Falcons meet with veteran OT Leonard Wester

Earlier this week, when the Falcons added guard Adam Gettis to the roster, I said that I didn’t think they were done tweaking their offensive line. If you needed more evidence, it comes in the form of a recent visit between the Falcons and a tackle Dirk Koetter is very familiar with.

That tackle is Leonard Wester, an interesting player for the Falcons to be considering at this stage of the game.

Unlike Gettis, who hasn’t played in two seasons, Wester has recent experience with Koetter’s offense, including a start last year and a total of 27 games overall with Tampa Bay. He’s relatively light on his feet at 6’6”, 305, and is just 26 years old. If the Falcons do wind up signing him, he would almost certainly contend for the team’s swing tackle role in 2019 against Matt Gono, which might be a clue that the Falcons wouldn’t be chasing one of the top right tackles in this draft class.

Wester’s not a great tackle, and neither is Ty Sambrailo, which is why many see the latter as a stopgap signing at best and a well-compensated swing tackle at worst. But he’s young enough and familiar enough with this offense to be useful, and that in itself is noteworthy at a time when the Falcons are expressing interest in or meeting with the likes of Cody Ford, Jawaan Taylor, and Jonah Williams.

If the Falcons strike out in the draft, Wester might be a fallback plan. If he’s signed here and now, it’ll be interesting to see whether the Falcons do pursue their long-term option in this class, or whether Jake Matthews, Ty Sambrailo, Wester and perhaps Matt Gono might be the long-term option of the moment.