Matt Simms

Falcons Reach 53 Man Limit

The Falcons reached the 53-man limit by dropping a total of 35 players and placing quarterback Matt Simms on injured reserve. Along the way, the Falcons also cut some notable veterans.

Here’s the full rundown of the team’s cuts, including some previously reported moves:

S Parker Baldwin
LB Yurik Bethune
WR Christian Blake
RB Tony Brooks-James
LB Richie Brown (Waived/injured)
CB Taveze Calhoun (Waived/injured)
LB Bruce Carter (Released)
DT Stefan Charles (Released)
S Chris Cooper
LB Tre Crawford
TE Thomas Duarte
QB Danny Etling
OL Adam Gettis (Released)
TE Alex Gray (Waived/injured)
WR Devin Gray
WR Marcus Green
OL Sean Harlow
DE Austin Larkin
S Ronald Martin (Released)
LB Chase Middleton
DE Durrant Miles
C Chandler Miller
CB Jalen Myrick
CB Ryan Neal
DE Chris Odom
TE Logan Paulsen (Released)
LB Del’Shawn Phillips (Waived/injury settlement)
OT Jaelin Robinson
CB Jayson Stanley (Waived/injury settlement)
K Giorgio Tavecchio
DT Jacob Tuioti-Mariner
K Blair Walsh (Released)
OL John Wetzel (Released)
WR C.J. Worton
DT Justin Zimmer

Falcons Bring Back QB Matt Simms

Matt Simms‘ most recent NFL stay occurred in 2017 Falcons training camp. He will resurface in Atlanta two years later, creating a three-Matt Falcons quarterback depth chart.

The Falcons signed Simms on Saturday. This comes after third-string quarterback Kurt Benkert suffered a toe injury — one NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport described as “major” (on Twitter) — in Thursday’s Hall of Fame Game.

Benkert, a 2018 UDFA, was vying for the backup job to Matt Ryan with veteran Matt Schaub. The latter made a late re-entrance Thursday after Benkert’s toe malady forced him to leave the Canton game. It appears Benkert will be out a while.

Simms has not thrown a pass in a regular-season game since the 2014 season, which he spent with the Jets. He will turn 31 in September. His most recent NFL connection came in a September 2018 workout with the 49ers. The son of Phil Simms, Matt Simms spent the summers of 2016 and ’17 with the Falcons and was on the 2016 NFC champions’ practice squad. He worked in both Kyle Shanahan and Steve Sarkisian‘s offenses and will now attempt to stick around in Dirk Koetter‘s.

49ers To Work Out QB Matt Simms

The 49ers’ quarterback tryouts on Tuesday will include Matt Simms, as Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets. Simms will join Tom Savage, Kellen Clemens, and T.J. Yates in the audition, and there could be more QBs to come. 

Simms, who turns 30 on Thursday, is the son of Phil Simms. He appeared in four games for the Jets between 2013 and 2014, but has not seen the field since then. In recent years, he has spent time on the Falcons’ practice squad.

The workout will not include former Dolphins QB Matt Moore, although the 49ers did speak to his representatives. The 34-year-old is still weighing his options regarding an NFL return, his agent tells Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter).

NFL Workout Updates: 11/27/17

Here are today’s NFL workouts, with all credit going to Adam Caplan of Sirius XM unless otherwise noted.

Detroit Lions

New England Patriots

  • DT Marcus Hardison (Mike Reiss of ESPN.com) (Twitter link)

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

  • QB Matt Simms; TE’s Gabe HolmesJevoni Robinson (Twitter link)

 

 

 

NFL Workout Updates: 10/17/17

Today’s workout updates, with all links going to veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer’s Twitter account unless otherwise noted:

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions 

Houston Texans

  • QB Taylor Heinicke (link via Caplan)

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

San Francisco 49ers

Washington Redskins

Falcons Reduce Roster To 53

The Falcons have moved their roster to 53 players by making the following transactions:

Placed on commissioner exempt list:

Placed on reserve/suspended list:

Waived: 

Waived/injured:

Released with injury settlement:

Placed on IR:

Falcons Sign QB Matt Simms

The Falcons have signed quarterback Matt Simms, as D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets. To make room, the team waived wide receiver Garrett Scantling.

Simms, the son of former NFL great Phil Simms, appeared in a handful of games for the Jets between 2013 and 2014. He also had a previous stint with the Falcons as well as the Bills, but those unions did not result in live action. The quarterback, who turns 29 in September, currently represents the fourth QB on the Falcons’ depth chart with Matt Ryan, Matt Schaub, and UDFA Alek Torgersen slotted ahead of him.

Scantling, a University of Georgia product, is a former decathlete. The Falcons were hoping to channel his raw ability into football talent, but he’s apparently not there just yet.

Extra Points: Beane, Lions, Eagles, Saints

As reports indicated earlier this week, new Bills GM Brandon Beane will indeed have control over the 53-man roster. Terry Pegula confirmed as much Friday. “Brandon’s gonna have the 53,” the owner said, via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. “Him and Sean (McDermott) will obviously collaborate on any decisions.” The 39-year-old first-time GM, though, plans to work extensively alongside McDermott, with whom he obviously functioned alongside with the Panthers.

It’s going to be similar to what Sean and I had in Carolina. There’s no czar here, every decision is going to be collaborative,” Beane said, via WGRZ.com. “The unique thing Sean and I had was a respect, I knew his roots and how he worked his way up.”

Beane and McDermott have worked together since 2011, save for a near-four-month period when McDermott took the Bills job and Beane stayed in Charlotte. The former Panthers assistant GM will still have the final say, even though the new Bills HC arrived in Buffalo first.

Here’s more from Buffalo and the latest from around the league.

  • A slew of Bills free agency moves shouldn’t be expected, Beane said today, per Joe Buscaglia of WKBW (on Twitter). In a statement not exactly contrary to most new GMs’ philosophies, Beane plans to build the Bills through the draft (Twitter link, via Buscaglia).
  • The Lions announced a handful of new titles in their front office following Brian Xanders‘ departure. Among them: Kyle O’Brien now has the title of Vice President of Player Personnel and Lance Newmark is now Director of Player Personnel (Twitter link via Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com).
  • Doug Pederson isn’t worried about a potential holdout from Brandon Graham, the Eagles coach said today, per Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com (on Twitter). A report earlier this week linked the burgeoning-star edge defender to a holdout. Graham is signed to a four-year deal worth $26.5MM. He’s set to carry cap numbers of $7.5MM apiece in 2017 and ’18. The 29-year-old ranked as the No. 2 overall edge defender in the opinion of Pro Football Focus last season. Among 4-3 defensive ends, Graham’s deal places him just 16th in terms of average annual value. Less accomplished teammate Vinny Curry is making nearly $3MM per year more than Graham due to his 2016 extension.
  • The Saints invited some familiar names to their rookie minicamp/tryout venue today. Former Jets, Bills and Falcons passer Matt Simms received an invite, as did former Raiders and Buccaneers wideout Louis Murphy and veteran tight end Clay Harbor (all Twitter links via Nick Underhill of The Advocate). Murphy spent the past two seasons with the Bucs but saw injuries limit him to just six games.

Zach Links contributed to this report.

Sunday NFL Transactions: NFC South

Listed below are the Sunday roster moves for the four NFC South teams. Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline yesterday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters, claiming players off waivers or signing guys who clear waivers. Those transactions for the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are noted below.

Additionally, as of 12:00pm CT today, teams can begin constructing their 10-man practice squads. You can check out our glossary entry on practice squads to brush up on those changes, as well as all the other guidelines that govern the 10-man units, whose players practice with the team but aren’t eligible to suit up on Sundays.

Here are Sunday’s NFC South transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day. All links go to Twitter unless otherwise noted:

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

New Orleans Saints

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Falcons Cut Simms, Two Others

The Falcons waived a number of players yesterday in anticipation of the roster deadline, and they’ve continued to cut players today.

Here’s a running list of the team’s cuts:

The team has also put a pair of players on the injured reserve: