3 former Atlanta Falcons players we’re glad are gone, 2 we wish stayed

3. Jonnu Smith, TE

Smith's a good tight end, and the bet here is that he plays well in Miami.

But there wasn't really room for him in Atlanta's offense – especially with the addition of Mooney – and there's world (hopefully, at least) where less targets to Smith mean more targets for Kyle Pitts. Smith's a great YAC tight end, but his roster spot felt a bit redundant with all the other skill players on this roster.

2 former Atlanta Falcons players we wish (or hope) stayed

1. Calais Campbell, DL

The Falcons haven't had a real free agency disaster in the past couple years, so we're going to take some editorial artistic license and assume that Campbell won't be back. The 37 year old defensive lineman can still play, as evidence by the fact that he was tied for the lead in sacks (6.5) on the Falcons defense last year.

Atlatan's reasoning for moving on would be plenty fair – at some point, the production's going to drop off, and Atlanta probably wants the team leader in sacks to come from someone who isn't over 35 next year.

2. Cordarrelle Patterson, WR/RB/ST

What a stint Patterson's had in Atlanta. After experimenting with it some in New England, Patterson found a real role as a running back in Atlanta, and the Falcons are the only team he has over 1,000 rushing yards with. While he's still a free agent and a return is technically possible, he's hinted recently that his time in Atlanta has probably come to a close.

His production – both as a running back and as a return specialist – dropped last season, which is probably why everyone seems so confident that he's not running it back next season. But wouldn't a couple more exciting kickoff TDs be worth whatever one-year contract he was asking for?