Desmond Trufant, Calvin Ridley land on IR; Falcons make additional moves to fill 53-man roster

With both cornerback Desmond Trufant and wide receiver Calvin Ridley done for the season with injuries they picked up in Sunday’s game against the Panthers, the Falcons have made a few corresponding moves to fill their open spots on the roster.

Today the team announced that it had elevated linebacker Ahmad Thomas from the practice squad, and signed cornerback Jamar Taylor to the active roster. Those transactions were followed by signing tight end Carson Meier and linebacker Quentin Poling to the practice squad.

Thomas went undrafted in 2017 out of Oklahoma, and has bounced around the NFL so far in his young career. He had a cup of coffee with the Raiders, and then spend time on the Packers and Colts practice squads. Thomas has been with Atlanta’s practice squad since Oct. 1.

Jamar Taylor has more NFL experience. A former 2013 second-rounder out of Boise State, Taylor was with the Miami Dolphins until 2015. From that point he’s seen time in Cleveland, Arizona, Denver, and most recently in Seattle, where he’s appeared in nine games in 2019. Over his professional career he has 293 tackles and three picks.

Atlanta is 4-9 and eliminated from the playoffs, so the loss of Trufant and Ridley isn’t as dire as it could have been had the season gone the way the team had hoped. Wishing both of them well in their respective recoveries, and looking forward to them hitting the field and in 2020. In the meantime, there’s a couple of new faces on the active roster.