Atlanta’s tight end depth chart battle just shrank.
With the team announcing the signings of wide receivers Daylen Baldwin and Odieu Hiliare, they had one roster spot to free up. That moved turned out to be the release of Tucker Fisk, one of the team’s small handful of tight ends, who was waived with an injury designation.
Fisk, 25, was practice squad fixture over the past couple of seasons for the Falcons, playing sparingly on gamedays and reeling in one catch for nine yards. When healthy, he’s an interesting blocking option given his background as an offensive lineman at Stanford, and he’s young enough that he should get a shot elsewhere. We’ll wish him well wherever he may land.
The Falcons now have a smaller depth chart at tight end and a clearer picture moving forward, as Fisk was expected to be one of a trio of players seriously competing for third tight end duties. Now that Fisk is out of the picture and rookie undrafted free agent Austin Stogner seems more likely to be vying for a practice squad spot, that leaves former Falcons draft pick John FitzPatrick and 49ers import Ross Dwelley competing for the role. Whether Dwelley or FitzPatrick wins that job likely depends on what the Falcons value from their third tight end, as FitzPatrick is a clearly superior blocking option, but Dwelley offers special teams value and is a better (if not standout) pass catching option at this stage of their respective careers.
Again, we wish Fisk well, and we’ll see if the Falcons tweak the tight end depth chart going forward.