Atlanta Falcons Sign Ex First Round Pick, Starting LB

The Atlanta Falcons are battling injury concerns at linebacker, and they're bringing back Rashaan Evans who led the Falcons in tackles in 2022.

The Atlanta Falcons and linebacker Rashaan Evan are re-united / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Falcons have reunited with their former leading tackler.

Linebacker Rashaan Evans, who had a team-best 159 total tackles in the middle of Atlanta's defense in 2022, is signing to the Falcons' practice squad, according to Adam Schefter.

The signing of Evans comes amidst injury concerns with Atlanta's linebacker room, where Week 1 starter Nate Landman is on injured reserve with quad and calf injuries and his complementary fill-in Troy Andersen suffered a knee injury in Sunday's 26-24 victory over the New Orleans Saints.

Andersen's status moving forward is uncertain, but the same can't be said for Evans, who now returns to the team who provided his last full-time starting opportunity.

Evans, who played collegiately at Alabama, was a first-round pick of the Tennessee Titans in 2018, when he played in 15 games with seven starts. He ascended into a much larger role in 2019, collecting 111 tackles and nine tackles for loss while starting all 16 games.

The 6-foot-2, 232-pound Evans started all 16 games the following year and made 96 tackles, but the Titans declined his fifth-year option in the spring. Thus, Evans entered 2021 in the final year of his rookie deal and appeared in 12 games, starting 11. He finished with 57 tackles and became an unrestricted free agent.

Evans signed with the Falcons in 2022, joining a coaching staff led by head coach Arthur Smith and defensive coordinator Dean Pees, both of whom were on the Titans the same time as Evans.

After his uber-productive year in Atlanta's defense, Evans left in free agency in 2023. He signed a mid-year deal with the Dallas Cowboys and played in nine games with one start, tallying nine tackles.

Evans was arrested Dec. 26, 2023, for marijuana possession and was waived by the Cowboys the following day. He's been a free agent ever since.

Now, Evans is back in Atlanta, but with a brand-new coaching staff -- head coach Raheem Morris, defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake and inside linebackers coach Barrett Ruud are all new faces to Evans.

Andersen and Landman are familiar, but Evans has a steep learning curve ahead -- one Evans may have to navigate quickly if Andersen's knee injury is serious.

The Falcons' 53-man roster only has three active linebackers: Andersen, Kaden Elliss and fifth-round rookie J.D. Bertrand.

Evans is a viable candidate to be promoted to the Falcons' active roster for Thursday night's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which kicks off at 8:15 p.m. inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.