The Falcons worked out a handful of players last week, and the common thread running through those workouts was special teams value. Now they’ve signed someone to the practice squad, and it’s the player with the most established history of being an impactful player on special teams.
Welcome linebacker Daren Bates to Atlanta, if you would.
Bates overlapped with Arthur Smith in Tennessee, where he spent the past four seasons, and he’s been a core special teamer for three teams over the past eight seasons. In that span, he’s never played fewer than 62% of the special teams snaps and regularly finished with double digit special teams tackles.