Offensive tackle Ty Sambrailo agreed to a three-year contact extension with the Falcons on Tuesday.
Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.
“We are excited to bring Ty back as a part of our brotherhood,” coach Dan Quinn said in a statement released by the team. “His versatility has proven to be one of his many strengths. We look forward to him being a valuable piece of the offensive line.”
Sambrailo was the primarily the backup swing tackle last season, but ended up taking over at right tackle for Ryan Schraeder down the stretch.
He played in all 16 games and made four starts.
Sambrailo was drafted in the second round (59th overall) of the 2015 NFL draft by Denver.
He struggled in Denver and was benched. The Falcons acquired Sambrailo for a 2018 fifth-round pick Sept. 1, 2017.
Sambrailo, who played at Colorado State, has played in 44 career games, including 13 starts.
The Falcons’ offensive line is coming of a tough season, which saw a dip in Schraeder’s play. Sambrailo likely will compete with Schraeder for the starting right tackle spot.
Schraeder played some guard late last season.
The offensive line gave up 42 sacks and quarterback Matt Ryan was hit a career-high 108 times. The line gave up more hits than the Peter Konz-Lamar Holmes led line of 2013, which gave up 44 sacks and 100 hits.
So, it was no surprise when owner Arthur Blank confirmed that the general manager Thomas Dimtroff and Quinn’s No. 1 offseason priority was to fix the offensive line.
This was the first move along the offensive line.
The line gave up double-digit quarterback hits in three games: Philadelphia (14), Pittsburgh (14) and in the second New Orleans game (13). The unit gave up six sacks to the Steelers and in the second Saints’ game. The unit didn’t give up a sack in just one game, against Carolina in Week 2.
In addition to the pass protection being shoddy, the Falcons couldn’t run the ball. The rushing attack averaged 98.3 yards per game, which was ranked 27th in the league.
The line was ranked 31st of 32 teams in “stuffed runs” by footballoutsiders.com. “Stuffed runs” are the percentage of runs where the running back is tackled at or behind the line of scrimmage.
At the end of the season, Quinn said that he was only comfortable with two spots on the offensive line, left tackle and center.
