Falcons legal tampering rumor roundup

The Falcons are going to largely pinch pennies and compress quarters in free agency this year, per their front office. We likely won’t see this team making big splashes, plural, or even a big splash, singular, until 2023 at the earliest.

That doesn’t mean they won’t sign interesting players, however, or that they won’t be able to improve the team in free agency. With legal tampering kicking off shortly and giving the Falcons and 31 other NFL teams an opportunity to talk to player agents and begin negotiating contracts in principle before the official start of free agency late Wednesday afternoon, we may even get some inkling of who they’re interested in before they can officially sign players.

Hey, maybe they even have at least one mid-sized signing of note in them that comes as a mild surprise. If there is any news from this already notoriously quiet front office in the next day or so, we’ll round it up here.

In the meantime, tell us who you’re hoping this team will sign, if you would.

Rumors and news

Foye Oluokun headed to Jaguars

The Falcons will reportedly lose free agent linebacker Foye Oluokun to the Jaguars. Jacksonville is a big spender as usual and will sign him to a deal with $28 million guaranteed and worth up to $46.5 million, per Ian Rapoport.

The Falcons will now have a hole in the defense to fill—they have a lot of those—and will probably roll forward with some combination of Deion Jones, Mykal Walker and a draft pick.

Brennan Scarlett interest?

The Falcons have been linked to a special teams linebacker... which may not be the most exciting signing out there.

Scarlett had six tackles for the Miami Dolphins in 2021. He is unlikely to be the Foye Oluokun replacement.

Falcons are out on Chandler Jones and all other expensive players

Steve Wyche on the Atlanta Falcons’ website explicitly said twice that the Falcons cannot afford Chandler Jones. Wyche, perhaps one of the best sources for Falcons rumors, warns that the Falcons will be limited to smart spending. If true, expect most of the action to come in the following weeks instead of hours.

More to come?