Atlanta may not be done adding to a crowded secondary.
The Falcons promised to add to the trenches, but unfortunately for them, defensive tackle signing Eddie Goldman wound up retiring. That leaves the Falcons with an empty roster spot and questions about how they’ll fill it.
They still may add to the offensive and defensive lines—at some point in the month of August, at least, I expect some shuffling there—but at the moment they appear to be sniffing around cornerbacks.
Per Aaron Wilson at Pro Football Network, they’re working out former Steelers cornerback DeMarkus Acy and former Broncos and Hawaii corner Cortez Davis. The bottom of the depth chart at corner is still very unsettled—beyond A.J. Terrell, Casey Hayward, Isaiah Oliver, and maybe Darren Hall nobody’s locked in to a role—and both players the team is working out are interesting.
Acy was picked up by the 49ers after the 2020 NFL Draft and had cups of coffee with the Seahawks and Commanders before landing with the Steelers last year. Unfortunately for him, he tore his ACL in the summer and has been recuperating from that devastating injury ever since. He’s presumably healthy or close to it now, giving the Missouri product a chance to land with the Falcons.
A physical player that NFL.com notes switched from safety to cornerback in college, Acy stands 6’2” and was a playmaker at times at Missouri, piling up 5.5 tackles for losses in 2017, 3 interceptions in 2018, and 20 passes defensed over three years as a starter. Analyst Lance Zierlein had some knocks for his coverage ability and recovery speed and suggested a switch to safety could be a possibility, so if Acy signs it’s possible he’ll join a thinner safety group than a very crowded cornerback room.
Davis landed with the Broncos as an undrafted free agent after the draft but was waived in May and has been looking for a team since. NFL Draft Buzz said he has “savvy cover skills” and is a quality athlete, but notes he needs to clean up tackling and the angles he takes while chasing down ball carriers. He’s fresh off a quality career at Hawaii that saw him led the nation with 18 passes defensed, as Wilson notes, and Wilson further reports that he had a Zoom meeting and private workout with the Falcons in the spring.
I didn’t see that reported as I was building my tracker, but there’s clearly a level of interest here that predates this upcoming workout. That makes a Davis signing seems very possible.
We’ll see if either player lands in Atlanta, but the Falcons clearly aren’t married to their current group in the secondary as training camp looms.
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