The Falcons have indicated a willingness to shake up their roster competitions early

The Atlanta Falcons have had a vanishingly small number of practices to take a look at Daniel Marx and Luke McNitt, their burly undrafted free agent options at fullback. What they saw was a position in need of more competition, evidently, because they went out and got former Raven Ricky Ortiz and added him to the mix.

There are some settled positions on the roster, of course, but the Falcons sent a signal that they’re not going to hesitate to shake things up at those positions where players are legitimately competing for jobs. That’s rarely a bad thing, at the end of the day, because you learn new things about your current options on a weekly basis, and new players shake loose every couple of weeks or so anyways.

Fullback is the best and most relevant example of this, because it’s the only spot on the roster where a starting job appears truly up for grabs. The Falcons may well end up going with either Marx or McNitt when the dust settles, but Ortiz gives them a slightly more veteran option with a different skill set to add to the mix. That will hopefully inspire Marx and McNitt to compete like hell—not that they wouldn’t—and put three men in a spirited competition. If these three options don’t prove to be strong ones, the Falcons will undoubtedly keep churning, hopefully until they find a more inspiring option than Derrick Coleman presented a year ago.

That will likely be true at the back end of the depth chart at receiver, tight end, offensive tackle, defensive end, linebacker, and safety, as well. Don’t get too attached to those undrafted guys just yet.