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A year ago, the Atlanta Falcons spent quite a bit of time with Colorado safety Afolabi Laguda.
It seemed as thought the team might be interested in him with a late round pick, though that didn’t quite happen.
An Atlanta native and teammate of eventual second-round pick Isaiah Oliver, Laguda wound up with the Rams before being waived off injured reserve.
Now he’s back home with the Falcons.
Falcons to sign former Colorado and Rams S Afolabi Laguda, per a league source. Atlanta native
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) April 12, 2019
Afolabi Laguda started all 12 games at free safety at Colorado in 2017, with current Falcons cornerback Isaiah Oliver starting in the same secondary. Falcons starting free safety is Ricardo Allen but depth needed at the spot, plus special teams.
— vaughn mcclure (@vxmcclure23) April 12, 2019
In Atlanta, he’ll compete for a backup spot at safety and in the special teams core. He’ll have had a year out of football to rest his body by this time, and will be a guy the team has done research on and will have a familiarity with that they often don’t with free agents.
He’s also, surprisingly, only the second defensive free agent the team has brought in this cycle outside of former Falcons DE Adrian Clayborn. You wonder if they’ll add more talent on that side of the ball after the draft, but at least for now, it’s great to see another face added to the group.
The team is working out former AAF safety Ed Reynolds Friday, too, so we’ll see if they continue to add competition to the safety group.
We’re glad to finally welcome Laguda to the Falcons, and we’ll see how he contributes to the secondary and to the special teams unit.