Brian Hill re-joins the Falcons as the 11th member of the practice squad

The Atlanta Falcons took a risk with 2017 fifth round running back Brian Hill when they put him on the practice squad a year ago. That risk backfired when the Cincinnati Bengals scooped him up, but somehow, things still worked out in the end.

After a year with Cincinnati, Hill was cut by the Bengals over the weekend, and the Falcons have brought him back as the 11th and final member of the practice squad. The Falcons liked Hill’s hard-charging running style and physicality a year ago, and while he’s shown relatively little to this point in his NFL career, Atlanta’s going to give him another shot at proving he belongs. If all goes well, he could become the team’s third back a year from now if and when Tevin Coleman is signed by another team in free agency.

This move tells you the Falcons did see enough from Justin Crawford, the promising undrafted free agent who got special teams run and enjoyed a couple of runs, but largely was quiet once preseason began. We’ll see if Hill is able to stick around this time and provide a physical element to this ground game down the line, but for the moment, it’s just surprising and kind of fun to see him return.