Atlanta Falcons trade Akeem Dent for T.J. Yates

Late on Tuesday evening, the Atlanta Falcons announced that they have traded linebacker Akeem Dent to the Houston Texans in exchange for quarterback T.J. Yates.

According to Pro Football Talk, the Texans, who originally were thought to have cut Yates, decided they had no more need for him, especially after Houston head coach Bill O’Brien had named Ryan Fitzpatrick the club’s starting QB. Yates, who a North Carolina product and attended high school at Pope High School in Atlanta Area, has only started five games in his three-year career, and has a career completion percentage of 60.8% and has three touchdowns to six interceptions. Dent, who has spent his entire three-year career with Atlanta, has started 20 games (including 13 in 2012) and has 130 career tackles to accompany 1.5 sacks. Both players are entering the final year of their rookie contracts.

Yates will join Dominique Davis, Jeff Mathews, and Sean Renfree as the potential backups behind Matt Ryan.  This is a very interesting move, especially just being a week or so removed from the news that Sean Weatherspoon will miss all of 2014. But, the Falcons get a dependable and veteran back-up QB, something that the team hasn’t had in recent memory, and that should ease the minds (at least slightly) of the fan base.

On the surface, it’s a bold and daring move, but might be low-risk-high-reward, as the Falcons didn’t have to surrender a draft pick or a big-time asset.