Falcons free agent signing part of early roster cuts

Now, there are two ways to look at this. Obviously, it’s not a great sign when a team guarantees a free agent money — even if it’s a small amount — and he doesn’t even make the roster. Morgan Fox has 15.5 sacks over the last three seasons. It was reasonable to expect him to be a piece of the Falcons defensive line rotation at the time of the signing.

But if there’s a positive spin to this, Jeff Ulbrich and Raheem Morris must be very confident in the defensive line depth to make a move like this. From all accounts, James Pearce Jr. has stood out throughout the offseason. The Falcons also expect a lot more from other young players like Ruke Orhorhoro, Brandon Dorlus, and Zach Harrison. This is a pretty deep group littered with potential upside. That hasn’t been said about the Falcons defensive line in a long time.

Terry Fontenot is deserving of a lot of the criticism he’s received for the Falcons’ shortcomings. His draft record is less than pristine, and the decision to hand Kirk Cousins $100 million guaranteed backfired. However, for the most part, he’s been an outstanding evaluator of NFL talent, making a number of savvy free agent acquisitions, enough to warrant a pass for this miss.