Falcons sign veteran tackle Isaiah Prince

The Falcons spent the summer trying to turn a handful of in-house options into their 2023 swing tackle, but ultimately it was clear that they were not satisfied with any of those players. They kept Josh Miles in their initial 53 man roster, but the team figured to go out and either claim a player off of waivers or sign one to take on the role.

Now we have the player’s name. It’s Isaiah Prince, a 6’7” tackle with six regular season career starts split between 2019 with the Dolphins and 2021 with the Bengals. Prince was with the Denver Broncos through training camp and preseason before the team waived him.

While Prince isn’t significantly more experienced than Miles, the Falcons obviously like his upside as a swing tackle more. The 2019 sixth round pick opted out of the 2020 season and saw injury wipe out his 2022 campaign, which also explains the lack of playing time. He did have a prominent role for the Bengals in 2021, as he took over right tackle for Riley Reiff in Week 12 and manned the position throughout the playoffs and in the Super Bowl for Cincinnati. While he struggled at times in that role in the postseason—hardly a surprise—Prince is a capable run blocker who has a ton of experience at right tackle between college and the pros.

He has played left tackle in college and in the NFL, but only sparingly, making a switch to that side if something happens to Jake Matthews a little bit of a dicey proposition. That was also true a year ago for Germain Ifedi, however, who also hadn’t really played the left side in the pros. The Falcons are betting that if the need arises, he can do so, but they’re likely more worried about having a proven right tackle locked up with Kaleb McGary missing time in both 2020 and 2021 before his breakout 2022.

We had seen reports this morning that Josh Miles will be waived, and I’d bet on him landing on the practice squad, possibly alongside former XFL tackle Barry Wesley.

We’ll see if Prince sticks in the swing tackle role or not, but the Falcons clearly like him enough to give it a real shot. We’ll see if he can settle in and provide stability for a vital roster spot, and whether he can put this fanbase’s justified fears of tackle depth to rest.

Give Prince a warm welcome, if you would.