The Falcons kept quarterbacks Josh Rosen and Feleipe Franks in their initial cutdown to the 53-man roster Tuesday.
The team is looking for a backup quarterback to Matt Ryan after the retirement of Matt Schaub and the season-ending injury to AJ McCarron in the exhibition season.
Also, Cameron Nizialek, who played at Columbia and Georgia, won the punting competition as Dom Maggio was waived injured.
Rosen, who was the 10th pick in the 2018 draft, was signed Aug. 24. He played the second half against Cleveland on Sunday and completed 9 of 18 passes for 118 yards and touchdown. Franks, an undrafted rookie from Florida and Arkansas, showed the ability to extend plays.
Undrafted rookie linebacker Dorian Etheridge made the initial roster.
Under general manager Terry Fontenot and coach Arthur Smith, the Falcons have repeatedly started that the roster would be fluid throughout the season. They have the fourth position on the waiver wire and plan to make claims if they can improve the roster.
“We’ll monitor everything all week,” Smith said. “Really, nothing is final until we got into late next week when we (start) getting ready for Philly.”
Here are the players who were released Tuesday:
CB Delrick Abrams - Waived
DL Eli Ankou - Terminated, Vested Veteran
OL Willie Beavers - Waived
WR Trevor Davis - Terminated, Vested Veteran
DL Zac Dawe - Waived
ILB Emmanuel Ellerbee - Waived
RB D’Onta Foreman - Terminated, Vested Veteran
OL Matt Gono - Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform
WR Juwan Green - Waived
TE Parker Hesse - Reserve/COVID-19
RB Caleb Huntley - Waived
S Dwayne Johnson - Waived
OLB Kobe Jones - Waived
OL Sam Jones - Waived
P Dom Maggio - Waived/Injured
OL Ryan Neuzil - Waived
WR Antonio Nunn - Waived
S JR Pace - Waived
TE John Raine - Waived
WR Chris Rowland - Waived
OL Joe Sculthorpe - Waived
OLB Tuzar Skipper - Waived
DL Chris Slayton - Waived
OL Kion Smith - Waived
ILB Erroll Thompson - Waived
TE David Wells - Waived
CB Chris Williamson - Waived
Huntley and Pace are local players. Huntley played at Locust Grove High and Ball State, while Pace played at Woodward Academy and Northwestern.
Rowland played at Tennessee State. Rowland was signed in 2020 and spent most of the season on the Falcons’ practice squad. He was called up to the 53-man roster for the final two games last season.
Rowland had a target and played 27 offensive snaps (50%) and five special-teams snaps (19%) against the Titans in the opening exhibition game. He had a punt return for 12 yards and two kickoff returns for 34 yards.
Against Miami in the second exhibition game, he played 20 offensive snaps (39%) and nine on special teams (39%). He had a punt return for 4 yards and a kickoff return of 16 yards.
In the final game against the Browns, he played 16 offensive snaps (29%) and 2 special teams snaps (11%).
He essentially was competing with Avery Williams for the punt return job.
Rowland, who’s 5-foot-8 and 180 pounds, was the 2019 Black College Football player of the year and received his award during the Black College Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony Feb. 15, 2020, in Atlanta.
While at Tennessee State, Rowland set an HBCU record with 104 receptions in 2019, eclipsing the mark of 103 set by Mississippi Valley State’s Jerry Rice in 1984.
Ankou, who’s 6-foot-3 and 325 pounds, played at UCLA. He played 19 defensive snaps (24%) in the 19-10 loss to the Browns on Sunday. Dawe played 21 defensive snaps (27%) against the Browns.
Dawe, who played at Brigham Young, was signed as an undrafted rookie after the 2021 draft.
Here’s the 53-man roster:
QUARTERBACKS (3)
Feleipe Franks
Josh Rosen
Matt Ryan
DEFENSIVE LINE (6)
Jonathan Bullard
John Cominsky
Marlon Davidson
Ta’Quon Graham
Grady Jarrett
RUNNING BACKS (4)
Mike Davis
Qadree Ollison
Cordarrelle Patterson
Keith Smith
OUTSIDE LINEBACKERS (5)
Brandon Copeland
Dante Fowler Jr.
Steven Means
Adetokunbo Ogundeji
Jacob Tuioti-Mariner
WIDE RECEIVERS (6)
Christian Blake
Frank Darby
Russell Gage
Calvin Ridley
Tajae Sharpe
Olamide Zaccheaus
INSIDE LINEBACKERS (4)
Dorian Etheridge
Deion Jones
Foyesade Oluokun
Mykal Walker
TIGHT ENDS (3)
Hayden Hurst
Kyle Pitts
Lee Smith
DEFENSIVE BACKS (11)
Richie Grant
T.J. Green
Darren Hall
Duron Harmon
Erik Harris
Jaylinn Hawkins
Fabian Moreau
Isaiah Oliver
Kendall Sheffield
A..J. Terrell
Avery Williams
OFFENSIVE LINE (8)
Josh Andrews
Drew Dalman
Matt Hennessy
Chris Lindstrom
Jake Matthews
Jalen Mayfield
Kaleb McGary
Jason Spriggs
SPECIALISTS (3)
Josh Harris
Younghoe Koo
Cameron Nizialek
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