Tight end Levine Toilolo, a fourth-round draft pick from Stanford, signed a four-year contract with the Falcons on Tuesday.
Toilolo, 6-foot-8 and 265 pounds, was selected 133rd overall in the 2013 draft.
He caught 50 passes for 763 yards (15.3 yards per catch) with 10 touchdowns in his 31-game college career.
The Falcons have signed five of their eight draft picks.
Cornerbacks Desmond Trufant (first round) and Robert Alford (second round) and quarterback Sean Renfree (seventh round) are the remaining unsigned draft picks.
Toilolo started 14 games for the Cardinal last season. He led all Stanford receivers with an average of 16.4 yards per catch and was a force in the red zone. He scored four touchdowns and had five receptions inside the opposition’s 20-yard line.
The Falcons view Toilolo as more than just a blocking tight end.
Toilolo comes from an athletic family. In addition to his three uncles — Dan Saleaumua, Edwin Mulitalo and Joe Salave’a — who played in the NFL, he has four cousins who played college football (two), basketball and volleyball.
Toilolo and Andrew Szczerba were the only tight ends at the rookie minicamp. In addition to future Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez, the Falcons also have tight ends Chase Coffman, Tommy Gallarda and Adam Nissley on the roster. Former Falcons tight end Michael Palmer, of Clemson and Parkview, was not re-signed and recently was released by the New York Giants.
Before signing Toilolo, the Falcons were $2.01 million under their $122.7 million salary.
Defensive end Malliciah Goodman, defensive end Stansly Maponga, free safety Kemal Ishmael and strong safety Zeke Motta also signed four-year contracts.
Goodman’s deal was worth $2.55 million, and he received a signing bonus of $397,000. Maponga’s deal was worth $2.34 million with a $186,740 signing bonus.
Ishmael and Motta signed identical deals worth $2.20 million, with signing bonuses of $45,896.
The 2012 salary-cap slots for players taken in Trufant ($1.469 million), Alford ($608,000) and Renfree’s ($11,000) spots add up to $2.08 million. With modest increases, the Falcons need to clear room in order to sign the rest of the draft picks.
In addition to the remaining three rookie deals, the Falcons are working on a contract extension for quarterback Matt Ryan.
After Ryan’s deal is done and his salary-cap number is lowered, the team will have some flexibility to add some salary-cap casualties in training camp like they have in the past under general manager Thomas Dimitroff.
The Falcons also will receive some post-June 1 relief from the release of offensive tackle Tyson Clabo, who has signed with Miami.
Injury at Jones' house: A worker was trapped Tuesday afternoon when a retaining wall collapsed at the Buford home of Falcons receiver Julio Jones.
The man, whose name was not released, was working in a ditch when the wall collapsed around noon, pinning him face down against a concrete wall at the home, according to Capt. Tommy Rutledge with the Gwinnett fire department. Property records show the home, located on Camp Branch Road, is owned by Jones.
Firefighters believe the man was pushed by dirt and concrete, which covered the majority of the man’s waist and lower body during the hour-long rescue, Rutledge said.
The victim was alert and able to talk through a two-foot hole to firefighters, who worked to free the man while avoiding further collapse, Rutledge said. Shortly after 1 p.m., the man was freed and transported by ambulance to the hospital for evaluation.
“He was conscious and able to communicate verbally with firefighters,” Rutledge said in an emailed statement. “The extent and severity of injuries are unknown at this point.”
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