A former fourth-round draft pick was released and two undrafted players made the Falcons’ initial 53-man roster Saturday.
The Falcons cut to 52 players, leaving themselves room to add a player.
“The last day-and-a-half is the toughest part of being team-builders here,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. “We’ve got a really unique crew that we’re heading into 2018 with and we’re pumped to get rolling.”
Offensive guard Sean Harlow, a fourth-round pick in 2017, was released. He was inactive for all 18 games last season. He’s a candidate to be added to the team’s 11-member practice squad.
“We are still mulling over where we are with the practice squad,” general manager Thomas Dimitroff said.
Harlow was set to receive a base salary of $555,000 if he made the team. On the practice squad, the weekly minimum salary is $7,600 for 2018, according to the collective bargaining agreement.
If Harlow gets the minimum and stays on the practice squad for 17 weeks, he would make $129,000. Getting cut cost Harlow at least $421,000.
Offensive tackle Matt Gono, who played at Division III Wesley, and linebacker Dewey Jarvis, who played at Brown, made the initial roster.
“I feel like I made a lot of people proud,” Gono said. “I feel proud about what I accomplished. It’s been a long process. It’s been a hard process, but I’m here now.”
Right tackle Ryan Schraeder knows the feeling. He made the team as a player from Division II Valdosta State back in 2013.
“I’m sure the last couple of days have been stressful for him,” Schraeder said. “But he pushed through and he made the team.”
The Falcons are not done massaging their roster.
“We’ll keep digging,” Quinn said. “It’s always good to know that the first couple of weeks of the season there is still some movement that could take place, it’s a little bit fluid. We knew coming in this was going to be a really tough and competitive group.”
The Falcons have until 1 p.m. Sunday to fill out the practice squad. In addition to Harlow, linebackers Emmanuel Smith, Emmannuel Ellerbee and Jonathan Celestin are candidates for the practice squad.
“We need to wait and see what happens on the waiver wires before we finalize that,” Dimitroff said.
Gono, who’s 6-foot-4 and 305 pounds, is set to backup both tackle positions.
“For Matt, it’s the quickness that he’s showed,” Quinn said. “We played him the last game, you saw him a little bit at left tackle as well. We are trying to train him to be a swing tackle.”
After signing with the Falcons, Gono stayed in the area to train.
“Give it to the scouting department and for those guys digging and finding him,” Quinn said. “When you have an area normally, Wesley College isn’t one that you visit tons of times like you’re going over to Georgia or Georgia Tech. To find what potential he does have it goes back to the old scouting line, ‘don’t look at the helmet, look at the player.’ ”
Gono had some trouble with Miami’s speed rushers in the fourth exhibition game, but the Falcons still liked his upside.
”He showed traits of a guy who could move and being here, he showed that he could handle it,” Quinn said. “We tried to test him in every way and now we are going to develop him.”
The Falcons are set at their starting tackle positions with left tackle Jake Matthews and Schraeder at right tackle. Ty Sambrailo was the backup swing tackle last season.
Over the past two seasons, the Falcons drafted offensive linemen in Wes Schweitzer in 2016 and Harlow in 2017, who were inactive for all 16 games as rookies.
Gono, unless he beats out Sambrailo, likely is headed to the game-day inactive list.
“He’s still developing, but we have high expectations for him as he grows,” Dimitroff said.
Another surprise move included defensive lineman Justin Zimmer beating out former Georgia defensive end Garrison Smith.
“With Justin it was more of just the versatility that he had,” Quinn said. “He’s another interior guy who can play potentially three spots up front.”
The Falcons expect that another team will sign Smith.
Quinn believes the Falcons improved the depth at wide receiver with the addition of draft picks Calvin Ridley (first round) and Russell Gage (sixth round).
He also feels that the team improved at tight end by adding Logan Paulsen, who essentially replaced Levine Toilolo.
Ricky Ortiz prevailed over Jalston Fowler for the fullback position.
“We knew coming in that we’d have a real battle at fullback,” Quinn said. “That proved to be the case, and that was a really good battle.”
The Packers released fullback Aaron Ripkowski, who’s 6-foot-1 and 246 pounds. The former sixth-round pick in 2015 has played in 47 games and made 10 starts.
The Falcons also made a trade for strong safety Jordan Richards on Friday. They sent a conditional 2020 seventh-round pick to New England.
“We’ve been really honed in on that No. 2 safety spot through the whole offseason and into camp,” Dimitroff said. “We just felt the opportunity to acquire Jordan was a guy who fit in well for us. He’s a tough dude that can step up in there and be a strong safety.”
The Falcons likely will save that open roster spot for a vested veteran, a player with at least four years experience, who’ll have his 2018 base salary guaranteed if he’s on the roster for the first game of the season.
Former Georgia Tech defensive end Michael Johnson was released by the Bengals and is a vested veteran to watch.
“As we go through the last spot, we’ll be fluid as we are going through the week,” Quinn said. “It might not be today, it may be into the week as we are going, but we definitely have our eyes on some different candidates and not just one position.”
Dimitroff noted several times that there are some business considerations when putting the final pieces to the roster together.
Here’s how the roster looks now:
OFFENSE
QUARTERBACKS (2)
Matt Ryan and Matt Schaub.
RUNNING BACKS (4)
Devonta Freeman, Tevin Coleman, Ito Smith, and Ricky Ortiz (fullback).
WIDE RECEIVERS (6)
Julio Jones, Mohamed Sanu, Calvin Ridley, Justin Hardy, Russell Gage and Marvin Hall.
TIGHT ENDS (3)
Austin Hooper, Logan Paulsen and Eric Saubert.
OFFENSIVE LINE (9)
Alex Mack, Jake Matthews, Ryan Schraeder, Brandon Fusco, Andy Levitre, Wes Schweitzer, Ty Sambrailo, Ben Garland and Matt Gono.
DEFENSE
DEFENSIVE ENDS (4)
Vic Beasley Jr., Takkarist McKinley, Derrick Shelby and Brooks Reed.
DEFENSIVE TACKLES (5)
Grady Jarrett, Deadrin Senat, Terrell McClain, Jack Crawford and Justin Zimmer.
LINEBACKERS (6)
Deion Jones, De’Vondre Campbell, Duke Riley, Foyesade Oluokun, Kemal Ishmael and Dewey Jarvis.
CORNERBACKS (6)
Desmond Trufant, Robert Alford, Brian Poole, Justin Bethel, Isaiah Oliver and Blidi Wreh-Wilson.
SAFETIES (4)
Ricardo Allen, Keanu Neal, Jordan Richards and Damontae Kazee.
SPECIALISTS (3)
Matt Bryant, Matt Bosher, Josh Harris.
RELEASED PLAYERS: The Falcons announced the cut of tackle Austin Pasztor and safety Ron Parker on Friday. They also reached an injury settlement with cornerback Leon McFadden and running back Malik Williams.
Here are the players who were released Saturday:
QB, Kurt Benkert; WR, Christian Blake; FS, Marcelis Branch OT, Daniel Brunskill; DB, Deante Burton; WR, Dontez Byrd; LB, Jonathan Celestin; DE, Mackendy Cheridor; DB, Secdrick Cooper; RB, Justin Crawford; DT, Jon Cunningham; WR, Reggie Davis; G, Jamil Douglas; LB, Emmanuel Ellerbee; FB, Jalston Fowler; TE, Jaeden Graham; S, Tyson Graham; TE, Alex Gray; WR, Devin Gray; QB, Garrett Grayson; G, Sean Harlow; C, J.C. Hassenauer; DE, J.T. Jones; WR, Lamar Jordan; DB, Chris Lammons; RB, Terrence Magee; TE, Troy Mangen; K, David Marvin; DB, Ryan Neal; LB, Emmanuel Smith; DT, Garrison Smith; K, Giorgio Tavecchio; DT, Jacob Tuioti-Marinerl G, Salesi Uhatafe; WR, Julian Williams and LB, Anthony Winbush.
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