Inside The Huskies

Atlanta Has Not Been Fair to Ex-Huskies Seeking Gainful NFL Employment

Bralen Trice is just the latest from the UW to suffer football misfortune in the South's largest city.
Dan Raley|
Carson Bruener (42) and Bralen Trice (8) converge on Michigan running back Blake Corum.
Carson Bruener (42) and Bralen Trice (8) converge on Michigan running back Blake Corum. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Atlanta has not exactly been a football paradise for former University of Washington players or coaches for that matter.

One-time Husky offensive tackle Kaleb McGary, just a few weeks after signing a rich contact extension with the Falcons, hurt a knee in practice last week, went on injured reserve and has been ruled out tfor he season.

At Tuesday's cutdown deadline, ex-UW cornerback Keith Taylor was released and wasn't even signed to the Atlanta practice squad.

On Thursday, the Falcons revealed that edge rusher Bralen Trice, who helped the Huskies advance to the CFP national championship game 20 months ago, re-injured the knee that kept him from playing his rookie season last year and he was back on injured reserve.

Before all of this happened, Atlanta fired former UW head coach Jimmy Lake as its defensive coordinator at the end of last season, sending his career into yet another spiral.

It was Lake's second termination in three years, following his Husky dismissal coming during the 2021 season.

OK, who's left in the largest city of the South still holding up a UW connection?

Now that's unthinkable, when you think about it.

Michael Penix Jr.

Atlanta better do everything in its power to keep the former Husky and now Falcons starting quarterback safe and sound and employed.

Penix suffered enough following four consecutive season-ending injuries with the Indiana Hoosiers before enjoying a healthy two-year stay in Seattle and that was way more than any football player should have to deal with.

As for the 6-foot-4, 273-pound Trice, his football life has been miserable since he got drafted in the third round of the 2024 draft with the Falcons desperately in need of a playmaking edge rusher and the former Husky seemingly an personnel answer.

In his first preseason game a year ago, the Arizona native suffered a torn ACL in his right knee, had surgery and was done for his rookie season with almost nothing to show for it.

The Falcons haven't disclosed how serious this latest knee issue is for Trice, saying only that he re-aggravated the previous injury and might need a surgical procedure to correct it. He has to sit out at least four games and he hasn't been ruled out for the season.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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