On Monday, the Falcons released DE Ray Edwards following their loss to the New Orleans Saints. While this has made quite some noise it had little to do with the loss and instead was determined upon Edwards’ lackluster play over the course of his time with the Falcons organization.

Edwards, who the Falcons signed soon after the resolution of the 2011 lockout, was initially signed to be a ferocious presence on their side and help out John Abraham. The Falcons were drawn to Edwards’ performance in his 5 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings where he tallied 29.5 sacks but after completing knee surgery during the lockout, Edwards never regained complete mobility and suffered on the field.

In his first season with the Falcons, he did not live up to the hype and had only 3 1/2 sacks in what was his only full season with the Falcons and this season things got even more grim for the player as he started in only four of the nine games played, had a goose egg for sacks, and only 9 tackles. His most impressive work this season was two recovered fumbles and 26 return yards. I guess after the loss on Sunday that the Falcons were wishing they had allocated the 30 million they signed Edwards with elsewhere. With 11 million of that salary guaranteed, how long can Edwards truly stay mad?

In the wake of Edwards release, the Falcons signed TE Chase Coffman, WR Tim Toone, placed TE Tommy Gallarda on injured reserve, and signed TE Andrew Szczerba to the practice squad. As things get shaken up a bit for the Falcons, we will watch to see how the play out this week in practice in preparation for who will take the field on Sunday.