Falcons 2019 practice squad tracker and final prediction

Beginning at 1 p.m. today, the Falcons can assemble their initial 2019 practice squad. Th

at gives them the opportunity to have up to ten players around who are worth developing and serving as emergency fill-in options if injuries bite deep into this roster.

In recent years, the practice squad has been a quality proving ground, yielding contributors like Marvin Hall and now Jaeden Graham, so it’s not going to be assembled on a whim. Look for the Falcons to snag a third quarterback, depth at spots like tight end and safety where they packed a little lighter on the actual roster, and just players they find legitimately intriguing.

We’ll track additions as they come in right below.

Tracker

QB Danny Etling
WR Brandon Powell (Not confirmed by team)
WR Christian Blake
OG Sean Harlow
DE Austin Larkin
DT Justin Zimmer
DT Jacob Tuioti-Mariner
LB/S Jamal Carter
S Chris Cooper

Lost players

RB/WR Marcus Green was signed to the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad.
TE Eric Saubert, cut by the Patriots after being traded by the Falcons, ends up on the Oakland Raiders practice squad

2019 practice squad prediction

Here’s the latest projection for the practice squad, where I put on my prognosticating cap and grab a couple of guys outside the organization to add.

QB Danny Etling

RB/WR Marcus Green

WR Christian Blake

TE Thomas Duarte

C Chandler Miller

DE Durrant Miles

DT Justin Zimmer

LB Malik Jefferson

S Jeremy Reaves

K Matthew Wright

Jayson Stanley, Del’Shawn Phillips, and Alex Gray were on my initial list, but they were waived/injured, meaning they’re either headed to free agency or injured reserve. Neither will probably be on the initial squad because of that. I would not be shocked to see Phillips and Stanley around this team again at some point. I also replaced Tony Brooks-James with Marcus Green, who didn’t show much this summer but remains a guy the Falcons were intrigued by.

So in summary: Etling is an obvious third RB candidate, Green will develop as a versatile jack-of-all-trades hoping to slip on the back end of the 2020 roster, Blake will develop as a potential fourth or fifth receiver option down the line, Duarte takes Gray’s spot as a developmental tight end with upside, and Miller rounds out the offensive side of things with the potential to develop into the team’s backup center of the future.

Defensively, I mixed things up a bit. I have Miles making it ahead of Austin Larkin because the team talked so much about his potential, while Zimmer is an obvious addition for a team that could use more pass rushing punch at defensive tackle and only has a couple of guys under contract in 2020. I went outside the org to snag Malik Jefferson, an athletic but to this point disappointing linebacker coming from the Bengals to spend time with a staff notably great at developing LBs, primarily because Phillips won’t be here initially. Instead of Parker Baldwin, who had a solid preseason, I went with the lightning-quick and promising Jeremy Reaves from Washington, who doesn’t possess tremendous size but could develop into something special given time and good coaching.

Finally, we round things out (at least initially) with that practice squad kicker choice. Wright remains my pick at the moment, but admittedly the addition of a practice squad guy here is based more on the team’s seeming skittishness about Matt Bryant’s injury potential dating back months than anything else.

What does your projection look like?