Saving the Falcons: Excited new guys and logo colors

A lot of has happened for Falcons fans this past week. Here are three of the biggest talking points of the week.

It was an extremely busy first week of the NFL offseason.

For the Atlanta Falcons, the franchise signed two of the bigger names on the market in former L.A. Rams running back Todd Gurley and linebacker Dante Fowler.

The Gurley signing continues a pattern in Falcon history. Within the past 30 years, Atlanta has brought in two former standout Rams running backs.

In 1993, the Falcons traded for Rams legend Eric Dickerson. The Hall of Famer was in the final season of his career at 33 years old. He played in four games before the Falcons released him as a third-string back. During his Falcon tenure, he had 26 carries for 91 yards.

In 2013, Atlanta signed Steven Jackson. In two seasons with the Falcons, the three-time Pro Bowler ran for 1,250 yards on 347 carries and 12 touchdowns. Jackson was ultimately replaced by Devonta Freeman, the running back who was cut before the Falcons signed Gurley.

Gurley was released by the Rams after L.A. made an unsuccessful attempt to trade the three-time Pro Bowler. If the Rams kept him on the roster, they would have taken a $17.25 million cap hit in 2020, $13.2 million in 2021, $14.2 million in 2022 and $12.4 million in 2023. By releasing him, the team can save up to $4.65 million in cap space. 

In 2018, Gurley agreed to a four-year, $60 million extension, which made him the highest-paid running back in the league. In 2017, he enjoyed a career high and was named the league's offensive player of the year.

Gurley suffered a knee injury at the end of the 2018 season. The year ended with a 10-carry, 35-yard performance in Super Bowl LIII.

His fifth season was the worst year of his career. On 223 carries, Gurley had 857 yards and 12 touchdowns in 15 starts. 

There is a silver lining in the case for Gurley, however. The back who turns 26 on Aug. 3 comes to Atlanta with lower expectations playing with a lethal receiving corps.

Staying in L.A., the Rams officially released their new logo this week. The look has received a lot of criticism online, which draws back to the question of how the Falcons new logo may look. 

The only guess Falcons fans can make right now is the colors of the uniforms and logo are still going to be based around black-and-red but there is no more information available to the public past that.