Falcons sign several players to future contracts for 2017

The Atlanta Falcons capped off a busy Tuesday by announcing a bunch of future contracts, which we’ve rounded up here.

In essence, these are deals that keep practice squad players around and give them another crack at the roster in 2017. You can expect a couple of these players to push for practice squad spots—I’m inclined to lean toward Bykowski and Griswold, because they’re interesting players at positions of relative need—but chances are you won’t hear these names again until mid-summer. Just make a note.

Interestingly enough, de facto third-string quarterback Matt Simms is not among these players, which suggests that he may not return to Atlanta. If that’s the case and Matt Schaub heads to San Francisco with Kyle Shanahan, the Falcons are going to need a new backup for Matt Ryan, and it’ll be interesting to see if they wind up drafting one or not.