Falcons just signed a player with an intriguing Tommy Rees connection

All summer long, the Atlanta Falcons have made a pattern with many of their free-agent signings: if they're not a reclamation project, there's a good chance said player is connected to Kevin Stefanski. Stefanski rides for his guys, and now several of them have followed him from Cleveland to Atlanta.

Given the Falcons have so many Stefanski guys, you'd think they'd also have a lot of guys connected to OC Tommy Rees, but you thought wrong. The pair only spent two seasons together with the Browns, which isn't enough time for Rees to allow his own branch of the coaching tree to sprout.

However, that doesn't mean that true "Rees guys" don't exist, as this new regime is bringing in their first one of the offseason. The franchise was awarded guard Jaeden Roberts off waivers from the Philadelphia Eagles, but these ties run deeper than the many ex-Eagles execs in the front office.

The Atlanta Falcons reunited Tommy Rees and Jaedan Roberts in camp

Tommy Rees crossed paths with Roberts not when he was the Browns' offensive coordinator, but during his play-calling stint directly before that in the college ranks. He was the OC at Alabama beforehand, and his time in Tuscaloosa overlapped with Roberts' own stint with the Crimson Tide.

After spending the last four seasons playing for both Nick Saban and Kalen DeBoer at Alabama, Roberts went undrafted in the 2026 NFL Draft, and signed with the Eagles in early May. So his release prior to preseason action allowed the Dirty Birds to swoop in and reunite him with his ex-college OC.

At 6-foot-5 and 333 pounds, Roberts is expected to compete for a roster spot across the rest of training camp, but it doesn't seem like his coaching connection will help him. The Falcons are brimming with depth in the trenches, and the guard spots are their strongest positions on the OL.

Not only do they have two of the NFL's highest-paid guards starting in Matthew Bergeron and Chris Lindstrom, they have solid depth on the interior as well. Kyle Hinton was adequate while Bergeron was sidelined last year, and fellow 2026 UDFA Kam Dewberry has a solid track record to his name too.

From there, Roberts is competing with a bunch of depth additions and career journeymen. Layden Robinson, Andrew Stueber, and Brandon Walton are the competition from there, so if he beats out Dewberry and Hinton he has a chance, but they've both been with this new coaching staff for longer.

It'll be intriguing to see how Jaedan Roberts handles the reunion with Tommy Rees, but he's likely still on the wrong side of the Falcons' roster bubble.

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