Atlanta Falcons release cornerback Brian Williams and wide receiver Brian Finneran
The Atlanta Falcons have released cornerback Brian Williams and wide receiver Brian Finneran.
The release of two veterans comes as the team is trying to make the cornerback and wide receiver positions faster and more agile. Both players have been informed about the change to the team’s roster and they are both unrestricted free agents now.
31-year-old Williams has been a nickel cornerback for the Falcons this season before he injured his knee prior to the start of the playoffs. The Falcons played noticeably bad against the Green Bay Packers without him as Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers
completed 31 passes out of 36 attempts for 366 yards and three touchdowns, winning and knocking the Falcons out of the playoffs.
Williams spent seven years with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Minnesota Vikings before coming to Atlanta in 2009. He started in five games during the 2009 season before he injured his knee, which ended his season.
Williams has had a career total of 500 total tackles, 408 of which were solo. He has also had 5 sacks and 21 stuffs for 23 stuff yards. He has forced nine fumbles and had 19 interceptions, which he returned for 323 yards and a touchdown. He has averaged
17 yards per interception return and his longest was for 77 yards. He has also defended 74 passes in his 10 years in the National Football League.
In the 2010 season, Williams has had 36 tackles, 25 of which were solo tackles, one sack, two stuffs for seven stuff yards and one pass defended.
Finneran has been with the Falcons for 11 years now and only Todd McClure has been with the team longer with 12 years on the roster. Finneran has made 238 receptions for 3,093 yards and 19 touchdowns, averaging 13 yards per reception with his longest catch
being for 53 yards. He has also fumbled three times in his career and lost all three of them. 35-year-old Finneran’s best performance was back in 2005 when he had 50 receptions for 611 yards and two touchdowns.
Besides Williams and Finneran, the Falcons have nine other players on their roster that are set to become unrestricted free agents, considering that there are no changes to the Collective Bargaining Agreement that was supposed to be finalised by 3 March,
2011 but is still pending negotiation.
The nine players include special teams’ kicker Matt Bryant and punter Michael Koenen, backup running backs Jerious Norwood and Jason Snelling, and starting offensive line guards Harvey Dahl and Justin Blalock, along with right tackle Tyson Clabo.
Bryant has been with the team for nine years, Koenen and Clabo for seven years, Norwood for six years and Snelling, Dahl and Blalock for five years.
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