The Falcons added a linebacker to the active roster ahead of this week’s trip to London to face the Jaguars.
The team announced that they have signed linebacker Andre Smith off of their practice squad. Tackle Isaiah Prince was waived in a corresponding move.
Smith had one tackle for Atlanta in Week Two. He played five games for the Titans last season and has also seen time with the Bills and Panthers. He has 34 tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in 52 career games.
The Falcons placed linebacker Troy Andersen on injured reserve on Tuesday. Nate Landman and Tae Davis join Smith as remaining options at the position.
The Jaguars won’t have one of their key defensive players this week and they’ll likely be without one of their top wideouts for a second consecutive week.
Via multiple reporters, head coach Doug Pederson said in his Wednesday press conference that linebacker Devin Lloyd is having surgery to repair his injured thumb and won’t travel with the team to London. Lloyd is having a couple of screws put in and is expected to miss just two games.
Receiver Zay Jones is also a “long shot” to play against the Falcons on Sunday with his knee injury.
The No. 27 overall pick in last year’s draft, Lloyd has 19 total tackles with three passes defensed so far this season. He also has a fumble recovery.
Jones caught five passes for 55 yards with a touchdown in Jacksonville’s first two games.
With the Jaguars staying in London for two games, Pederson noted that several injured players will make the trip — like safety Antonio Johnson, defensive end Dawuane Smoot, and guard Copper Hodges.
Suspended left tackle Cam Robinson will also make the trip — which the Jaguars received special permission from the league to make happen — so he won’t have to fly over on a commercial flight. Robinson is eligible to return to practice next Monday.
The Falcons have created some more cap space to work with over the rest of the 2023 season.
Field Yates of ESPN reports that they have restructured left tackle Jake Matthews’ contract. The move creates about $7.1 million in cap space for the remainder of this season.
Matthews signed a three-year extension with the team last year. He had two years left on his deal at the time, so he is now signed through the 2026 season. He has base salaries of $15.5 million in each of the three remaining years.
It’s unclear if the Falcons have a specific use in mind for the new cap space, but they’ll have some more options than they did before reworking Matthews’ deal.
Wide receiver Calvin Ridley made a big splash in his Jaguars debut, but the last two weeks haven’t been as productive.
Ridley returned from more than a year off the field with eight catches for 101 yards and a touchdown in a win over the Colts, but he’s had just five catches for 72 yards in back-to-back losses the last two weeks. Last Sunday’s three catches in a loss to the Texans were overshadowed by two drops and two false start penalties, which led head coach Doug Pederson to say that Ridley needs to press less while trusting himself more.
“I grabbed him coming off the field and I reiterated to him to take a deep breath, stay locked in, stay engaged,” Pederson said, via the team’s website. “I told him he was a big part of our system and the offense and he’s going to have a lot of success. I just wanted to reiterate that confidence in him. Calvin wants to do so well, so good, so much. He wants to prove, but he doesn’t have to. He’s a good player and he doesn’t have to do all that. Just be Calvin.”
Pederson also said this week that he thinks the team has been overly concerned with their preseason expectations as a whole and needs to do more to focus on the tasks at hand. That’s similar to what Pederson is proposing for Ridley and all involved will have two weeks in London to use as a chance to recalibrate.
The Falcons are bringing in some offensive line depth.
Atlanta has signed Storm Norton off of New Orleans’ practice squad, the team announced on Tuesday.
Norton, 29, joined the Saints as a free agent in March but didn’t make the team’s initial 53-man roster and signed with its practice squad.
Norton started 15 games for the Chargers in 2021, appearing in 35 games for the club from 2020-2022.
Entering the league as an undrafted free agent in 2017, Norton has also spent time with the Lions, Cardinals, and Vikings.
To make room on the 53-man roster, the Falcons have placed linebacker Troy Andersen on injured reserve. He suffered a shoulder/pectoral injury during Sunday’s loss to the Lions.