It came as a bit of a surprise when the Atlanta Falcons cut Zach Harrison yesterday. A talented, young defensive tackle on a cheap contract entering the end of his rookie deal looked to be about as much of a roster lock as you can get--but new GM Ian Cunningham's vision doesn't mess around.
The Falcons waived Harrison (along with DBs Jammie Robinson and Natrone Brooks) in correspondence to their three waiver claims on Monday, but the story doesn't end there. If they knew they were going to release him, what was the point of keeping him on the initial 53 to begin with?
The other part of this that's weird is that it seems to be injury related. To be fair, he suffered a season-ending knee injury last season, but he was healthy. He got activated midway through camp, but the Falcons had an opportunity to use one of their IR slots on him--but for some reason chose not to.
The Atlanta Falcons aren't done with Zach Harrison despite waiving him
I've been particularly fond of the job Cuningham has done in his first offseason, but this is the first time he truly loses me. Harrison broke out last season and was one of the best interior defenders on the team--amassing 4.5 sacks in seven games before that knee injury kept him out for the season.
But just because they cut him doesn't mean that he's officially done. Harrison will go through waivers, and there's a real shot he's claimed by another DL-needy team. That was a risk the Dirty Birds were willing to take, but it's ultimately going to determine if they'll be able to bring him back in some way.
Now that JD Bertrand was placed on IR and Josh Woods was activated from the practice squad to the 53-man roster to take his place, there's an open vet slot on Atlanta's P-Squad. And it feels like a safe bet that the 25-year-old will take it--assuming he clears waivers today--which makes this tough.
The 2023 third-round pick was deemed expendable because of the Gervon Dexter trade, but why cut him in the first place if you want to just stash him on the practice squad? You could have saved the same roster spot by placing him on IR--and that wouldn't risk other teams attempting to poach him.
Given he was one of the team's best defenders last year, this feels like a leap of faith--and a head-scratching one at that. You could've tried to trade him--and once Harrison finds a starting job and thrives elsewhere, he could land the extension Atlanta was never giving him to make this new regime look foolish.
Most of the fanbase isn't happy about the Falcons' decision to release Zach Harrison (and for good reason), because a lot of this mess could've been avoided. Ian Cunningham will meet with the media tomorrow, and he'll sure have a lot to a lot to answer for.
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