Report: Falcons Release Justin Peelle With Injury Settlement
by Dave Choate on Aug 18, 2011 11:57 PM EDT
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So ends the Falcons career of one Justin Peelle, if this Rotoworld report is accurate. UPDATE: Via FalcBlog, Aaron Wilson of Scout.com Tweeted this. Appears to be the original source.
Peelle was hurt in practice last week, and the Falcons immediately went out and signed Reggie Kelly. It was unclear how much time Peelle would miss—honestly, it's still pretty unclear at this point—but the Falcons must have felt it was serious enough that they needed to move ahead with Tony Gonzalez, Kelly and Michael Palmer and let Peelle go with a settlement.
It's a shame Peelle's days with the team had to end like this. Signed in 2008, Peelle finishes his three-year Falcons stint with 37 receptions for close to 350 yards and five touchdowns, with a flair for the dramatic on those touchdown catches. A capable blocker, Peelle also sprung more than one running back from backfield purgatory in his time in Atlanta.
So he will be missed. Look for Kelly to assume the nominal backup role, as expected, and Palmer coming in one those downs when the Falcons actually want their tight end to catch something. The fact that the coaching staff is apparently so high on Kelly—who is not ready for game action against the Jaguars—gives me comfort right about now.
Leave a fond memory of Peelle and wish him luck as he continues his career elsewhere, if you would.
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Sad to see him go!
He was a great blocker, much better than TG. Hope he will get to play again soon.
It's all about Process...
good Peele
The eternal optimist and dreamer, perhaps Reggie Kelly and his former 2nd round draft pick was sent via Dan Reeves as good luck charm to make up for his lost super bow in 1998l. ( drafted1999
Matt Ryan is the Truth
In Dimitrioff and Smith We Trust
Go Falcons
by 3rd down 340 seat 7 on Aug 19, 2011 1:29 AM EDT reply actions
So sad
I hope Peele heals up, and walks right back into Flowery Branch and gets himself a roster spot back. That would be awesome. God Bless him.
Me too
That would be the ideal resolution. I have to say, this one really caught me by surprise.
by CaptainFalcon on Aug 19, 2011 7:28 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Good luck, Peelle
I used to always throw to you in the red zone on Madden
I like Peele
D. Led suggests that he may be back later in the year (week 10ish). See his comment below this article
"It's called Thanksgiving for a reason. If I can give and people thank me for it, that's kind of the thing that makes me feel great inside." - Dunta
by TomQ on Aug 19, 2011 9:51 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
I wonder if our new QB coach Bratkowski had anything to do with
bringing Kelly onto the squad. I still don’t believe that Kelly will win out over Palmer.
It appears he’s already won out.
"I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be
Kobe Bryant"
-Kobe Bryant
by waltbabyluv on Aug 19, 2011 10:18 AM EDT up reply actions
Based on?
Best wishes for Peele. This can only mean more snaps for Palmer, though I do think we’ll still see a timeshare at the TE2.
Fear Me, that’s a good point about the link b/n Bratkowski and Kelly. I’m sure the Coach’s confidence in Kelly to bring him in had something to do with his familiarity of Kelly.
Won out What?
I think we are looking at two different scenario’s. Kelly will play primarily to create lanes for Running game because he is a good blocker but cant catch. As per Palmer he wont get many opportunities to catch as long as TG is there. I still think Palmer is nicely developing in to a decent TE. I have faith in the coaching staff to develop UDFA and bring them along at the right time.
It's all about Process...
by Vishnu_falcon on Aug 19, 2011 10:48 AM EDT up reply actions
I would not say that Kelly can't catch
While he doesn’t get many passes thrown his way per season, about 19 per year, his average catch rate is 74.1%. He also has three seasons where his catch rate was over 80%. Only twice has his catch rate been below 70% and that were his first two seasons with ATL.
It might be as simple as Kelly is a more valuable blocker than receiver.
Last Year Kelly had 10 Catches for 29 Yards! Palmer had 29 Yards and a TD.
He was almost like Peelle for cincy last year behind Jermaine Gresham. I am sure he would have played 4 times more snaps than Palmer because cincy run quite a bit of two TE formations with Cedric Benson in the back field. I wish i had the snap numbers for Palmer but I am pretty sure he was on the field when TG was taking a breather or when Peelle was hurt. These are free Premium numbers from Profoottball focus for 2008 when Kelly was the main TE at Cincy.
TA :39 Completions:31 Yards:207 Dropped Passes:2 Interceptions:4
I would rather have Palmer catching than Kelly unless we are trying to trick the opposing defense.
It's all about Process...
by Vishnu_falcon on Aug 19, 2011 2:44 PM EDT up reply actions
There is no data to show that Kelly cannot catch.
His catch rate is outstanding over the past ten years. Palmer only has one year with only a few catches so his performance is truly unknown. At this point Kelly is a better receiving TE.
He's also running extremely short routes
There’s a reason his catch rate is so high and his YPC so low. I’m not saying he’s not sure-handed enough, but he’s not going to stretch the field for the Falcons by any means.
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I’ve never seen Gonzalez stretch the field, even the fastest tightend in the NFL, Vernon Davis doesn’t stretch the field. I don’t think it matters whether or not he’s running long or short routes, if he’s catching the ball he’s helping the team. Simply put, if there’s a missmatch or the linebackers/safties are caught napping that ’s when the tightend may run a deeper route, besides that tightends are usually that security blanket for the quarterback and they run short to medium routes.
"I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be
Kobe Bryant"
-Kobe Bryant
Interesting POV
Are you saying no tight ends stretch the field?
by CaptainFalcon on Aug 19, 2011 6:12 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Name one that does.
Name one that makes safties back up a little.
"I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be
Kobe Bryant"
-Kobe Bryant
TE's can stretch the field
And they do. Vernon Davis and Antonio Gates, to name just 2. They back safeties up either by running seam routes or lining up at WR.
Short Routes and lack of TD's doesn't give lot of confidence!
He has total 5 TD(last in 2006) in his 12 year career. I would except a good catching TE to have more than 5 TD passes in a 12 year career. This is very important for falcons as MM likes to call pass plays to TE in the end zone by faking a run in the middle. Look for Palmer in the catching few TD this year.
It's all about Process...
by Vishnu_falcon on Aug 19, 2011 5:32 PM EDT up reply actions
It is not a matter of confidence
You said Kelly cannot catch and that is not correct. You cannot gauge how good a TE catches by the number of TD’s he has, well you can, but it would be a mistake. That is determined by how he is schemed.
Yes, he has been used on short routes for some reason but you can bet MM won’t be stretching him out. ATL has very few plays where the TE is deeper than six yards past the line of scrimage.
All in all it doesn’t matter. TG is the #1 TE and the #2 and #3 spots will be sorted out by the time the season starts.
At 34 Kelly is still better than Palmer. That’s why he’s already the number two tightend.
"I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be
Kobe Bryant"
-Kobe Bryant
by waltbabyluv on Aug 19, 2011 11:26 AM EDT up reply actions
Kelly being #2 during preseason
doesn’t mean that will translate to the regular season. There are two or three games for that to sort itself out.
Any Numbers to back it up?
It's all about Process...
by Vishnu_falcon on Aug 19, 2011 2:45 PM EDT up reply actions
The lack of numbers and plays made by an UDFA versus a 13 year veteran who’s played in 160+ games, you want numbers?
"I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be
Kobe Bryant"
-Kobe Bryant
We don't know Palmer is worse than kelly
It's all about Process...
by Vishnu_falcon on Aug 19, 2011 5:40 PM EDT up reply actions
There aren’t any numbers that suggest he’s not.
"I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be
Kobe Bryant"
-Kobe Bryant
Why so much hate for Palmer?
I will try to simplify what we know not my opinions.
1. Depth charts don’t mean anything in Pre-season. Quizz is also way down in the depth chart and he looked good in practice so did Palmer. The coaching staff might want to evaluate certain players to determine who to cut or give more exposure to newer players.
2. As per D Led on AJC nothing to worry on Palmer because Kelly is blocking TE and Palmer is being groomed as Pass catching TE. He said Palmer is coming along nicely and doing good in Practice. Pat on ESPN NFC south blog said Kelly is there to block.
3. Reggie Kelly is a good blocker but his 160 games Receiving numbers look bad, he has 5 TD(Last in 2006) in his career with low YPC in recent years.
4. With game on the line against TB on a 3rd down Ryan went for Michael Palmer to score a TD because TG was not in the game. It shows the confidence the Falcons have in Palmer if TG is not in the Field.
It's all about Process...
by Vishnu_falcon on Aug 19, 2011 6:13 PM EDT up reply actions
Being a 13 year veteran could also work against Kelly
Palmer will be much fitter and more agile.
With the recievers the Falcons have, plus Gonzalez and Rodgers, it’s absurd to think the coaching staff would put Palmer out there in a two/three tightend set as a recieving option. For what?
"I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be
Kobe Bryant"
-Kobe Bryant
by waltbabyluv on Aug 19, 2011 11:29 AM EDT up reply actions
This is all a moot point
Palmer doesn’t have enough playing time for anyone to know how good a receiver he is. Kelly is not the solution as a #2 TE and on top of that ATL uses the TE as a safety valve so what does it matter?
Some people expect Palmer to be everything Gonzalez is, which is absurd. When the hell did Palmer become this awesome tightend, when he beat out Keith Zinger for a roster spot?
I blame Brent Grimes, now every UDFA is going to be expected to be a ProBowler
"I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be
Kobe Bryant"
-Kobe Bryant
Some people expect Palmer to be everything Gonzalez is, which is absurd. When the hell did Palmer become this awesome tightend, when he beat out Keith Zinger for a roster spot?
I blame Brent Grimes, now every UDFA will be expected to be a ProBowler
"I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be
Kobe Bryant"
-Kobe Bryant
Because lining up in different personnel groupings
Can confuse the defense. If Gonzalez is always the only receiving option from a 2 TE set, he will be easier to defend. If Palmer/Kelly can slip out for 20 catches then the defense can’t devote all their attention to Gonzalez. Also, Palmer/Kelly are likely to face very weak coverage.
Peele always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.
I really thought he had more the 37 receptions – but he’s gotta be proud of those 5 TD’s. I wish him the best. Good Luck, Duck.
Sad to see...
him go, I really liked him. Good luck Justin!!
I always turn to the sports pages first, which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures.
--Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States.
He might, actually
But for now, we bid him adieu.
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