Falcons cut P Sterling Hofrichter from injured reserve

Sterling Hofrichter was a 7th round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft for the Falcons, and he spent the entire 2020 season as the team’s punter. He figured to compete for the punter job this summer, but an injury landed him on injured reserve, and now Atlanta has cut ties with him entirely.

That is rough.

I had figured Hofrichter would be back in 2022, given that he’s on his rookie contract, but obviously that seems unlikely now. He was coming off a quiet rookie season and the Falcons went out of their way to sign Dom Maggio as their very first free agent of the offseason, so he figured to face some real competition for his job with a new regime in town that didn’t have a hand in drafting him. Unfortunately, the injury erased any chance of that happening.

The Falcons will choose one of Dom Maggio and Cameron Nizialek to be their punter in 2021, barring any post-53 man cutdown signings, while Hofrichter will now hope to land with a team in search of a young punter of their own to move forward with. We wish him well wherever he lands next.