With the injury to Von Hutchins the Falcons felt the need to act quickly and that they did by signing safety Coy Wire and CB Blue Adams.  Wire is a big safety at 6′0″, 228 pounds but he has been more of a special teams ace than a defender so far in his NFL career.  The 28-year old Wire played in 7 games (1 start) last year and he made 4 tackles for the Bills.  Wire has now played in 82 games (21 starts) in his NFL career and he has made 185 tackles, has 5 sacks and he has defensed 3 passes.  28-year old Blue Adams also has been a special teams player more than a defender but the Falcons may need him to play some corner now with Hutchins out.  Adams is on the small side at 5′10″, 187 pounds so he won’t be bringing the wood in the running game.  Adams played in 13 games (0 starts) for the Bengals last season and he made 15 tackles.  Adams has not played in 50 games (0 starts) in his NFL career and he has made 51 tackles and 1 sack.  Chances are that the Falcons helped out the special teams with these signings but it’s hard to believe that they helped the defense as both of these guys are career backups.

The Falcons have lose cornerback Von Hutchins for the season as he needed LisFranc surgery on his foot this past Monday.  Hutchins was likely going to be the nickel back of the Falcons so losing him will be a huge blow to the defense.  Hutchins played in 16 games (15 starts) last season for the Texans and he made 93 tackles, had 1/2 a sack, defensed 6 passes and had 1 interception.  Hutchins would have been a solid nickel back for the Falcons who could be in trouble in the defensive backfield now.

The Falcons only ask their fullbacks to block in the running game and they will likely do a decent job of that in 2008.  6′1″, 254 pound Ovie Mughelli will be the starting fullback again this season for the Falcons.  Mughelli played in 16 games (7 starts) for the Falcons last season and he carried the ball 6 times for 7 yards (1.2 ypc).  He also caught 6 passes for 36 yards (6.0 avg) last year.  Don’t look for him to get his hands on the football much but he will be leading the way for Michael Turner and Jerious Norwood in the running game.  Mughelli has now played in 54 games (19 starts) in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 18 times for 57 yards (3.2 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He has also caught 30 passes for 231 yards (7.7 avg) with 2 TD grabs in his career.

Corey McIntyre will be the backup at fullback for the Falcons this year.  He is 6′0″, 244 pounds so he doesn’t bring as much pop blocking in the running game as Mughelli does.  He played in 14 games (0 starts) last season for the Falcons and he didn’t touch the football.  McIntyre is a good special teams player so his roster spot will not be in jeopardy.  McIntyre has now played in 33 games (1 start) in his NFL career and he has caught 1 pass for 10 yards.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON:  C+