Atlanta Falcons 53 Man Roster, After the Cuts Edition

The Falcons have made their 2014 roster cuts and arrived at a 53 man roster, one with a handful of fairly major surprises.

It's fair to say relatively few Falcoholics saw James Stone sticking on the final roster—more on him in the days ahead—and certainly many of us were pulling for the young UDFA wide receivers. All in all, the Falcons did a nice job of balancing youth and veterans on the final roster, though they went with proven special teams experience at some positions rather than young players who might have to endure a few Keith Armstrong beatdowns.

Whether this is the strongest incarnation of the 2014 Falcons remains to be seen, and I definitely want to understand how the practice squad shakes out before I weigh in earnestly on the whole team. At first blush, though, this is a stronger football team than the one a year ago, albeit one that still has glaring issues at a couple of areas of need, including the pass rush, linebacker and offensive line depth. If they deliver in the win column and manage to keep quality young talent on the practice squad, all will be well.

Let's take a closer look at the 53 man roster, which required me to change around five or six names from our post-Titans game projection. Let us know what you think of it.

Final Falcons 53 Man Projection

QB Matt Ryan
QB T.J. Yates
QB Sean Renfree

RB Steven Jackson
RB Jacquizz Rodgers
RB Devonta Freeman
RB Antone Smith

FB Patrick DiMarco

WR Julio Jones
WR Roddy White
WR Harry Douglas
WR Devin Hester
WR Eric Weems
WR Courtney Roby

TE Levine Toilolo
TE Bear Pascoe

LT Jake Matthews
LG Justin Blalock
C Joe Hawley
RG Jon Asamoah
RT Lamar Holmes
C Peter Konz
T Gabe Carimi
T Ryan Schraeder
G/C James Stone

DE Jonathan Babineaux
DE Tyson Jackson
DE Corey Peters
DE Malliciah Goodman
DE Ra'Shede Hageman
DE/DT Cliff Matthews

NT Paul Soliai

OLB Jonathan Massaquoi
OLB Kroy Biermann
OLB Stansly Maponga
OLB Osi Umenyiora
OLB Tyler Starr

ILB Paul Worrilow
ILB Prince Shembo
ILB Joplo Bartu
ILB Tim Dobbins

CB Desmond Trufant
CB Robert Alford
CB Robert McClain
CB Javier Arenas
CB Josh Wilson

FS Dwight Lowery
FS Dezmen Southward
SS William Moore
SS Kemal Ishmael

K Matt Bryant
P Matt Bosher
LS Josh Harris