Falcons’ roster purge is real – 72 percent of NFC championship team is gone

Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter

Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter

FLOWERY BRANCH – With the release of left tackle Sam Baker we took a look back at the 53-man roster that took the field against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game on Jan. 20, 2013.

The roster purge started almost immediately and is real.

After that season, such stalwarts as defensive end John Abraham and running back Michael Turner were shown the door with no identifiable replacements on the roster.

The cuts have continued. Of the starting offense that day, only wide receiver Julio Jones, wide receiver Roddy White, right guard Peter Konz and quarterback Matt Ryan remain. Gone, but not forgotten, are Baker, left guard Justin Blalock, center Todd McClure, right tackle Tyson Clabo, tight end Tony Gonzalez, Turner and wide receiver Harry Douglas.

On the defense, only defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux and safety William Moore remain.

Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter

The fallen and dismissed Falcons from the defense are Abraham, defensive tackle Corey Peters, defensive tackle Vance Walker, linebacker Sean Weatherspoon, linebacker Akeem Dent, linebacker Stephen Nicholas, cornerback Dunta Robinson, cornerback Asante Samuel and free safety Thomas DeCoud.

My calculator computes only six of the 22 starters remaining. So that computes to 72 percent of the starters.

Of the 21 players who played as reserves in the game only six of 21 remain on the rosters. The survivors include kicker Matt Bryant, punter Matt Bosher, long snapper Josh Harris, defensive end/linebacker Kroy Biermann, defensive end Cliff Matthews and running back Antone Smith.

Math class: 21 divided by 15 equals 66.6 percent.

Of the three players who did not play, only center/guard Joe Hawley remains. (66.6 percent gone.)

Of the seven inactives, only two players – Lamar Holmes and Harland Gunn – remain. (5 of 7 = 71.4 percent)

If the math holds up and there’s no guarantee that it does, 38 of the 53 players that were roaming the sidelines against the 49ers are no longer with the team.

That’s a whopping 71.6 percent (run that up to 72 percent).

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