Falcons cut reserve OL and touchdown machine Ty Sambrailo

When the Falcons signed Ty Sambrailo, the widespread reaction was somewhere between disbelief and derision. Sambrailo, after all, had been destroyed in 2016 by Vic Beasley, which is the kind of thing Falcons fans weren’t likely to forget.

For all that, Sambrailo turned out to be a solid signing for Atlanta, playing in 44 games over three seasons, starting six games and largely holding out pretty well, and capping his career with the Falcons off with a memorable 35 yard touchdown reception in the final game of the 2019 season. Searching for cap savings to make the moves they need to make, the Falcons will be parting with their swing tackle and touchdown-scorer.

The organization confirmed the transaction quickly after Garafolo’s tweet. The Falcons will save a little over $3.7 million with this move, money that they’ll likely put toward improving their defense, which is honeycombed with holes and needs an infusion of both veterans and draft picks. Atlanta seems extremely likely to draft a swing tackle option in the upcoming class, though Matt Gono is a logical option if he doesn’t win the left guard job outright. Either way, the Falcons are likely to do something we’ve long clamored for and actually try to have a young, affordable player lock down the swing tackle role, while saving quite a bit of money on Sambrailo this year and next.

We wish Sambrailo well, and I’m sure he’ll land on his feet as a swing tackle elsewhere.