Wheeler eager to help Falcons’ defense

“It felt really good,” Wheeler said. “With me being from the area and knowing a lot of people here, that felt good.”

Falcons coach Dan Quinn was impressed with Wheeler’s speed. Falcons linebacker Justin Durant, who has an elbow injury, returned to practice on Wednesday. The Falcons have struggled in coverage with him out.

But Quinn said the signing of Wheeler was not related to Durant’s recovery from his injury.

“I wouldn’t say that it’s directly related to that,” Quinn said. “We are just trying to compete in every way to see if we can find ways to get better. We thought with Wheeler that was an opportunity to do that. We are going to bring him and see all of the good things that he has and how we can feature him into what we do.”

Wheeler has played inside linebacker and some strongside linebacker over his career. Quinn said the Falcons plan to use him as an inside and weakside linebacker.

“It’s the coverage ability, the speed that we liked first,” Quinn said. “We are going play him off the ball first.”

Wheeler is recovered from his muscle strain injury.

“He could really roll,” Quinn said. “He plays the style that we love, the speed (and has) the ability to run and hit. Those were the things that jumped out first, the ability to play the hooks and break on the football. He’s had a lot of experience playing. That was a factor for sure, too.”

Wheeler has played in similar defenses to the Falcons 4-3 under scheme.

“This is a really good team,” Wheeler said. “I feel like they don’t need a lot of help anywhere or everywhere. Whatever they ask me to do, I’m going to do it. …I’m still learning. Whatever they throw at me, I’m going to grasp it.”