It wasn’t a hard decision for defensive lineman Jonathan Bullard in free agency.
“I just (saw an) opportunity, so I jumped at it,” Bullard said Tuesday.
After seeing all of the openings on the Falcons’ defense, Bullard agreed to a one-year contract with the team April 1.
“It was just a good opportunity,” Bullard said. “Young guys in the room. I just felt I wanted to be a little closer to home finally. I’ve been on the West Coast for the last couple of years.”
Bullard, 27, of Shelby, N.C., played at Florida. He was a third-round pick (72nd overall) by the Chicago Bears in 2016. He played three seasons for the Bears, one for the Cardinals (2019) and one for Seattle (2020).
Bullard, who’s 6-foot-3 and 296 pounds, played in six games for Seattle last season. Overall, he has played in 61 NFL games and has made 11 starts.
He’s mostly been a rotational player. He played 297 defensive snaps (28%) in 2016, 438 (41% in 2017 and 298 (28%) in 2018 for the Bears.
With Arizona he played 309 snaps (27%) in 2019 and played a career-low 117 (10%) snaps with the Seahawks last season.
“I went into Seattle from Arizona probably around Week 3 or Week 4 and few of their guys just came back that they had that were on injured reserve. That’s just how it goes. I went, I played, and I think it was two or three guys that came back off of IR. I just had to wait until my number was called.”
Bullard enjoyed his time with the Bears.
“I was a young guy coming in,” Bullard said. “I learned a lot from Akiem Hicks. He was a good leader and obviously a heck of a player.”
He played in 46 games for the Bears and made six starts.
“That was when I first started, just learning the game,” Bullard said. “You can never learn too much. I had a great guy in the room to learn from (in Hicks). ... I just applied it for all of these five years.”
Falcons defensive coordinator Dean Pees said the defense will show multiple alignments, but the team has amassed at lot of former 3-4 players this offseason including Bullard, who can play tackle in the 4-3 and end in the 3-4.
Behind defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, there are some steady performers in Tyeler Davison and Steven Means along the defensive line. The rest of the defensive linemen -- Jacob Tuioti-Mariner, Marlon Davidson, Deadrin Senat, John Cominsky and Chris Slayton – are unproven in the NFL.
There’s also the case of Bullard’s former college teammate Dante Fowler, who’s trying to come off a injury-plagued down season.
“I’ll probably be doing a little bit of (end and tackle) all across the line, hopefully,” Bullard said. “The more I can do, the more I can help out. So, my goal is to be able to help anywhere they ask me to. I don’t know exactly where I’m going to be as of now, but I’m sure I’ll learn more over the next few weeks.”
Bullard contacted Fowler before deciding to sign with the Falcons.
“At the end of the day, you’ve got to do what’s best for you,” Bullard said. “When I got the call, I definitely called him. We talked about it and how it would be exciting. I just felt like it was the best place for me this year.”
Fowler signed a three-year, $45 million deal with the Falcons last season, but after compiling only three sacks he was placed on incentive-laden deal for 2021.
Bullard is glad to reunite with Fowler.
“It was definitely a plus to coming on, having a guy that I came in with,” Bullard said. “When we traveled, he was my roommate. We have a good relationship. That definitely helped.”
Bullard reminisced about their days in the trenches with the Gators.
“We just had a competitive edge about each other,” Bullard said. “We both knew we were talented guys. We came in early and played right away together. We knew that kind of during the recruiting process after we both decided to go there.”
Bullard and Fowler tried to motivate one another.
“Just go out there and try to make each other better,” Bullard said. “We (have) a relationship where we can push each other with no hard feelings that we had at UF. As we both got older and both stepped up, we tried to make the team go in the right direction.
“It’s going to be nice to play with him again.”
Falcons’ 2021 draft position: Here are the top 10 picks in D. Led’s Mock Draft 4.0:
1. Jacksonville Jaguars: Trevor Lawrence (QB, Clemson)
2. New York Jets: Zach Wilson, (QB, BYU)
3. San Francisco 49ers: Justin Fields (QB, Ohio State)
4. Atlanta Falcons: Penei Sewell (OT, Oregon)
5. Cincinnati Bengals: Ja’Marr Chase (WR, LSU)
6. Miami Dolphins: Kyle Pitts (TE, Florida)
7. Detroit Lions: DeVonta Smith (WR, Alabama)
8. Carolina Panthers: Jaylen Waddle (WR, Alabama)
9. Denver Broncos: Trey Lance (QB, North Dakota State)
10. Dallas Cowboys: Patrick Surtain (CB, Alabama)
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