Forty-eight hours before, he was back in the Northeast prepping for job interviews.
Twenty-hours before, he was going through an 11th-hour tryout, summoned to Atlanta by a phone call out of the blue.
On Thursday morning, Arthur Lynch was uniform for the Falcons’ first practice of training camp. Signed a contract Wednesday afternoon. Interesting week.
“It feels good to be back in the red and black,” said Lynch, who last appeared locally as the University of Georgia’s tight end in 2013.
“The scouting department did a real good job,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. “We knew we were looking for one more tight end. When he came in for the workout, we saw the real versatility. He caught the ball well, he moved well. We knew he had experience as a blocker both on the line and off.
“When he came down, he had a good workout and he’s a guy we wanted to give a shot to.”
It’s a long shot. Lynch’s career has failed to launch since he was drafted by Miami in the fifth round of the 2014 draft. The Dolphins placed him on injured reserve for the entire season before they waived him last September. He was signed and then released by the Jets last preseason before he was signed to Denver’s practice squad, where he spent all of last season before being released again.
He has yet to appear in an NFL game, enough evidence to suggest it was time he start pursuing another career, perhaps in finance or commercial real estate.
“After I was released by the Broncos, there were a couple of situations with other teams that didn’t pan out because of my past injury with my back,” Lynch said. “That’s kind of why I took the next step to start pursuing others careers, although maybe my heart wasn’t entirely in it. Sometimes that’s life.”
Lynch becomes the sixth tight end in camp. With incumbent starter Jacob Tamme, returnee Levine Toilolo and third-round draft pick Austin Hooper, the position is well-stocked. But that doesn’t make Lynch’s last 48 hours any less momentous.
“It was definitely a relief that I got that call,” he said,
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