I'm extremely torn this morning.
On one hand, I want to say thank you to Rod Coleman. This team couldn't have been fun to play for over the last few years, but the man put up and shut up over the duration. He also produced as a fearsome QB sackin', tacklin' and David Macklin' machine who won our hearts. As necessary as it might be to clean house, Coleman was one of the last players I wanted to see released. His loss almost certainly means the Falcons will go defensive tackle in the draft; otherwise, I guess Babineaux and Lewis have to be healthy.
On the other hand, this is exactly what I wanted from Dimitroff. The man has balls the size of meteors, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him fire Arthur Blank at this point. He's not going to be cowed by a player's popularity, which means we can finally start over. I'm both melancholy and excited.
There are more cuts coming, so stay with me throughout the day as I chronicle the carnage. To prevent this from attaining biblical proportions, I'm going to do everything after the jump, so click "read more" to catch up.
11:24 a.m.: Nothing so far. Food and water rations high. Morale low. Shot 16,000 pounds of buffalo, but could only carry 300 back to the wagon.
11:35 a.m. Jeff Schultz writes a quality article about the end of this particular epoch of Falcon football. It's a little easier for him to say "blow it up" than a fan who will be sobbing into his DeAngel-O's this morning, but I do believe he's right. As long as they keep Boley around.
12:17 p.m. Apparently Dimitroff has to dispose of Coleman's lifeless body first, because there have been no further cuts coming down the line.
12:59 p.m. Man, this is a slow-moving process. What gives?
1:46 p.m. According to the AJC, the Falcons have dropped Crumpler, Gandy, Leftwich, Lewis Sanders, Marcus Wilkins and Jamin Elliott. I fully support the release of Gandy, Leftwich, Sanders, Wilkins and Elliott. For Crumpler...
You were--are, rather--my favorite Falcon of this era. You approached the game the right way, you were excellent on the field, and you were one of the few players who retained a semblance of sanity through this whole process. Even though you've been released, I'll still follow your career with great interest and wish you the very best. I never thought I'd see the day when Vick was in jail and you were released, but here we are.
Good luck out there, Alge.
3:59 p.m. Now that I've sorted through my glass case of emotions, I think I'm ready to talk shop. A cursory examination will reveal that we've cut three contributors and four dubs, and should plan to replace them accordingly. I imagine Lewis Sanders's's's's's spot will be filled up by David Irons or a late round pick, Jamin Elliott is useless and Leftwich will be replaced by the draft. Marcus Wilkins is a talented special teamer, but he's also eminently replaceable by a GM with a brain (we've got one now!)
Gandy will almost certainly be replaced through the draft by a player some 20 years younger than he is. Coleman's spot should be filled in-house by Babineaux, who has the talent to fill his spot if he can stay on the goddamn field. By cutting Crumpler, I'd say the Falcons are putting a bit of weight on Martrez Milner. I'm not saying they won't draft to replace, but Milner should be given a shot to do something before the Falcons boot his ass out.
So there's a very cursory look. I don't think we've seen the last of these cuts.