The Falcons have traded 25-year old cornerback Chris Houston and the Falcons’ fifth round pick in 2010 to the Lions for the Lions’ 5th and 6th round picks in 2010.  Houston played in 12 games for the Falcons last season and he made 47 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, he defensed 9 passes and had 1 interception.  Houston played in 44 games in his three years with the Falcons and he made 166 tackles, defensed 34 passes, forced 1 fumble and he had 3 interceptions (one he returned for a TD).  The Falcons must have really wanted to dump Houston because they didn’t get much for him.

The Falcons have signed 27-year old cornerback Dunta Robinson to a 6-year deal.  Robinson played in all 16 games for the Texans last season and he made 64 tackles, 6 tackles for a loss, forced 1 fumble and he defensed 9 passes.  Robinson has now played in 84 games in his NFL career in which he has made 394 tackles, defensed 63 passes, forced 6 fumbles, has 4 sacks and he has intercepted 13 passes (one he returned for a TD).  Robinson will be huge upgrade for the Falcons in 2010 and beyond as their secondary was pretty darn weak in 2009.

The Falcons have re-signed 32-year old backup QB Chris Redman to a 2-year, $5.6 million dollar deal.  Redman played in 5 games for the Falcons last season and he completed 69 of 119 passes (58%) for 781 yards with 4 TD passes and 3 INTs (78.4 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 6 times for 4 yards (0.7 ypc).  Redman has now played in 12 games with the Falcons in which he has completed 158 of 268 passes (59%) for 1,860 yards with 14 TD passes and 8 INTs (85.1 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 14 times for 20 yards (1.4 ypc) for the Falcons.  Good backup QBs are hard to find so the Falcons were smart to re-sign Redman.

The Falcons had three players with over 100 tackles last season.  Linebacker Curtis Lofton led the way for the Falcons with 133 tackles, 3 tackles for a loss, 2 forced fumbles and 2 passes defensed.  Lofton’s game was not about rushing the QB as his main goal was to destroy running backs and he did a good job of that.  Safety Erik Coleman finished up with 116 tackles, 3 tackles for a loss, 2 forced fumbles and 5 passes defensed.  It’s never good when a safety makes that many tackles for a team which means the front seven of the Falcons’ D could use some improvements.  Veteran linebacker Mike Peterson finished up with 109 tackles, 5 tackles for a loss, 1 sack, 2 forced fumbles, 7 passes defensed and 1 interception.  To have three players get over 100 tackles apiece tells me a couple things about the Falcons’ D.  #1.) They are on the field too much and #2.) They need the other 8 players to help out more in 2010.

The Falcons have re-signed 31-year old WR Brian Finneran to a 1-year contract.  He played in 10 games for the Falcons last season and he caught 11 passes for 111 yards (10.1 avg).  He also made 4 tackles, defensed 1 pass and he forced 1 fumble last season for the Falcons.  Finneran has now played in 110 games in his 8 years with the Falcons and he has caught 217 passes for 2,906 yards (13.4 avg) with 16 TD grabs.  He also has helped out on special teams as he has 30 tackles, 2 passes defensed and 2 forced fumbles in his career with the Falcons.  Finneran is a good possession receiver and a solid special teams player so the Falcons were smart to bring him back for the 2010 season.