In a flurry of deals the night before training camp opens, the Falcons signed all of their draft picks and retained one of their starting offensive linemen Thursday.
Right tackle Tyson Clabo, first-round pick Julio Jones and fifth-round pick Jacquizz Rodgers came into fold late Thursday evening. Clabo, an unrestricted free agent, can not sign his contract until 6 p.m. Friday.
Jones and Rodgers were able to sign their four-year deals and attend a team meeting.
Jones signed a four-year contract, with $16.2 million guaranteed.
“Now he won’t miss any practices,” Jones’ Atlanta-based agent Pat Dye Jr. said. “He’s anxious to get to practice. Me and my partner Jimmy Sexton were excited to get it done.”
The Falcons had to hold off a late surge from the Buffalo Bills to keep Clabo in the fold. Clabo, who is the team’s player representative, voted on behalf of the Falcons to end the lockout Monday.
Clabo was an undrafted rookie free agent out of Wake Forest. He bounced around the NFL and played in NFL Europa before sticking with the Falcons. He took over for Matt Lehr in 2006 and hasn’t come out of the starting lineup since.
He went to the Pro Bowl last season.
Clabo's contract is for five years, with $25 million guaranteed. The deal could max at $27 million.
Earlier in the day, the Falcons signed their other four draft picks and agreed to terms to keep veteran linebacker Mike Peterson.
Also, the Falcons have parted ways with running back Jerious Norwood and punter Michael Koenen.
Their other unrestricted free agents are running back Jason Snelling, right guard Harvey Dahl, left guard Justin Blalock and kicker Matt Bryant. Cornerback Brent Grimes is a restricted free agent, and receiver-returner Eric Weems is an exclusive rights free agent.
Also, the team has been reluctant to enter into discussions with defensive end Ray Edwards, who said on NFL Sirius radio that he would consider a return to Minnesota or a deal with Cleveland or Atlanta.
Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff spoke about Edwards during an interview on 680 The Fan.
“Ray is a very good defensive end,” Dimitroff said. “But part of production as a pass rusher and a sacker and a defensive end is to pressure, is to collapse the pocket, is to throw blocks aside and cause mayhem for the quarterback consistently. That’s important.”
Dimitroff likes the versatility of the defensive ends on the roster. But he would like to improve the talent at the position. If they can’t strike a deal for Edwards, they will hope to find a salary cap casualty later in training camp.
The new practice rules should help more veterans such as Peterson, who turned 35 this summer, stay in the NFL. This will be his 13th season.
Last season, he started at weakside linebacker and helped the Falcons’ run defense rank 10th in the league (105.9 yards per game.) Peterson made 79 tackles and had one sack, two interceptions, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries and five passes defensed.
