The Falcons have signed 25-year old safety Jamaal Fudge.  Fudge played in 14 games (0 starts) for the Jaguars last season and he made 9 tackles, defensed 2 passes and had 1 interception.  Fudge will likely get most of his playing time for the Falcons on special teams in 2008.  Fudge has now played in 20 games (0 starts) in his NFL career and he has made 13 tackles, has defensed 2 passes and has 1 interception.

The Falcons have signed RB Kenneth Darby to the practice squad.  Darby carried the football 32 times in the preseason for the Buccaneers and he rushed for 102 yards (3.2 ypc).  Darby has only played in 1 NFL game in his career and in that game he carried the ball 2 times for 9 yards (4.5 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 16 yards (8.0 avg).  This was a nice little low risk move for the Falcons.

The Falcons have signed TE Justin Peelle after he was recently released by the Dolphins.  Peelle caught 4 passes in the preseason for the Dolphins covering 39 yards (9.8 avg).  Peelle has played in 93 games in his NFL career and he has caught 85 passes for 614 yards (7.2 avg) with 7 TD grabs.  This was another solid addition to the TE corps of the Falcons.

The Falcons have signed 36-year old TE Marcus Pollard to a 1-year contract.  Pollard will give the Falcons a pass receiving threat at TE which they didn’t have until now.  Pollard played in 14 games for the Seahawks last season and he caught 28 passes for 273 yards (9.8 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  Pollard has had a solid NFL career having played in 183 games in which he has caught 349 passes for 4,280 yards (12.3 avg) with 40 TD grabs.  This was a good move for the Falcons.

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.