Monday, August 8, 2011

All in the fold...

Woke up Sunday morning for church and saw on the news that the Atlanta Falcons came to an agreement on a 1-year contract with RB Jason Snelling. Terms of the contract have not been disclosed yet. Snelling was looking for a long term deal where he mighht possible be a starter for another team. But with the lockout and the shortened time period it took to sign free agents, a lot of teams opted to resign their players early. And the market was just not good for Snelling. Even former Dolphins RB Ronnie Brown signed only a 2-year deal with the Eagles. But his reasoning for only signing a 2-year deal with the Eagles was he wanted to be on a winning team.

Snelling has proved that he is a reliable backup to starter Michael Turner. I imagine the reasoning behind this deal is to get more exposure, and hopefully a team will sign him to a long term deal in 2012. With today's game of free agency, most players are not loyal to one team because of the money. They go where the money is. If it was me, I would want to stay with one team. No matter what, the money is going to be more than the 'average joe." You just have to know how to budget and use your money wisely. Okay, that's an entirely different story.

So back to this year's team. With the signing of Snelling, the Falcons are at full strength. Now they have the running game, and a cushion with Snelling there. This is also good news for second round pick out of Oregon State RB Jacquizz Rodgers, who will get more time as the third string to learn the system and play special teams. A lot of rookies make the team by how they play on special teams, and for Rodgers, it will be no different.

Went to the shortened version of Falcons 'Friday Night Lights' this past Friday night at Norcross High School. And as all expected to see a live scrimmage, and hear certain players mic'd. But that did not unfold like everyone had hoped for. Coach Smith came over the PA and said due to the lockout and the certain number of live practices, this would only be a regular practice, with 1-on- 1's, 7-on-7's, 9-on-7's, and the normals practice drills. So it was still fun being there and watching the team practice. QB Matt Ryan looked sharp, and RB Rodgers is quick and fast. First round pick WR Julio Jones caught a few good passes. Second year WR Kerry Meier looked really sharp, and caught everything that came his way, that I saw anyways. At times it was really hard to focus on what was going on, due to so many things going on at once. But about an hour and a half into the practice, practice was called short due to thunder and lightening in the area. Smart move by the organization.

Five more days until there is football back in the Georgia Dome as the Falcons play host to the Miami Dolphins in preseason game one. Kickoff set for 7:30pm est.

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