Chargers News: Falcons Insider Shocked By Jaylinn Hawkins Release

Promising young safety is swooped up by the Bolts!
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Tuesday afternoon was a normal Tuesday in the NFL world, practices were being held and players were gearing up for their respective games, except for one player.

26-year-old safety Jaylinn Hawkins was informed of his release by the Atlanta Falcons. Not having enough service time the young safety would go up on waivers when your Los Angeles Chargers successfully claimed him.

The move makes sense for the Chargers as they just lost safety Raheem Layne for the rest of the season with a torn ACL that occurred on Monday Night Football against the Dallas Cowboys.

David Choate of the Falcoholic had many questions pop up with this move. In 2022, Hawkins started 16 games racking up 84 tackles, 6 passes defended, and 2 interceptions.

The promising young safety went into 2023 under a new defensive coordinator, Ryan Nielsen, and seemingly lost his job.

Hawkins had appeared in all six of Atlanta's games this year but just as a special teams player.

The former 4th round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft seems to have a new opportunity with the Chargers as he will step into the role that Layne had this year as a special teamer and come on defense in a more nickel or dime formation.

The still-young safety has a nose for the ball and will look to be a big contributor with his new team as they look to bounce back from their Monday night loss, part of the loss was attributed to the continued defensive woes on third down.

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Jacob Zinder
JACOB ZINDER

Jacob Zinder is a digital sports journalist that recently graduated from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.