Falcons Add Depth at Fullback and Linebacker with 3 Moves

Aug 16, 2013; New Orleans, LA, USA; Oakland Raiders linebacker Omar Gaither (52) dives and intercepts a pass against the New Orleans Saints during the second half of a preseason game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The Saints defeated the Raiders 28-20. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

In response to the rash of injuries that have hit the club in the past few days, the Atlanta Falcons have made 3 roster moves to bolster depth. We will enlist the help of the Falcons official Twitter account for the pure “announcements”:

First, the team announced the signing of two veteran linebackers in the wake of Sean Weatherspoon’s placement on the IR-Designated to Return list. Chaney was last seen with the Philadelphia Eagles, where he appeared in 44 games over the past 3 seasons. He was a full-time starter in 2011 with Philadelphia, putting up 67 tackles, and at 26 years old, he should be in the prime of his career from a physical standpoint.

In the case of Gaither, he is more of a middle linebacker who has played for 3 teams throughout his NFL career. He is a bit older at 29 years old, and that could be the reason why he wasn’t on an active roster prior to this news. To be frank, I would expect to see more of Chaney in the short term simply because of the positional fit in the absence of Weatherspoon, but both guys could form upgrades over the current crop of linebackers.

In non-linebacker news, the Falcons made the obvious move in promoting Patrick DiMarco from the practice squad to replace the injured Bradie Ewing. It’s a pretty low-impact move, but DiMarco should see significant field time right away as the blocker in the I-Formation while Jason Snelling will be playing more tailback than normal with Steven Jackson (who has been officially ruled out for Week 3) on the shelf. To replace him on the practice squad, the team signed Chase Thomas, and the former New Orleans Saints linebacker is a 24-year-old with some upside if you look at his collegiate performance at Stanford.

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Hopefully, this will be the end of the injuries and injury replacements, but if anything else breaks (literally or figuratively), we’ll have you covered right here.