoted to the role of director of sports medicine and performance, another move that was reported last week, after spending the past three years as the team’s head athletic trainer.

Niebel joined the Falcons in 2011 as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. He served under Fish, who was hired in 2008. Prior to working with the Falcons, most of Niebel’s NFL experience came working as an assistant with the Oakland Raiders for six years (2003-09). During that time he also served as a consultant for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball and their Class A club in San Jose.

Lauzon began his pro football career working as an intern with the Montreal Machine of the World League in 1992 before joining the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League the following year. He joined the Cleveland Browns in 1999, and would then be promoted to head athletic trainer for his final four years there before resigning in 2009. He was hired in 2010 by the Falcons to replace long-time Falcons trainer Ron Medlin.

Falcons safeties Thomas DeCoud and William Moore were added to the NFC Pro Bowl roster in the wake of the San Francisco 49ers going to the Super Bowl. They will be replacing 49er safeties Dashon Goldson and Donte Whitner in this Sunday’s all-star game.

Also, Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan will sit out the game due to a shoulder injury he suffered late in the Falcons loss to the 49ers last Sunday in the NFC Championship Game. Ryan suffered a sprained AC joint in his left non-throwing shoulder. The injury will require up to a month for recovery, but will not require surgery.

Tight end Tony Gonzalez will also not be appearing in this weekend’s Pro Bowl due to personal reasons. He has been replaced by Minnesota Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph. Gonzalez is expected to be mulling over his NFL future as he is finishing his 16th season in the league. Prior to last Sunday’s loss to the 49ers, reports indicated that Gonzalez was leaning closer to retirement after indicating at the outset of the year that he was 95 percent certain that 2012 would be his final year. Gonzalez’s contract expired once the Falcons season ended.

Wide receiver Julio Jones is the other Falcon player voted to the Pro Bowl team.