Justin Blalock agrees to six-year contract with the Falcons
Falcons guards Justin Blalock (left) and Tyson Clabo help Ryan to his feet after a hit against Tampa Bay (Curtis Compton / ccompton@ajc.com)
FLOWERY BRANCH – Justin Blalock , who’s been a starter since his rookie season in 2007, has agreed to terms on a six-year contract to return to the Falcons on Sunday.
Blalock was drafted in the second round (39th overall) of the 2007 draft.
He struggled his rookie season, but things starting to come together for him under veteran NFL line coach Paul Boudreau.
He’s extremely durable and has started 62 of a possible 64 regular-season games.
Also, Blalock had a 41 on the Wonderlic test and is a smart and heady player.
After practice on Saturday, Falcons coach Mike Smith stated his desire to have Blalock re-signed.
The Falcons have already agreed to terms with starting right tackle Tyson Clabo, but lost starting right guard Harvey Dahl to the St. Louis Rams.
Blalock can not practice with the team until Thursday when the league calendar year starts or if the new collective bargaining agreement is ratified and the year starts sooner.
The only internal free agent left is cornerback Brent Grimes, who is a restricted free agent and has a first-round tender.
–D. Orlando Ledbetter, The Atlanta Falcons beat blog
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191 comments Add your comment
OHIOdirtybird!!!!
July 31st, 2011
4:34 pm
Good News!!!
NELSON COOK
July 31st, 2011
4:43 pm
Is this the big one that UGA1999 had in mind?
JMF
July 31st, 2011
4:44 pm
I have been waiting on this signing. Now I can relax.. Good job!!! Let’s give credit where credit is due. TD you have done a great job. Being the GM is not an easy job. Thankfully we have a good GM that is not only putting a championship contending team on the field now but also building for the future.
DHunt
July 31st, 2011
4:44 pm
One more piece of the puzzle in place. Maybe they should slide him back over to his natural spot on the right side and let the young guys battle it out for the LG spot.
Outside Observer
July 31st, 2011
4:48 pm
Six years? I wonder what the yearly salary is
FalconInVt
July 31st, 2011
4:50 pm
YES!!!
brown paper bag on my head
July 31st, 2011
4:58 pm
2011 NFC South Standings
Falcons
Bucs
Panthers
sAints
Cedric
July 31st, 2011
4:59 pm
Did Snelling sign already
Sly Ty
July 31st, 2011
5:00 pm
Mr.Blank….Thomas Dimitroff deserves a raise. We are thankful to you Mr.Blank for hiring Smitty and TD, now pay the man appropriately. Mr.Blank you have built us a consistent winner, thank you.
Row 3
July 31st, 2011
5:09 pm
Kudos to the FO. Any idea on remaining cap space?
DawgsnFalcons
July 31st, 2011
5:12 pm
This is great news. I figured they’d let Dahl go and resign Blalock. He’s key to the running game being a big earth mover.
Falc Fanatic
July 31st, 2011
5:15 pm
How about Snelling?
If Grimes is the only FA left, does that mean they are not trying to resign Snelling???
yodaddy
July 31st, 2011
5:18 pm
They need Brent Grimes
Brownie
July 31st, 2011
5:29 pm
Been a fascinating free agency/trade season the last few days, and for all the noise created by Philly, the Jets, the Patriots and Carolina, I love what TD has done. Didn’t worry about making a big splash, just quietly resigned the guys we wanted to keep and filled our biggest hole at DE with Edwards.
Let go of the guys we needed to: Norwood (never on the field), Koenen (good, but overpriced now), Dahl (see Koenen), Jamaal (Rich McKay’s last huge bad draft decision) and Jenkins (steady, great blocker, good teammate, but not worth the #1 pick). Don’t know yet about Snelling’s status, but hope we keep him.
hiramsaint
July 31st, 2011
5:32 pm
why did the above use reverse order for nfc south standings? backwards franchise-backwards fans!
WE DAT RISE UP!!!
July 31st, 2011
5:36 pm
WE N DA HOUSE NOW!!!
Section242
July 31st, 2011
5:40 pm
Great to have him back. We need to re-sign Grimes. Fortunately. he is RFA. It would be nice to keep Snelling but there are lots of good RB still on the market.
Gazoo
July 31st, 2011
5:41 pm
Worthless signing. A waste of money. A stale ham sandwich is better than Blalock. Oh well. I’ll state it all on the AFMB. Dimitroff whiffed on this one.
John
July 31st, 2011
5:43 pm
Can anyone tell me where this leaves us on the cap? Wondering how much they have left of the 120
jerry
July 31st, 2011
5:48 pm
There is no doubt the strongest trio of running backs would be Turner, Snelling, and Rodgers, also the most versatile. Hope this is the way it goes.
Joe
July 31st, 2011
5:59 pm
I agree Jerry, I hope we can keep Snelling
BigGAdawg
July 31st, 2011
6:02 pm
jerry, I have to agree with you on those three.
I am hoping that we can get Grimes and Snelling signed. I hate to see Dahl gone but I am really pleased that we were able to get Clabo and Blalock back in the fold.
I am ready for some football!!
Mitun
July 31st, 2011
6:02 pm
great news! now let’s get Grimes and Snelling back to the team and then go after Zach Miller if he is still available.
jdawg
July 31st, 2011
6:04 pm
We need Grimes but we also need one more cb.Someone need to replace Williams
falconfiend
July 31st, 2011
6:13 pm
WE DAT. CANT WAIT TO SEE DEION SANDERS IN THE HALL OF FAME.
falconfiend
July 31st, 2011
6:16 pm
i wonder if they have any films on that season the falcons won the california state championship with glanville. Beat niners twice, rams twice, raiders and chargers. 6-0
shannon
July 31st, 2011
6:17 pm
We better get a corner, owens(no cover) and williams(injury prone) are not the answers for a third corner..We are in a 3 wide league now u need 3 good corners
shannon
July 31st, 2011
6:17 pm
carlos rodgers? any thoughts?
falconsam
July 31st, 2011
6:20 pm
Enter your comments here
falconsam
July 31st, 2011
6:22 pm
2nd year man Dominique Franks may be the answer! He is talented, but can he play Nickel?
Paddy
July 31st, 2011
6:23 pm
Gazzo…..football is not your game.
Great sign
FalconFan
July 31st, 2011
6:32 pm
This is great news. They can go pick up one of the recently released lineman to replace Dahl, but getting 2 out of 3 ain’t bad. Great job all around.
Brownie
July 31st, 2011
6:35 pm
Gazoo…..I’d love to visit you in your extensive media room in your mom’s basement to see you break down film of every play over the past 3 years or so of the Falcons’ OLine play. I’m guessing the fact that Ryan rarely gets sacked except off the edge or via safety blitzs, OR that the Falcons have had one of the top running games since TD and company arrived doesn’t really count in your world??!!
And since it obviously is unimportant that an OLine has a comraderie, I’m thinking you must have a all-pro left guard available and ready to step (for less money) and quickly learn the Falcons’ system and the other linemen’s moves.
C’mon, impress us.
bgfalcon
July 31st, 2011
6:41 pm
great i feel more than confident to replace dahl with renoylds are the bama guy (can never remember his name) both of them are gonna be huge but reynlods looks like a giant.
Que Dog!
July 31st, 2011
6:42 pm
That’s great News! D Led, I saw you with your Centennial Hat on that Edwards interview. ROO to 100 years Que!
Gazoo
July 31st, 2011
6:44 pm
Brownie-noser, I’ll be on the AFMB and you can debate those silly-girl ideas with me there. Blalock is a scratch, McClure is not a has-been because he’s a never-was, Dahl did us a favor by leaving and Clabo, well, can you say turd in a milk bucket? And my friend, it’s your mother’s basement that I curl up in.
Brownie
July 31st, 2011
6:51 pm
Gazoo….really amazing intellect you possess. How in the hell did they win 13 games last year with that sorry excuse for an OLine?? BTW, just which team do you follow? I’m betting on the Aints.
Mave
July 31st, 2011
6:52 pm
Like all the moves so far, not sweating Grimes, he can’t go anywhere…I’d like for them to keep Snelling…that would be an awesome move. I wouldn’t like Rogers being the only option behind Turner. If that is the case, fine, but I’d like Turner. I do fear he may go to the New York Jets. Heard rumors of that on the radio today.
BOOGIES THE MAN FROM HARTWELL GA
July 31st, 2011
6:57 pm
Gazoo is an idiot..
Gazoo
July 31st, 2011
7:13 pm
Falcons fan all the way my sorry-sack friends. My post count on AFMB proves it. Some people just don’t like hard facts. I pity most of you, but, I do care enough to show you the errors of your way. No stats can show that our o-line was in any way better than average. At least I have the brains and etc. to say it. Go ahead and wail, but in the end you will see I’m right once again. Those Joe Nobodys we have in camp will be far superior to what we had. Blalock and Clabo. Hm. I should think my grandmother could steamroll either of them.
Grandma the Roller
July 31st, 2011
7:17 pm
Enter your comments here
bluto60
July 31st, 2011
7:20 pm
nice to lock up clabo and blalock. and yes, gazoo is an idiot.
but we missed the boat not going after ex-raider cb asomugha (sp?). guy like that comes around once or twice every 20 years. the secondary, not the pass rush, is our most glaring weakness. with a guy like asomugha, we could have manufactured more pressure via blitzes confidently because we’d have had shutdown abilities in the secondary. oh, well.
Gazoo
July 31st, 2011
7:20 pm
Nice, but you failed against my reasoning. No cookie for you.
.
July 31st, 2011
7:20 pm
.
SawThat1nce
July 31st, 2011
7:21 pm
go falcons!
Get somma deeeesss!
July 31st, 2011
7:21 pm
gazoo
The Real Falcon
July 31st, 2011
7:23 pm
Makes it all easier.
Gazoo
July 31st, 2011
7:23 pm
Yes Get Somma? How may I enlighten you?
SawThat1nce
July 31st, 2011
7:25 pm
brown bag@4:58pm……..I think that the saints will finish 3rd in the NFC South in 2011.
poolefan
July 31st, 2011
7:26 pm
snelling going to giants i say we sign micheal bush he’s better than snelling i think