Falcons sign free agent TE Logan Paulsen to a 1-year deal

As Atlanta’s free agency period continued to slog at the pace of continental drift, today we finally have news. The Falcons have signed free agent tight end Logan Paulsen to a one-year deal, the team announced Wednesday.

Along with former Bears’ pass rusher Pernell McPhee meeting with the Falcons’ brass, they brought in Paulsen for a visit. ESPN’s Field Yates worked his sources for the take:

Not to be confused with that weird guy from the internet, Logan Paulsen was most recently with the 49ers. He played in 14 games in 2017, starting in one, and logged...zero offensive statistics whatsoever. The bulk of his seven-year NFL career was spent in Washington, where he tallied 801 yards receiving and six touchdowns across five seasons. Bouncing between the Bears and 49ers in 2016 and 2017, Paulsen is on the market once more, and the Falcons were interested enough to have scheduled some time for a sit down. They must have liked what they saw, because now Paulsen is a Falcon.

Atlanta was reportedly very keen on bringing in free agent tight end Ed Dickson—now with the Seattle Seahawks—and were tangentially linked to Austin Seferian-Jenkins, who will suit up for the Jacksonville Jaguars this season. With Levine Toilolo’s pending departure, the Falcons have a TE2 hole that they must fill.

With Paulsen, they may be looking to supplement Toilolo’s blocking chops at a fraction of the price. As his virtual black hole of a stats sheet suggests, Paulsen isn’t much of a factor in the receiving game, but he’s an extremely adept blocking tight end that would fit nicely—and cheaply—into Atlanta’s offensive game plan.

Contract details are not yet available beyond the timetable. But as a 31-year-old unrestricted free agent, Logan Paulsen can be had for mere pennies and will provide blocking upside and depth, especially if the Falcons are looking to add a tight end such as Hayden Hurst in the draft.