‘Dirty Byrd’: Falcons Officially Sign Speedy Vet WR in Free Agency

Byrd is officially the word in Atlanta.

Mike Fisher | Apr 5, 2022

“Dirty Byrd”? It’s official.

We do not yet know how much the Atlanta Falcons - no longer employing the services of traded Julio Jones and suspended Calvin Ridley - will be helped at wide receiver by the Friday signing of Damiere Byrd to a one-year deal.

But we know “Byrd is a Falcon” makes it easier on headline-writers.

Byrd, 29, spent the 2021 season with the Chicago Bears. In 17 games, the former South Carolina standout had 26 catches for 329 yards and a touchdown.

The deal was first noted by ESPN.

Overall, the speedster Byrd has 117 career receptions, 1,421 receiving yards and five touchdowns in stints with the Arizona Cardinals, Carolina Panthers, New England Patriots and the Bears.

The addition of Byrd (5-9, 175 pounds) doesn’t mean the end of the Falcons’ search for more production at wide receiver; he is something short of a blue-chip guy, having entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2015.

But not counting tight end Kyle Pitts, room of guys for new QB Marcus Mariota to throw to is thin.

That room as of now? Olamide Zaccheaus, KhaDarel Hodge, Frank Darby, Auden Tate, Chad Hansen and Byrd.

Olamide Zacchaeus

Frank Darby

Terry Fontenot

Would the Falcons’ issues here by solved had Ridley avoided a year-long (or more) suspension for gambling on games? Maybe not, as this off-season he was going to be traded (nearly to the Philadelphia Eagles) until the Falcons pulled out in “good faith” due to the coming bad news.

In a deep receiver draft, the Falcons might go there in April … in addition to flying with Byrd right now.

Published Apr 5, 2022

MIKE FISHER

Mike Fisher - as a newspaper beat writer and columnist and on radio and TV, where he is an Emmy winner - has covered the NFL since 1983, is the author of two best-selling books on the NFL.