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Here’s your third installment of our new daily feature, Falcoholinks. A handy, one-stop shop for the previous day’s stories — helpful for ignoring your boss in the morning meeting! The Falcons take on the Dolphins in their final preseason tune-up tonight, so get up to speed on all the storylines prior to kickoff.
Roster battles
Ah, the all-important fourth preseason game, where undrafted free agents and players on the bubble can fire their final salvos to prove they should make the 53-man roster. The Falcons have multiple players vying for spots, and our own Kevin Knight examined the most intriguing players to keep an eye on for tonight’s game against the Miami Dolphins.
Scrap heap watch
With every NFL team paring down their roster to its final 53 this week, there will be plenty of names that are suddenly without homes. Could the Atlanta Falcons take a flier on any of them? Possibly.
Bridgewater joins the Saints
Teddy Bridgewater returned from a horrific knee injury that he sustained in 2016 to put together an outstanding preseason for the New York Jets. The Jets, looking to start the season with first-rounder Sam Darnold at the helm, dealt Bridgewater to the Saints.
Jets are trading QB Teddy Bridgewater to the New Orleans Saints, source tells ESPN.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 29, 2018
He’s an easy guy to root for, which is a bummer because I’m now forced to boo him mercilessly should he see the field. Silver lining? The Saints are now without a first and third round pick in next year’s NFL Draft.
Aaron Rodgers secures the bag
Aaron Rodgers does a lot of things well on the football field. He’s an elite signal-caller. He’s a Super Bowl MVP. He proved to the world in primetime that Jared Cook has actual, human hands. For these things, he is now richer than he was yesterday.
Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers became the latest entrant into the league’s highest-paid-quarterbacks-club, netting a new four-year extension from the Packers.
The #Packers and QB Aaron Rodgers have agreed to terms on a 4-year extension worth $134M, source said. He gets more than $80M by March. A huge first year payout for their star
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 29, 2018
Rodgers has now eclipsed Matt Ryan’s latest contract extension with a deal that will presumably keep him in Green Bay for the remainder of his career.
Falcoholic Live: Episode 49
Prior to tonight’s action against Miami, get caught up with Kevin Knight and Eric Robinson’s recap of the Jaguars game and preview for what the Falcons final roster may look like. For this episode they were joined by a man powered solely on hot takes and cheap vodka, the inimitable DW. If you didn’t catch it live, be sure to check it out here.