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Defensive end Patrick Kerney will void his contract tomorrow after failing to reach a contract agreement over the weekend. Kerney was injured last season as he only played in 9 games and had 4.5 sacks. He will be a very highly sought after free agent and he will definately be missed by the Falcons. He played in 121 games for the Falcons and he had 58 sacks for them. The Falcons may now look for a defensive end in the draft.
Michael Vick often looked to Alge Crumpler when he got into trouble and the big man came through again with a fine season. Crumpler played in 16 games (all starts) and he caught 56 passes for 780 yards (13.9 avg) with 8 TD grabs. For his career, Crumpler has played in 94 games (83 starts) and he has caught 274 passes for 3,768 yards (13.8 avg) with 30 TD grabs.
Dwayne Blakley played in all 16 games (4 starts) and he caught 6 passes for 76 yards (12.7 avg). For his career, Blakley has played in 47 games (6 starts) and he has caught 14 passes for 141 yards (10.1 avg) with 1 TD catch.
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The Falcons got their feature running back of the near future (Jerious Norwood) and a possible future starting CB….but’s that’s about it. Here’s the breakdown:
With the Falcons first draft pick, in the second round, they took CB Jimmy Williams. Williams was mostly a nickel back in his rookie season but he projects to maybe be a starter in the future. He played in 13 games last season and made 24 tackles and defensed a pass.
The Falcons struck gold in the third round when they selected RB Jerious Norwood. He has great speed and is a strong runner. He will be the feature back in the offense when Warrick Dunn slows a little. He played in 14 games and carried the ball 99 times for 633 yards (6.4 ypc) with 2 TD runs. Norwood also caught 12 passes for 102 yards (8.5 avg). He also returned kicks before he started being a major part of the offense….he returned 13 kickoffs for 320 yards (24.6 avg).
In the 5th round the Falcons selected OT Quinn Ojinnaka. He played in 11 games for the Falcons and should be a reserve for them next season.
In the sixth round the Birds selected WR Adam Jennings. He played in 15 games but didn’t catch any passes and carried the ball 1 times for -4 yards. He also returned 7 kickoffs for 123 yards (17.6 avg). He better turn it up a notch on the field if he wants to continue playing football for a living.
In the 7th round the Falcons selected QB D.J. Shockley who stuck around as the third string QB but he didn’t play a down as a rookie.