Chi-lanta Falcons Roster Grows
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If you're a Bears fan, and really if you're an Atlanta Falcons fan, you need to be creeped out.
It's almost as if the shocking shower scene music from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho needs to be playing in the background.
You scan down the Falcons roster and see it.
- Damiere Byrd
- Germain Ifedi
- Nick Kwiatkoski
- Cordarrelle Patterson
- Teez Tabor
- Elijah Wilkinson
- Damien Williams
- And now add nose tackle Eddie Goldman.
The Falcons signed Goldman Wednesday, making it eight former Bears on the roster. Should someone ship them some Lou Malnatti's or Portillo's?
They did have Rashaad Coward and Mike Davis at one point, as well.
The whole thing is even weirder when you add offensive coordinator Dave Ragone, the former Bears passing game coordinator. Also, former Bears running backs coach Charles London is quarterbacks coach, former Bears running backs coach Michael Pitre and outside linebackers coach Ted Monachino have similar roles with the Falcons and former Bears defensive backs coach Jon Hoke is a defensive backs coach for Atlanta.
Of course, this all happened after former Bears GM Ryan Pace went to the Falcons as "senior personnel executive." It sounds like he has a little more input in personnel than someone could expect after being on board for a few months as an underling.
Also on staff as a scout is Phil Emery, the Bears GM before Pace.
Goldman might be of help to a poor Falcons defensive line interior if he is the Goldman who played in 2015-19. He opted out in 2020 and last year looked as if he was still opting out. He never showed up for offseason work and then when he came in he played poorly.
The website Pro Football Focus gave Goldman an overall grade of 39.8 last year, 37.4 run defense. Of the 109 interior defensive linemen PFF graded last year, Goldman ranked 106th.
The Bears cut Goldman in a salary cap move in March and are still counting $5.15 million of his contract as dead money against their available amount.
Training camp is coming. Expect Pace to be holed up at the Forester, the Hyatt hotel located a few blocks down the street from Halas Hall, with a net in hand.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
