Falcons set to sign tight end Feleipe Franks

No, really.

Feleipe Franks was something of a meme in the Atlanta Falcons fanbase last time he was here. The rangy, athletic quarterback-turned-tight end was a seeming Arthur Smith favorite, but despite a lot of glowing words and development, he rarely saw the field for Atlanta. Last year, the team moved on with the departure of Smith and Franks spent the season in Carolina, where he was a special teams contributor with 10 tackles despite battling penalties along the way. He had gone, over the course of a few rocky seasons, from a “why is he still on the roster?” player to a solid reserve.

That’s not the end of the story for Franks and the Falcons, though, because apparently it’s not just Smith who saw utility for the towering tight end. Per D. Orlando Ledbetter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the team is bringing Franks back, presumably to compete for the third tight end job and a special teams role.

While this is hilarious to me because of the near-mythical status Franks achieved here, for reasons good and bad—I almost jokingly put him in my offensive free agent targets piece, but feared a mutiny—it’s not actually a bad summer competition move when you get past the initial shock of it.

Franks showed genuine growth as a blocking tight end the past two seasons with Atlanta and Carolina, was a high-energy contributor on special teams for the Panthers, and would still be an interesting pass catching option if the pieces ever came together for him, though at age 27 I’m not holding my breath for that one. Will he definitely knock off Nikola Kalinic for the third end job, or prevent the team from adding more pieces to the position group? No. Will he be a fine practice squad candidate if he doesn’t make the roster outright, and will his special teams value make him a decent enough third option if he does? Maybe. We’ll see!

Anyways, welcome Franks back to Atlanta, and we’ll hope his second chapter with the Falcons ends up being an unexpectedly great one. The legend can only grow, surely.