Falcons' summer darling is finally getting the roster chance he's waited for

Roster releases are all about difficult decisions, and Atlanta Falcons were forced to make an especially difficult decision for their LB5 spot. The Falcons were deciding between JD Bertrand and Josh Woods, and ultimately went with Bertrand on the 53 despite Woods having the better camp.

Despite releasing him, Atlanta was able to bring Woods back on their practice squad as insurance in case of injury--and they called his name far sooner than expected. On Monday, they placed Bertrand on IR and needed to call upon someone to replace him--so they upgraded, returning back to Woods.

To be fair to Josh Woods, if there's anyone who's gotten comfortable on the Falcons' practice squad, it would be him. He appeared in just 17 games for the team across the last two seasons, and most of his work came on special teams--but he now has a chance to become a fixture on the active roster.

Josh Woods has a golden opportunity to stick around with the Falcons

The 30-year-old will likely be behind Divine Deablo, Christian Harris, and rookies Kendal Daniels and Harold Perkins on the depth chart, but he still should see the field a good amount. Bertrand was mostly going to see the field on special teams, which is good news for the player set to replace him.

One of the defining characteristics of Woods' game is offering value on special teams. Across 82 career games, he's spent most of his time (and racked up most of his production on specials), which will be a good way for the veteran journeyman to keep proving his value to this new Atlanta regime.

Thankfully, Woods was particularly impressive this summer. According to Pro Football Focus, he recorded an 83.0 coverage grade and a 66.8 coverage grade across the Dirty Birds' three preseason games--and both of those numbers were better than Bertrand--and the former was by a wide margin.

The Maryland product was brought up off the practice squad for most of last year before spending most of 2024 on the practice squad, and while he didn't make the initial 53, this is essentially the next best thing. He's getting his chance due to injury, and he has at least four weeks to steal Bertrand's job.

All Josh Woods has to do across the next few weeks is excel on special teams (someone he already does) and be a solid rotational linebacker to consider keeping him over JD Bertrand. And given this is precisely what he established himself as in training camp, Bertrand might not get his job back.

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