Of the many undrafted free agents the Atlanta Falcons signed, Brandon Frazier was looked at as one of the players who had the best shot to sneak his way onto the final roster. Falcons fans were quickly talking about him as a long-term successor to Charlie Woerner because of his prowess as a blocker.
However, that dream didn't last very long, as he was cut immediately after rookie minicamp concluded on Monday afternoon. While Atlanta got busy on Monday afternoon, signing four players, Frazier was one of the four players they released, much to the shock and awe of several Falcons fans.
The 6-foot-7, 267-pound tight end was one of the best blocking TEs in the nation, so knowing what we know about Kevin Stefanski, I was fully expecting Frazier to seriously push for a roster spot or have some sort of role on the practice squad, but right now, things aren't looking good on that front.
Brandon Frazier didn't even last two weeks as a member of the Falcons
While the 24-year-old evidently has upside, the Falcons' logjam at tight end has made him pretty expendable. They are still looking to extend Kyle Pitts, they signed Austin Hooper in free agency, and still have both Woerner and Joshua Simon on the 90-man roster, which allowed them to cut Frazier.
The Auburn product isn't much of a receiving TE, but when you're playing behind Pitts, you don't really need to be. Rolling with Frazier over Woerner would've saved the Dirty Birds about $5 million and offered the team $1 million in dead cap, yet they still chose the veteran over the high-upside rookie.
It doesn't make sense. The 28-year-old has been a popular cut candidate all offseason long and is very much not deserving of a $5.75 million cap hit as a TE3. But his contract is set to expire after the season, so Atlanta could use this season as a redshirt season for Frazier after letting Woerner walk.
It's not like he could've fared this poorly in rookie minicamp that he's already been released. There was reason to be optimistic about the Texas native's long-term standing, but if he's getting released this quickly, he's got much bigger fish to fry because his career as a whole could be in jeopardy.
A few weeks ago, it looked like the Falcons found a lottery ticket in undrafted free agency in Brandon Frazier. But now that he's been released months before training camp ever started, it looks like the Frazier hype train was all for naught.
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