Three players cleared for Falcons practice

Trey Lewis, Robert James and Thomas Brown were medically cleared to take part in Falcons offseason workouts, coach Mike Smith said.

The news on Lewis, a defensive tackle coming off two knee surgeries, was encouraging to the Falcons, who lost Grady Jackson via free agency. Lewis was off to a promising rookie season before a knee injury in 2007. He missed all of last season after re-injuring the repaired knee.

James was a fifth-round pick last season. The linebacker missed the season with a head injury.

Brown, a sixth-round pick from Georgia last season, appeared to have made the team as a kick returner. He suffered a season-ending torn abductor muscle near his groin in the exhibition finale.

Also, tight end Jared Cook will visit the Falcons. The local player from North Gwinnett High and South Carolina will not count against the limit of pre-draft players the team can bring in. The Falcons flirted with signing free agent L.J. Smith and might be looking for a receiving tight end in next month’s draft.

The Falcons began workouts Monday.

—- D. Orlando Ledbetter

Rules changes

NFL owners meeting in Dana Point, Calif., passed four player safety rules and adjusted calls on the kind of tackle that injured New England quarterback Tom Brady in the 2008 opener.

Defenders who are knocked to the ground no longer can lunge into quarterbacks if the play is still going on. Kansas City safety Bernard Pollard did that on the hit that ended Brady’s season.

Other changes: A blindside block can’t be delivered by a helmet, forearm or shoulder to an opponent’s head or neck: initial contact to the head of a defenseless receiver won’t be allowed; a kickoff blocking wedge can’t be more than two players; and a team kicking off can’t have more than five players bunched together pursuing an onside kick.

Etc.

Prosecutors in northern Ohio dismissed an assault case against former Cincinnati Bengals and University of Georgia linebacker Odell Thurman, who said he was a victim of mistaken identity.