The Falcons announced on Thursday that undrafted kicker Casey Barth and cornerback Momo Thomas had been cut by the team. It was also reported by sources that the team had signed former Alabama kicker Jeremy Shelley on Friday.

Barth and Thomas were a pair of the 24 undrafted free agents the team signed following last month’s draft. They along with 17 other undrafted players participated in the team’s rookie mini-camp along with their draft picks and a few second-year players this past weekend.

Barth finished his career at North Carolina as that school’s record holder in terms of career field goals made with 66. For his career, he connected on 80.5% of his 82 field goal attempts. Barth missed a large chunk of the 2011 season due to injury, after earning All-ACC honors the previous two seasons. His older brother, Connor, currently is the kicker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Thomas started every year at Colorado State, but had a pair of seasons (2010 and 2012) shortened by shoulder injuries. His most productive year came in 2011 as a junior, where he started all 11 games, recording 31 tackles, 2 interceptions, and 7 passes defended. For his career, he had 5 interceptions, included one returned for a touchdown, and 16 passes defended. He also was a productive punt returner for his career, returning 45 punts for an average of 8.3 yards. His real name is Gerard Santwan Thomas.

Shelley was perfect on 11 field goal tries last season at Alabama. For his career, he hit on 44 of 55 field goals (80%) during his collegiate career. He hit on 5 of 7 attempts in Alabama’s win over LSU in the BCS National Championship Game in 2011, a record for that game and for the school. He predominantly was their short-range kicker in college, and had minimal work as a kickoff specialist. His career long at Alabama was from 44 yards, and had a career record of 3 of 9 from kicks beyond 40 yards.

The 2013 NFL Draft was held this past weekend, and as usual it was an intriguing affair. I told my brother, who did not watch one minute of the draft mainly because his wife detests football, that this year’s draft was much like recent NBA Drafts meaning that in future years the 2013 draft class won’t be particularly memorable with its star appeal. Not to say this draft won’t produce good or even great NFL players, because every draft does, at least everyone that I can recall. But as we often heard over the weekend, this was a draft in which the linemen were front and center. Try as they might, ESPN and NFL Network did their best to insert as much “star appeal” as possible by spending as much time as possible talking about this quarterback class and Manti Te’o.

The media desperately wanted to talk about those players, but ultimately I think the quarterbacks and Te’o will be largely forgotten in the NFL. Ultimately the best you’re going to hope from the group of quarterbacks drafted this year is that they produce a Matt Schaub or David Garrard-caliber passer. They may be competent to good starter, but the only time they’ll be really discussed by the media by and large is to talk about how they aren’t great.

Also, it’s not that I doubt Te’o will be a good NFL player, it’s just that his infamous catfishing incident may ultimately eclipse his NFL career. I think Te’o probably winds up playing a decade in the NFL, most of it as a starter. But I think he winds up being comparable to players like Curtis Lofton or Lofa Tatupu, capable starters that their respective team likes, but are rarely mentioned among the best in the league.

I know it’s unrealistic to think that I could turn on league’s flagship channel or the Worldwide Leader in Sports, and expect them to spend hours talking about the greatness of Luke Joeckel, Eric Fisher, Dion Jordan, or any of the players at “blue collar” positions. But there were really good players in this draft and none them played quarterback or middle linebacker for Notre Dame, but you wouldn’t know that from watching the television coverage as they never went more than fifteen minutes without mentioning one of those lesser players.

My final comments on the draft before I start to discuss the Falcons picks specifically is that I do think it’s interesting that quarterbacks did not get pushed up the board. I talked about that in an earlier column this off-season. And at that time, it was difficult to fathom that there wouldn’t be any Top 10 selections at the quarterback position. I compared it to the 2011 class, where a number of lesser prospects went high in the draft and ultimately none of those teams are better for it. I still think the passers did get pushed up the board, but not as far as they normally do. So I tip my hat to NFL teams for not reaching too far on subpar passers. We’ll see if this trend continues next April.

But onto the Falcons…

I liked the Falcons draft. It’s not very sexy, nor is it one that I think people will look back and say made a huge impact on the team. But it’s a solid group of players. I think moreso than in recent drafts, the Falcons seemed more intent on looking at players that had higher ceilings. I think a hallmark of some of the Falcons post-2008 drafts has been targetting players with high floors, but relatively low ceilings. I think the opposite happened this year.

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The Falcons announced that wide receiver Kerry Meier was waived today. Meier spent this past season on injured reserve with an undisclosed leg injury. It was the second time Meier spent time on the injured reserve, after suffering a torn ACL in his first training camp in 2010. Meier was a fifth round pick by the Falcons that same year out of Kansas.

Meier began his college career as a quarterback before moving to wide receiver. He finished his career at Kansas as a highly productive wideout in their spread attack, breaking their single season record for receptions with 102 as a senior. Meier’s only action with the Falcons came in 12 games in 2011 where he played predominantly on special teams, without recording a tackle.

Agent Chad Speck of Allegiant Athletic Agency tweeted this morning that the Falcons had informed him that they would be releasing his client, offensive tackle Tyson Clabo. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the move will be designated a post-June 1 release to clear more cap space.

Clabo had three years left on his contract, and was set to count $6.05 million against this year’s salary cap. He received a $4 million signing bonus as part of the five-year deal he signed back in the summer of 2011, as well as a $3 million option bonus that was paid last year. The remaining prorated part of his signing bonus counts $800,000 per season, while the option bonus was prorated over four years at $750,000 per season. Due to the post-June 1 designation, only one-year’s worth of bonus will be accelerated to this year’s cap as dead money, meaning the Falcons will only have to carry $1.55 million and save $4.5 million against the 2013 cap. The remainder of the accelerated unpaid bonus ($3.1 million) will count as dead money towards the 2014 cap next year.

With Clabo departing, 2012 third round pick Lamar Holmes and 2010 third round pick Mike Johnson become the most likely candidates to serve as his successor. Johnson took over for an injured Will Svitek last year as the team’s swing tackle and top reserve at the position. Holmes got limited reps after missing part of the off-season with a foot injury.

Clabo first entered the league in 2004 as an undrafted free agent with the Denver Broncos out of Wake Forest. He spent time on the practice squads of the Broncos, New York Giants, and San Diego Chargers as a rookie. When cut by the Broncos at the outset of the 2005 season, he was added to the Falcons practice squad before making the team outright in 2006. That year, he started 10 games predominantly at right guard as an injury replacement for Kynan Forney. The following season in 2007, he started 11 games at right tackle as an injury replacement for Todd Weiner. He would land the full-time starting right tackle gig in 2008 with the arrival of Mike Smith, as Weiner moved to fill in at left tackle. Since 2008, Clabo has not missed a game at the position in five seasons. Dating back to 2007, he has made 91 consecutive starts at the position. In 2010, his performance led to him being voted to the Pro Bowl as an injury replacement.

Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reports that the Falcons have signed linebacker Brian Banks to a contract.

Banks was a highly-touted linebacker coming out of Long Beach Poly High School in 2002, having been offered a scholarship to Southern California from former coach Pete Carroll. But he was wrongly accused and convicted of rape and kidnapping and spent 62 months in jail. Afterwards while on probation, he was forced to register as a sex offender, impacting his ability to get work. But in 2012, after the alleged victim recanted, he was exonerated and Banks was finally free.

He quickly proceeded to get workouts from NFL teams, including first with the Seattle Seahawks now coached by Carroll. He also received tryouts from the San Diego Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs before finding a home with the Las Vegas Locos in the United Football League last September. In two games with the Locos, Banks recorded a tackle on special teams. The UFL folded this past October after four games played.

Banks, now 27, stands 6-1 and 240 pounds, and likely will compete for a practice squad position via a role on special teams.

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 announced on Monday the signing of eight players to future contracts. Each were signed off the team’s eight-man practice squad, including wide receivers Marcus Jackson and James Rodgers, guard Jacques McClendon, defensive tackle Micanor Regis, linebacker Pat Schiller, tight end Andrew Szczerba, cornerback Peyton Thompson, and running back Josh Vaughan.

Jackson, Rodgers, Regis, Schiller, and Thompson were all undrafted rookie free agents with the Falcons this summer that were signed to the practice squad at the outset of the regular season. Josh Vaughan was with the Carolina Panthers this past summer before being added to the Falcons practice squad in late September. Both McClendon and Szczerba were added in November. McClendon is a second-year player that was with the Detroit Lions in training camp, while Szczerba was an undrafted rookie with the Dallas Cowboys.

Terms of their deals were not disclosed, but a year ago players such as Robert McClain, Drew Davis, and Tommy Gallarda were signed to future contracts that were two years in length. That likely means that the eight players signed Monday have contracts that expire following the 2014 season.

The Falcons announced earlier today that wide receiver Kevin Cone will go on injured reserve to make room for offensive lineman Joe Hawley, who is coming off a four-game suspension. The team indicated no word on the exact nature of Cone’s injury that merits his placement on the season-ending reserve list. Although in past years it has been regular for the team to place players on injured reserve prior to the season finale. They did so a year ago with linebacker Mike Peterson and Kelvin Hayden, in 2010 with safety Shann Schillinger, and also in 2009 with Harvey Dahl and Chris Houston. Hawley returned from his suspension a week ago, but was granted a roster exemption last week allowing the Falcons to carry 54 players on their active roster.

Cone had played in 12 games this season for the Falcons primarily on special teams. Hawley had played in 6 games this season prior to his suspension, adding necessary depth at center and guard.

The Falcons announced today that they have signed guard Harland Gunn off the New Orleans Saints practice squad to their roster. He will be replacing Joe Hawley, who is currently serving a four-game suspension. Gunn adds depth at guard, and potentially could get looks as a reserve center. During his summer with the Dallas Cowboys, he worked some at center due to injuries sustained along the Cowboys line. Gunn was cut by the Cowboys at the end of training camp, and has been on the Saints practice squad since.

Gunn originally joined the Cowboys this past spring as an undrafted free agent out of Miami. There, he played alongside former Falcon undrafted free agent signee center Tyler Horn. Over his final two seasons at Miami, Gunn started 25 games beside Horn at left guard. He also started 5 games during his sophomore season at right guard.

In light of the team’s decision to cut defensive end Ray Edwards last night, today the Falcons made several roster moves to fill the void. Wide receiver Tim Toone was signed and tight end Chase Coffman was promoted from the practice squad. Coffman replaces tight end Tommy Gallarda, who was placed oninjured reserve. Replacing Coffman on the practice squad is tight end Andrew Szczerba.

Toone spent training camp with the Falcons and was one of the final cuts made prior to the regular season. Toone could potentially push for a role on special teams as the punt returner, a role he performed well during the preseason. Gallarda injured his shoulder during Sunday’s loss to the New Orleans Saints. Coffman was added to the practice squad early in the season after being a roster addition during the middle of training camp.

Szczerba is an undrafted rookie out of Penn State that spent the summer with the Dallas Cowboys before being part of the final roster cutdown. He caught 14 career passes during his collegiate career, working primarily as a blocker.