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Falcons re-sign Svitek, add punter

March 3rd, 2011 Comments off

Jay Adams of Atlanta Falcons.com tweets that the Falcons have re-signed impending free agent offensive tackle Will Svitek. Terms of his contract were undisclosed. The Falcons also added free agent punter Ken Parrish.

Svitek joined the Falcons in 2009. He’s appeared in 29 games as a valuable reserve swing tackle, including logging 2 starts as an injury replacement for Sam Baker in 2009.

Parrish is a journeyman punter out of East Stroudsburg University in 2007. He has bounced around the league with several teams, but has yet to make an NFL roster. His most recent stint in the league was with the Philadelphia Eagles during last summer’s training camp. He played with the Florida Tuskers of the UFL during the 2010 season, averaging 40.7 yards on 41 punts, with a net average of 34.0 yards with 13 punts placed inside the 20.

Falcons current punter Michael Koenen is an unsigned free agent. The Falcons extended a restricted free agent tender to running back Jason Snelling yesterday. The Falcons already indicated they would not bring back Brian FInneran and Brian Williams. Formal decisions on the fates of other impending free agents including cornerback Brent Grimes, offensive linemen Justin Blalock, Tyson Clabo, and Harvey Dahl, inebackers Stephen Nicholas and Mike Peterson, running back Jerious Norwood, and kicker Matt Bryant have yet to be announced.

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Camp Battles ’10: Offensive Line

July 21st, 2010 Comments off

The offensive line may be the only area of the team’s offense that might see a change in the starting lineup this season.

That would likely come at guard, as third round pick Mike Johnson pushes for playing time. More than likely, Justin Blalock will be looking over his shoulder more than Harvey Dahl, since Johnson should have an easier transition to the pros playing on the left side rather than the right. But more than likely, Blalock will retain his starting gig as the Falcons try to build and maintain continuity up front.

Even with the starting lineup likely to go unchanged, there will be a ton of competition for the reserve spots. A typical NFL team only has to keep eight linemen, although the Falcons kept nine for most last season. Because the team will have one or two less players than there are positions on the line, versatility is very important.

Will Svitek can play either tackle position. Quinn Ojinnaka has experience at all five positions. Garrett Reynolds worked both at guard and tackle last summer. Brett Romberg has also played both center and guard in Atlanta. And rookies Johnson and Joe Hawley also have experience playing more than one position in college. Those five players will be the most likely to land the four likely to be available reserve spots.

More than likely, the Falcons would like to keep both rookies on the roster. But just in case neither is quite ready to contribute right away off the bench, the need for the two remaining veterans to be able to play all five positions increases.

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Camp Battles: Offensive Line

July 7th, 2009 Comments off

Barring some unforseen injury, it’s doubtful the Falcons five starters will change from last year. Sam Baker, Justin Blalock, Todd McClure, Harvey Dahl, and Tyson Clabo are all set to open the season as the team’s starting five, and something significant would need to happen in order to change that.

The battles here will come for who will sit the bench. Most NFL teams keep a rotation of eight linemen, but usually keep a ninth guy for emergency purposes, meaning that there are probably four open spots on the roster for competition.

The three players that are likely best suited to land three of those spots are Jeremy Newberry, Brett Romberg, and Garrett Reynolds. Newberry is highly experienced and Romberg is a favorite of Paul Boudreau as he played under him in both Jacksonville and St. Louis. Reynolds is the team’s fifth round draft pick and expected to compete for the utility backup position. While the team counts Baker as healthy for the time being, his injuries the past two seasons mean there is some concern over whether he can stay healthy for 16 games, meaning the need for a guy that can fill in at left tackle (and preferably right tackle as well) is key this summer. Last year, the job was filled by Todd Weiner.

Reynolds draft status insulates him somewhat to possibly landing that job. If he does not get that gig, then the most likely option for the fourth reserve is the guy that does win that role. And most likely that will be either Quinn Ojinnaka or Will Svitek. The team likes Ojinnaka’s versatility as they feel he can play all five line spots, but with having players like Newberry and Romberg on the roster, that doesn’t carry as much weight now as it did in the past.

Also in the mix are Ben Wilkerson, who was the top backup to McClure last year, along with Mike Butterworth, Ryan Stanchek, and Jose Valdez. In all likelihood all three of the latter are longshots to make the roster, and instead will hope to impress enough to land on the practice squad. Wilkerson will be hard-pressed to win a job since the team brought in both Romberg and Newberry, implying that aren’t overly impressed with Wilkerson’s ability to provide depth.

This is one of the few positions on offense that you could potentially see the team still looking to address at the end of camp. If either Reynolds, Ojinnaka, or Svitek has filled the team’s confidence on their ability to fill in as a reserve tackle, you may see the team try to target a veteran on the waiver wire.