5 more Atlanta Falcons who won't be back after the Desmond Ridder trade

The Atlanta Falcons are making their move. They are living well with a good amount of cap space and finally unencumbered by the Arthur Smith era in Flowery Branch. The Dirty Birds have opted to seriously push for a playoff berth this year. By signing Kirk Cousins away from the Minnesota Vikings, Atlanta turned heads very early with their first roster calibrations of the new year. No, they were not close to done...

In the first wave of free agency, Atlanta signed Cousins away from Minnesota, wide receiver Darnell Mooney away from the Chicago Bears and former Georgia star tight end Charlie Woerner away from the San Francisco 49ers. However, their next biggest move was actually a trade. It was a rare player-for-player deal that sent quarterback Desmond Ridder to the Arizona Cardinals for Rondale Moore.

While Ridder will try to salvage his career as Kyler Murray's backup in Glendale, Moore joins an offense that could go toe-to-toe with anyone in the league. Of course, many players were came to love and enjoy over the years in Atlanta are no longer going to be part of this team. For every guy the Falcons add in NFL free agency and in the NFL Draft, another veteran will have to go find a new job.

Here are five other Falcons I would be surprised if they came back.

5. Feleipe Franks was an Arthur Smith science experiment that went awry

I always found the rostering of Feleipe Franks by the Falcons rather odd. To be honest, all of y'all did, too. Franks is best known for being the quarterback at Florida who broke his leg before giving way to Kyle Trask. While Trask became a star with the Gators during COVID throwing the ball to Kyle Pitts and Kadarius Toney, Franks finished his college career playing with the Arkansas Razorbacks.

He was never a serious quarterback prospect, but you know how Arthur Smith loves himself some tight ends. Smith actually thought he could convert a third-string NFL quarterback into a servicable tight end. I mean, he had the build for it, but the fit was always clunky. Not to say positional transitions never work because they sometimes do, but it is time for both parties to go their separate ways here.

Could Franks reunite with Smith in Pittsburgh? Surely, Russell Wilson would love that! Overall, Franks is just another prime example of how even a moderately good SEC player can have trouble finding a place for himself in the league. Given that the offense Zac Robinson is going to run features more receivers than tight ends, Franks could find himself between a rock and a hard place with the Falcons.

Atlanta still needs to shore up its quarterback room after the Desmond Ridder trade, but this is easy.