John Cominsky

Falcons Waive DL John Cominsky

A rotational defensive lineman with the Falcons, John Cominsky hit the waiver wire Thursday. The Falcons moved on from the former fourth-round pick.

The team will create nearly $1MM in cap space by jettisoning Cominsky, who was going into the final year of his rookie contract. He will hit free agency if unclaimed in the next 24 hours. Atlanta, however, used some of its available space by signing running back Jeremy McNichols earlier Thursday.

Cominsky, 26, emerged out of Charleston (West Virginia) in 2019. His most notable season came in 2020, when he saw action on 44% of Atlanta’s defensive plays. The 285-pound defender registered a sack and three tackles for loss that year. Last season, the Falcons’ Dean Pees-headed defensive staff only used Cominsky in four games and on just 13 defensive plays.

The Falcons have some questions about how their non-Grady Jarrett front seven will look, with even Deion Jonesstatus up in the air. The team used a second-round pick on Marlon Davidson in 2020, but he started just one game last season. Eleven-game starter Tyeler Davison is no longer with the team; the Falcons released him in March. This would seemingly clear a path for Davidson. The team did not use a draft choice on a pure D-lineman, though it did add two edge rushers (Arnold Ebiketie and DeAngelo Malone) on Day 2.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/31/20

Here is the league’s avalanche of Halloween minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Falcons To Be Without Defensive Lineman, DL Coaches In Week 6 Due To COVID-19

The Falcons are still scheduled to play the Vikings at noon CT on Sunday. But more news is trickling out about their run-in with the coronavirus.

Defensive lineman John Cominsky joined rookie defensive tackle Marlon Davidson on Atlanta’s reserve/COVID-19 list Saturday, and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets that Cominsky also tested positive for the virus. Additionally, Falcons defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi and assistant D-line coach Jess Simpson have been identified as close Cominsky contacts. They are not traveling with the Falcons to Minnesota.

Cominsky and Davidson are the only Falcons to have tested positive this week. The team moved A.J. Terrell off its COVID-19 list earlier this month. While it would not be surprising if other Falcon D-linemen landed on the COVID list, none have thus far. That has prompted the NFL to keep their game against the Vikings on as scheduled.

The Falcons closed their facility earlier this week and continued to work in a virtual capacity Thursday, but the team reopened its facility after no more positive tests came in the immediate aftermath of Davidson’s. The Falcons are taking two planes to Minnesota and leaving injured players in Atlanta, per Pelissero (on Twitter). This is certainly a situation to monitor ahead of Sunday morning.

Cominsky started in Week 1 for the Falcons but has worked as a reserve in the four games since. However, the second-year defender has played 53% of Atlanta’s defensive snaps. Defensive tackle Chris Slayton and linebacker Edmond Robinson will come up from the practice squad ahead of Sunday’s Vikings tilt.

Falcons Sign Four Rookies

More than half of the Falcons’ draft class is under contract. The following players have put pen to paper, according to a team announcement:

The Falcons still have first-round guard Chris Lindstrom (Boston College), first-round tackle Kaleb McGary (Washington), and fourth-round cornerback Kendall Sheffield (Ohio State) to go. The first rounders may take more time than the rest, but GM Thomas Dimitroff managed to clear a good deal off of his plate with these four deals.

The Falcons were high on Cominsky heading into the draft and gave up a seventh-round pick in a trade with the Raiders in order to move up two spots for him. Cominsky, the 2018 Mountain East Defensive Player of the Year, made 16.5 tackles for loss and three sacks last year.

Miller, meanwhile, will have a familiar face in Atlanta once former teammate McGary signs. He showed that he can be a quality NFL player in his own right after securing two interceptions last year.