With Jacob Tamme’s season-ending shoulder injury and Austin Hooper’s knee injury still affecting depth at tight end, Joshua Perkins and D.J. Tialavea stepped up, and each scored his first career touchdown against the Carolina Panthers on Saturday, proving success can come out of the Falcons’ Plan D program.
The Falcons’ development program — Plan D — teaches players who are inactive or on the practice squad how to progress to the level of play in the NFL. Perkins and Tialavea proved Saturday how the Plan D can translate to the field during games.
“For a guy like (Tialavea) coming up last week off the practice squad for us and getting his opportunity, you know it’s been two years of practicing with us, learning the offense and being at practice every day,” quarterback Matt Ryan said. “A lot of times when guys are nicked up, he’s the guy that I’m throwing to during practice. So, there’s that chemistry that is built, the longer that you are just around guys. I think that’s where the depth of the team shows. We practice hard, and I think because of that guys are ready to play when they get their opportunity.”
Tialavea graduated from Utah State in 2013 and wasn't drafted, but earned his first chance in the NFL from the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2014. Tialavea signed as a college free agent, but was cut before the regular season began. In 2015, Tialavea became a member of the Falcons' practice squad and was promoted to the active roster for the first time Dec. 29, 2015 for the Falcons' last game of the season, against the Saints.
With Tamme’s season-ending injury, Tialavea is listed as the fourth-string tight end behind Hooper, Levine Toilolo and Perkins.
Since he signed with the Falcons, Perkins watched his teammates play on Sundays and participated in the Plan D program, learning and growing enough to make Saturday's 34 receiving yards and touchdown feel easy. Perkins' first career reception came against the San Francisco 49ers on Dec. 8, an 8-yard reception that moved the Falcons inside the 49ers 10-yard line, setting up a 5-yard touchdown run by running back Devonta Freeman.
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