Former Eagles linebacker reportedly signs with Atlanta Falcons

The Atlanta Falcons have signed two former Philadelphia Eagles players in one today.

Earlier on Monday, the Falcons officially announced the signing of defensive end Steven Means. Now it’s veteran linebacker Corey Nelson who will reportedly be joining Atlanta’s ranks.

I guess if you can’t beat the Eagles, the move is to sign their former players?

I mean, you would think it would’ve been more useful for the Falcons to sign these players BEFORE they played in Philadelphia (and lost) last Thursday. Too late for them now.

Another reason why Means and Nelson didn’t get signed until now is because they’re both vested veterans. As such, their salaries for the 2018 season would have been fully guaranteed if they were on the Week 1 roster. Now that’s not the case.

Getting back to Nelson, the 26-year-old was a free agent flop for the Eagles. When Philadelphia signed him to a deal worth $600,000 guaranteed on the first day of the new league year, it seemed like he was the favorite to be the Eagles’ new weakside linebacker. Nelson failed to win the job, though, by essentially being invisible in the offseason.

Nelson was so invisible, in fact, that the photo selection databases which are available to us don’t even have a picture of him in an Eagles uniform. Hence the Broncos picture above this article.

The Eagles released Nelson a week ahead of final roster cuts prior to their fourth and final preseason game.

Here’s The Falcoholic’s take on the Nelson signing:

As Rapoport notes above, this is probably Deion Jones insurance, and it makes me a little more worried about that “sore foot” than I would have been otherwise. It’s likely that Duke Riley or Foye Oluokun would slide in and start if Jones is out, but Nelson could soak up some snaps and play special teams. If Jones plays, maybe Nelson can still hang on as a deep reserve.