The Falcons first units got an extensive workout for the third preseason game against the Dolphins. And while the offense didn’t quite look like it was in midseason form, there were some good individual performances from a few players. The defense looked a little sharper, but there are still some questions going into the final exhibition contest. The team will make their first roster cut down by Tuesday in which they will have to release at least four players to get down to the limit of 75.

Stock Up

WR Harry Douglas – Douglas appears to be progressing nicely on his recovery from a season-ending knee injury last year. In the Dolphins game he flashed some of his trademark quickness and burst on his way to a 4-catch, 41-yard effort. He made a key grab to convert a 3rd & 11 on the Falcons initial scoring drive, which set up the touchdown pass to Roddy White on the very next play. And he had a nice 26-yard catch and run on the team’s scoring drive in the third quarter that put the team in the redzone, leading to a touchdown pass to Brian Finneran three plays later. If Michael Jenkins has an extended absence, Douglas is doing a nice job instilling some confidence that at least one of the team’s reserve receivers appears poised to step up and help.

TE Michael Palmer – Palmer has had a nice summer, showing good hands as he paves his way for a possible third tight end position. The incumbent is Keith Zinger, who was used almost exclusively as a blocker last year in goalline and short-yardage situations. It remains to be seen how impressed the team has been with Palmer’s run blocking, but he at least clearly is an upgrade as far as the passing game goes. He probably has shown enough that he merits a practice squad role at the least, but has a good shot at landing a spot on the 53-man roster.

LB Sean Weatherspoon – Weatherspoon made his second start on the strongside vs. the Dolphins, and from all indications appears that he will open up the season in that same position. Along with the team’s other linebackers, he certainly did his part to limit the Dolphins running attack to 46 total yards on 18 carries (2.6 avg) with a 4-tackle effort. Through three games and three starts, Weatherspoon has tallied 11 tackles, showing some of his trademark speed and range in run support.

Stock Down

K Matt Bryant – While a missed extra point in the Dolphins game may have had more to do with the dirt-laden field conditions of Land Shark Stadium, it still just underscores the fact that Bryant hasn’t instilled a ton of confidence with his kicking so far this summer. Given the inconsistency that the Falcons had last season in the kicking game with Jason Elam, Bryant may be facing a bit more pressure and extra scrutiny. The Falcons aren’t likely to make a change at this point in the summer, but the leash will be fairly tight and short once the regular season begins.

WR Brian Finneran – Although he made a nice grab on a scoring strike from Chris Redman vs. the Dolphins, he hasn’t really shown he’s in sync with starter Matt Ryan. Ryan showed an overwhelming tendency to target Roddy White in the Dolphin game, with 12 of his 26 passes going to No. 84. Finneran on the other hand only had one pass go his way from Ryan. As the Falcons look for a viable stopgap option in the absence of Michael Jenkins on the outside, Finneran hasn’t inspired a ton of confidence with his preseason performances.

CB Dunta Robinson – While it’s hard to blame the Falcons for playing it safe and keeping Robinson sidelined for fear of him aggravating a hamstring injury, it certainly hasn’t eased any doubts over whether the Falcons made the smart decision to sign Robinson to a big money contract this past spring.  Hamstrings are notorious for taking some time to heal, and the Falcons maybe being extra cautious given the issues safety William Moore had a year ago. The Falcons can’t really afford to have Robinson get off to a slow start in the regular season, as the secondary will draw tough assignments against explosive receivers like Mike Wallace, Larry Fitzgerald, and Robert Meachem and physical ones like Hines Ward and Marques Colston early in the season. Last summer, Robinson missed the entire training camp due to a contract holdout, and it was proabbly no coincidence that the Texans secondary gave up 272 passing yards to a mediocre Jets passing attack in Week 1. The Falcons cannot afford a repeat of that this year.

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.

D. Orlando Ledbetter of the AJC reports that Falcons head coach Mike Smith indicated that three players returning from season-ending knee injuries in 2009, are all medically cleared to practice once the Falcons begin training camp practices on Friday, July 30. Those three players are Harry Douglas, Peria Jerry, and Brian Williams.

According to Smith, all three will be brought along slowly and be limited to one practice a day. The Falcons will open camp with five days of a two-a-day practices. Ledbetter writes that there were notions that all three players could begin camp on the Physically-Unable-to-Perform (PUP) list, indicating their inability to practice.

Douglas suffered a torn ACL during the first week of training camp last summer. Jerry went down with his injury in the second game of the regular season, and Williams in the fifth. Williams also tore his ACL, but the specific details Jerry’s injury has never been disclosed by team officials. According to some sources, it may have been bone related.

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.

D. Orlando Ledbetter of the AJC reports that 2009 second round pick William Moore has been cleared to participate in the Falcons upcoming minicamp this weekend. Moore was limited to only two appearances last season after undergoing knee surgery in August, and then suffering a hamstring injury during the season which forced him onto injured reserve.

Per the report, fellow 2009 rookie Peria Jerry will not participate in the minicamp due lingering issues from a knee injury he suffered in Week 2 of last year. Cornerback Brian Williams and wide receiver Harry Douglas also will be held out as they recover from torn ACLs. Per Falcons head coach Mike Smith, all three of those players are not expected to participate in organized team activities later in the month and should return in time for training camp later this summer.

Looking back over the Falcons-related news from the past week…

Owner’s Meetings

The media got a chance to hear from the Falcons top brass during this week’s owners meetings. D-Led has a nice write-up on a Q&A session that occurred there with head coach Mike Smith. We learned that Smitty supports the changes to overtime, although that’s not too surprising since Rich McKay is co-chair of the competition committee, and the Falcons should be on board with all the proposals.

We also learned from Smith during the week that defensive tackle Peria Jerry and wide receiver Harry Douglas, both recovering from season-ending knee injuries last year won’t be participating in spring mini-camps and OTAs, but will be shooting to return at the end of July for training camp. Matt Ryan and Michael Turner are back and ready to go now. And safety William Moore is simply “progressing” with no known timetable on when he will be completely recovered from his injury a year ago. (Source: Pat Yasinskas, ESPN)

Extra Paycheck

Brent Grimes and Thomas DeCoud were the biggest earners this year for the Falcons in the performance-based pay system. (Source: D-Led, AJC)

Also interesting to note that Falcons safety Erik Coleman has been the biggest earner overall since the league instituted the system in 2002. (Source: Tim Yotter, Scout.com)

Beefing Up the Middle

The Falcons appear to be very interested in getting stronger up the middle along their offensive line, having scheduled several workouts this week with draft prospects. They are working out three center prospects this weekend: Matt Tennant (Boston College), J.D. Walton (Baylor), and Ted Larsen (N.C. State). The team also has unspecified upcoming workouts with Maurice Pouncey (Florida) and Mike Iupati (Idaho) who are often predicted to be first round picks. Indiana offensive tackle Rodger Saffold also will work out with the Falcons this past week, who many project as a possible guard. (Sources: FalcFans Draft Central)

They are being speculated as a potential destination for Miami Dolphins guard Justin Smiley. (Source: Armando Salguero, Miami Herald)

Draft Notes

The Falcons had a busy week of visiting pro days, attending those of N.C. State, Connecticut, and Central Michigan this past Wednesday. They checked out UNLV’s on Thursday. You can find out more information on which prospects the Falcons are targetting at FalcFans Draft Central.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk shot down rumors from undisclosed sources that the Falcons were on the verge of acquiring Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Limas Sweed. Per the rumor, the Steelers are on the verge of trading Sweed after a disappointing sophomore season and their recent additions of Arnaz Battle and Antwaan Randle El at the position. A league source indicates the Falcons aren’t a possible destination.. The Falcons are content with their current depth chart at receiver, having re-signed Brian Finneran in early February and the return of Harry Douglas to the lineup after missing all of last season with a torn ACL.

Adam Schefter reports on his twitter page that Falcons wide receiver Harry Douglas tore his ACL and is out for the season. Earlier today, Douglas was injured with an undisclosed leg injury in practice. Douglas had been taking the starter’s reps at wideout due to the holdout of Roddy White. The Falcons are now shy two receivers with the added loss of Douglas, and will likely seek another veteran free agent to help fill the role.

The AJC reports that Falcons wide receiver Harry Douglas left practice earlier today with an undisclosed leg injury. The team also released wideout Dicky Lyons, Jr. who was signed yesterday to help the depleted roster due to the holdout of Roddy White. The severity of Douglas’ injury is not known yet.

Brian McIntyre of FalconInsider.com reports that Falcons guard Harvey Dahl received the most on the team as far as the league’s performance-based pay roll. Annually, the league rewards players with low salaries that earn significant playing time.

Dahl earned the most on the team with $255,938. He started every game at right guard after having earned $445,000 in his regular base salary.

Second on the list was right tackle Tyson Clabo, who pocketed $254,297 adding to his $445,000 base salary as well.

FalconInsider.com lists ten other players’ extra payouts:

Kroy Biermann, DE – $162,469
Justin Blalock, OG – $144,273
Harry Douglas, WR – $112,217
Brent Grimes, CB – $189,409
Chris Houston, CB – $139, 921
Chevis Jackson, CB – $122,031
Justin Peelle, TE – $123,329
Marcus Pollard, TE – $1,386
Jason Snelling, RB – $121,308
Coy Wire, LB – $113,837

Pollard’s was the lowest on the team.