The Falcons signed veteran linebacker Josh Woods from their practice squad to their 53-player roster on Monday night, the team announced.
In a corresponding move, the Falcons placed third-year linebacker JD Bertrand on the reserve/injured list. Bertrand’s injury is undisclosed.
He is required to miss at least four games before returning.
Woods has spent the past two seasons in Atlanta and has become a core special teams player. He played 82 percent of special teams snaps in the 12 games he was active last season.
Woods registered 14 total tackles.
He entered the league in 2019 as an undrafted free agent with the Bears. He has played for four different teams in his seven NFL seasons, compiling 137 tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
The Falcons have two spots on their practice squad.
Falcons Clips
The Falcons claimed linebackers Yasir Abdullah and Jared Ivey and offensive lineman Cameron Williams off waivers earlier in the day. They needed to make room on their 53-player roster for the three additions and did Monday afternoon.
In corresponding moves, the Falcons have waived defensive backs Jammie Robinson and Natrone Brooks and defensive lineman Zach Harrison.
Robinson, 25, entered the league as a fifth-round pick of the Panthers in 2023. He spent time on the Falcons’ practice squad last season and appeared in six games, seeing action on 121 special teams snaps.
He has played 27 games with two starts in his career.
Brooks, 26, has spent the past three seasons with the Falcons. He played all 17 games last season and has played 26 games, with one start, in his career.
He has 15 tackles and three passes defensed.
Harrison, 25, was a third-round pick of the Falcons in the 2023 draft. He has appeared in 40 games with eight starts in his career, 81 tackles, 8.5 sacks, 11 quarterback hits and four passes defensed.
The Falcons have been assigned three players through the waiver system after teams reduced their rosters to 53 players.
Via the transaction wire, Atlanta claimed linebacker Yasir Abdullah, linebacker Jared Ivey, and offensive tackle Cameron Williams.
Abdullah was waived by the Jaguars, Ivey by the Seahawks, and Williams by the Eagles.
Of the three players, Abdullah has the most pro experience. He’s appeared in 29 career games with three starts, playing 10 contests for Jacksonville last year. Most of his playing time has come on special teams.
Ivey has appeared in two career games and Williams has appeared in one.
When the Falcons drafted defensive end Bralen Trice in the third round in 2024, they thought he had a bright future. Instead, he never played in a regular-season game for them.
Trice was among the Falcons’ roster cuts on Sunday, the end of a highly disappointing two years in Atlanta.
The 25-year-old Trice tore his ACL in his first preseason game, missed his entire rookie year, and then aggravated the same knee in 2025 and never played that year either.
Trice was a two-time first-team All-Pac-12 selection at Washington, and a two-time bowl game MVP. He wasn’t necessarily a bad pick at the time the Falcons chose him, but he turned into a rare third-round pick who never got on the field for the team that drafted him.
It used to be a rarity for an NFL team to keep four quarterbacks on the 53-man roster. This year, it’s becoming commonplace.
The Falcons have joined the four-quarterback club. They’re keeping Michael Penix Jr, Cooper Rush, Jack Strand, and Tua Tagovailoa on the initial roster.
The Falcons terminated the following vested veterans: RB Tyler Goodson; CB Darnay Holmes; DT Eric Johnson II; TE Nick Muse; OLB Azeez Ojulari; DE Cam Sample; LB Channing Tindall; DT Marlon Tuipulotu; OL Brandon Walton; DL Chris Williams; and LB Josh Woods.
The following players were waived: DT Carlos Allen; WR Vinny Anthony; OL James Brockermeyer; CB Cobee Bryant; RB Nate Carter; OL Kam Dewberry; WR Dylan Drummond; RB Cash Jones; OL Riley Mahlman; WR Keelan Marion; DT Devonnsha Maxwell; OT Wanya Morris; LB Daveren Rayner; OL Jaeden Roberts; TE Joshua Simon; DB Keidron Smith; OL Andrew Stueber; LB Bralen Trice; TE Jack Velling; WR Antwane Wells Jr.; and CB A.J. Woods.
Defensive end Keshawn Banks was waived/injued.
Receiver Beaux Collins was placed on injured reserve, with a designation to return. Four players landed on season-ending IR: CB Darren Hall; RB Trey Sermon; LB Malik Verdon; and LB Jalon Walker.
Linebacker DeAngelo Malone is on the reserve/PUP list, as is OL Storm Norton. Defensive tackle Anterio Thompson is on reserve/NFI. And defensive end James Pearce Jr. is on the reserve/suspended list.
Veteran linebacker Deion Jones will have a short stint in San Francisco.
After a recent trade that brought Jones from the Saints to the 49ers for running back Zamir White, the 49ers are releasing Jones, via Adam Schefter of ESPN.
A second-round pick of the Falcons in 2016, Jones made it to the Pro Bowl in his second season. He spent six years in Atlanta, one in Cleveland, one in Carolina, and two in Tampa.
He had signed with the Saints in early August.
For his career, Jones has 128 regular-season appearances and 91 starts.
In June, the Falcons traded for offensive lineman Wanya Morris. They’ll now be releasing him.
Via Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, Morris will be cut by the Falcons.
Atlanta didn’t give up much for the 2023 third-round pick. The trade consisted of the Chiefs sending Morris and a seventh-round pick in exchange for a sixth-round pick from the Falcons.
Morris is due to make $1.432 million in 2026. Because he has fewer than four years of service, he’ll pass through waivers.
In three years with the Chiefs, Morris had 43 regular-season appearances and 16 starts.
Defensive tackle Gervon Dexter is on the move ahead of Sunday afternoon’s deadline to set 53-man rosters around the league.
According to multiple reports, the Bears have agreed to trade Dexter to the Falcons. Cornerback Clark Phillips and a fifth-round pick will head back to Chicago.
Dexter was a 2023 second-round pick by the Bears. He started all 19 games that the Bears played last season and had 48 tackles, six sacks and two fumble recoveries. Grady Jarrett, Neville Gallimore, Kentavius Street, James Lynch, and sixth-round pick Jordan van den Berg remain on the depth chart as options on the interior.
The Falcons added Phillips as a 2023 fourth-rounder and he played in 27 games in his first two seasons, but he only played in one game last year due to a triceps injury. He was vying for a backup role in Atlanta.
The Falcons have started making moves ahead of Sunday’s deadline to cut their roster to 53 players.
The NFL’s daily transaction report for Saturday shows that they parted ways with 10 players. They also placed defensive back Darren Hall on injured reserve.
Defensive lineman Eric Johnson, linebacker Channing Tindall, and offensive lineman Brandon Walton were all released and will not be subject to waiver claims from the rest of the teams in the league.
Wide receiver Keelan Marion, tight end Josh Simon, offensive lineman Jaeden Roberts, offensive lineman Andrew Stueber, defensive lineman Devonnsha Maxwell, linebacker Daveren Rayner, and defensive back Keidron Smith are going to be on the waiver wire.
The Browns know what they’ll be doing as to the top two quarterbacks on the depth chart. As to the other two, decision time is coming.
Coach Todd Monken acknowledged after Thursday’s preseason finale that, as to Dillon Gabriel and Taylen Green, “We can’t keep everybody.”
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, after some cuts were already made, Monken was asked whether the team is still grappling with the quarterback issue at the bottom of the depth chart.
“Somewhat,” Monken said. “Like a lot of players, we don’t want to lose any good players that have a future with the Browns, so we’ve still got some discussions to have. But I was very impressed with both Dillon and Taylen. Both did it differently, but Dillon’s at least played. He’s played last year, he’s gotten more reps than Taylen, so he looked like it, and he obviously operated very well. Taylen did the things we thought he would do, which was make some plays with his feet, and there were no issues in terms of the operation.”
The issue is whether to keep either or neither on the roster, with the outside chance of keeping all four. Both Gabriel and Green would be exposed to waivers if released with the idea of signing them to the practice squad.
Gabriel, who had a near-perfect passer rating against the Patriots of 157.9 with three touchdown passes on 15 throws, could be traded. And the most obvious destination would be Atlanta, where former Browns coach Kevin Stefanski has a potential none-of-the-above situation as Week 1 approaches.
The Browns still have time to figure it out. But not much. As of this posting, the deadline to get to 53 is less than 28 hours away.
