Harry Douglas released by Falcons, per report

The Falcons continue to make cuts, and this one ranks as a mild surprise.

Falcons release WR Harry Douglas, per league source.

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 27, 2015

Douglas was a fairly reliable third option in the passing game—those occasional drops and slips aside, the most memorable coming in the crushing 2012 NFC Conference Championship loss—and he enjoyed a nice rapport with Matt Ryan, especially over the last couple of seasons when Julio Jones and Roddy White were banged up. He leaves Atlanta with 258 receptions for 3,310 yards and eight touchdowns over his seven seasons, and he authored some nice plays and quite a few sideline receptions in those years. He was such a fixture in the receiving corps that it's going to be odd not to see his No. 83 out there in 2015.

The move is projected to save the Falcons some $3.5 million in cap space, meaning they've freed up about $7 million just by cutting Douglas and Steven Jackson.

HD was the kind of player you either loved or hated in Atlanta. Detractors felt that he should have been able to put up better numbers in a pass-friendly offense, especially given that he was surrounded by legitimate talent, and that he was useless in the red zone.

Supporters pointed out that when pressed into action due to injuries, Douglas was a target hog who put up nice numbers, and that when Julio, Roddy and Tony Gonzalez were all in Atlanta and healthy, there weren't a ton of passes left for Douglas. Ultimately, Douglas was a useful player for the Falcons for seven years, which deserves an appreciative tip of the cap regardless of where you stand on him.

We wish him well and look forward to seeing what the future brings for the Falcons' receiving corps. This absolutely increases the chances that the Falcons look for new blood in free agency and the draft.