Atlanta Falcons: Safety Thomas DeCoud agrees to terms
110801 Flowery Branch - Atlanta Falcons safety Thomas DeCoud flys to block a ball in a simulated punt drill during the first padded practice at training camp in Flowery Branch on Monday, August 1, 2011. Curtis Compton ccompton@ajc.com
Falcons free safety Thomas DeCoud agreed to terms with the team on Tuesday.
“Thanks for all the congratulations everyone…looking forward to taking my game to the next level and help the falcons take that next step,” DeCoud sent out in a tweet on twitter. com from @TwentyAte28.
DeCoud was a third round pick (98th overall) in 2008. He became a starter in 2009 and has been a mainstay. He was challenged for his position last season, but was able to hold off James Sanders.
He finished third on team in tackles with 109 tackles last season. He also had four interceptions and seven passes defensed.
DeCoud, 6-0, 192 pounds, has started 47 of 58 games, totaling 335 tackles (219 solo), two sacks, eight interceptions, four forced fumbles and 19 passes defensed.
The Falcons also announced that tight end Michael Palmer and running back Antone Smith have signed their exclusive rights contracts.
Palmer, 6-5, 252 pounds, was originally signed by the Falcons as a college free agent on April 26, 2010. In two seasons in Atlanta, he has played in 31 games with two starts. Palmer has totaled 15 receptions for 101 yards and two touchdowns in his career, including 10 catches for 72 yards and one touchdown in 2011.
Smith, 5-9, 192 pounds, was originally signed by the Detroit Lions as a college free agent on May 8, 2009. He was signed to the Falcons practice squad on October 21, 2009. Smith has seen action in 21 games over the last two seasons, primarily on special teams. In 2011, he ranked seventh on the team with seven special teams tackles.
–D. Orlando Ledbetter, The Atlanta Falcons beat blog
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102 comments Add your comment
yeahsure
March 6th, 2012
11:28 am
LAst!!
man, i hope Nolan can do something about deCoud. He was garbage last year.
Gumbo
March 6th, 2012
11:36 am
NOoooooooooooooooooo………TD, when you whiff, you gotta admit it. DeCoud may be the worst safety in the NFL.
lowdownjj
March 6th, 2012
11:37 am
Agree that Nolan will have some work to do here. Won’t go as far as to call Decoud’s play garbage but he got beat way too much to be the last line of defense.
just saying....
March 6th, 2012
11:38 am
@ yeahsure
well, your face is garbage
yeahsure
March 6th, 2012
11:41 am
lol. thanks Thomas. You should really be working on your drills instead of posting on AJC.
Loyal Falcon
March 6th, 2012
11:44 am
I’m almost certain we’ll see a more disciplined and polished Decoud now that Nolan is here to coach the defense. He’ll set him straight as well as the rest of the defense. Go Falcons!
Mike
March 6th, 2012
11:44 am
I thought we could use an upgrade at safety but there’s not much out there in the free agent market as far as safeties go. Goldson, Griffin, and Branch all got tagged. Laron Landry has injury problems. Hopefully Nolan’s D will make Decoud and Dunta better.
Loyal Falcon
March 6th, 2012
11:45 am
Decoud is one of the better safeties in the league. He’ll be just fine.
just saying....
March 6th, 2012
11:46 am
@yeahsure
touche…
D Money
March 6th, 2012
11:48 am
I’m more worried about the D and O lines. Decoud and any other DB will get beat all day with no pass rush. Mario Williams would be a great addition considering Ray Edwards is coming off a second knee surgery in 2 years.
Loyal Falcon
March 6th, 2012
11:48 am
I think we’re gonna see a more aggressive defense over all in 2012. Don’t sleep on Cliff Matthews!
Marcupial
March 6th, 2012
11:50 am
He always seemed to be around the big plays. Like he didn’t get there in time. Hopefully the new D will help. I do know that Thomas and BVG did not get along …… at all.
the silverman
March 6th, 2012
11:51 am
Not a big fan of Decouds play but with our big needs being line play on both sides no reason to spend big money trying to replace a Safety who played ok. Hopefully Nolan will get more out of him.
Great Falconi
March 6th, 2012
11:53 am
I think most of our defensive players are better suited to a more aggressive scheme. I’m glad Nolan is on the staff.
Big Crimson 75
March 6th, 2012
11:54 am
DeCoud gets more criticism than he deserves. Solid move to re-sign him. Let’s see what he can do playing for a real DC.
The Falcons problems on 3rd down had more to do with NO PASS RUSH — as opposed to the Secondary.
Bozo the Troll
March 6th, 2012
11:54 am
This is cool with me. I like DeCoud. He’s not perfect, but he’s good. I think he’s got a bad rap which is overblown.
yeahsure
March 6th, 2012
11:56 am
I agree with Mike that there’s no FA options out there at Safety. Also with Sanders getting injured last year, i guess DeCoud is the only option. DeCoud can tackle but he is always late. Im hoping that Nolan and the new secondary coach saw something in him that BVG missed.
True Falcon Fan
March 6th, 2012
11:57 am
Somebody please tell me did we really sign a DE last year with a serious BAD wheel and why? I think we have seen this before with a LB from the RAVENS several years back. Will we ever learn or do we have doctors that don’t have a clue in reading the correct diagnosis??
Jeff B
March 6th, 2012
12:07 pm
What are the contract terms? I don’t see how you guys can pan this move without knowing how much we paid him.
Really?
March 6th, 2012
12:08 pm
we signed Edwards and his ‘bad wheel’ knowing that it might be a year before he fully recovers from the surgery. This year will be the telling year on him.
Travis
March 6th, 2012
12:08 pm
Great move. With a better than average pass rush he’ll thrive under Nolan and so will Grimes, Moore, Robinson, etc. A guy to keep your eye on is Lawrence Sidbury.
Falcons keep safety Thomas DeCoud – ESPN | Amazing News
March 6th, 2012
12:11 pm
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution [...]
GT Alum
March 6th, 2012
12:21 pm
Has Mr. Zolciak put pen to paper yet?
REAL FALCONS FAN
March 6th, 2012
12:21 pm
get the POLICE 5-0 CURTIS LOFTON SIGNED!
Ken Strickland
March 6th, 2012
12:22 pm
GUMBO-How in the devil does 109 total tackles, for a FS no less, a team leading 4 INTs, and 7 passes defended, make him the NFLs worst FS? Do you know anything about football? When you consider he hasn’t had the benefit of an even decent pass rush, and played primarily in a soft passive prevent DEF the past 2yrs, it makes his numbers look even better.
falconfan
March 6th, 2012
12:22 pm
What are the terms? I hope we don’t have too much invested in him…
Veedub
March 6th, 2012
12:27 pm
@Really.. This year Edwards will be recovering from another knee surgery so this year will probably be a loss too… Supposedly you don’t really recover till the seond year so, here we go again. Not a fan at all of Edwards. He has a low motor and looked weak against everyone last year. Probably be more of the same!!!
Mave2124
March 6th, 2012
12:29 pm
D-Led, can you now post an updated list of Falcons Free Agents and how much Carl Nicks will want to join the squad next week?
True Falcon Fan
March 6th, 2012
12:35 pm
Really? —- I was all in for Big Ray when he arrived, however recently he’s undergone another knee surgery on same issue as before. Don’t mis-understand i thank Ray could be the DE we need on the right side. Big Abe is probably gone soon, i wish him well he’s a very fine person and was a great player for the Falcons. Father time is catching Big Abe, that said it really would be nice to see the Falcons pick-up Mario or someone in that quality group FA’s getting ready to hit the market next week?
Falcon James
March 6th, 2012
12:46 pm
If a safety is leading the team in tackles, we gots a major problem at the 1st and 2nd level.
The name is Matty Fire, cause that's what my a$$ catches on when the blitz comes......
March 6th, 2012
12:50 pm
Let’s see what he looks like in the new scheme, I would say almost all of our D was garbage with no pass rush and dropping into a cover 11 like we did last year.
JTH
March 6th, 2012
12:52 pm
So I guess you, Bradley, and Schultz are just going to ignore the Turner incident. That’s some BS right there.
I thought Turner was supposed to be a high character guy, not someone who dumps his pregnant girlfriend and ignores their other children.
Falcons talking to Garcia and not extending Ryan speaks volumes on what they think of him.
BigDaddyLongStroke
March 6th, 2012
12:55 pm
ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!! “YES I’M YELLING” THIS IS THE MAIN REASON THE FALCONS ARE NOT A SERIOUS CONTENDER FOR A SUPERBOWL. WHILE OTHER TEAMS LET GO OF GARBAGE PLAYERS WE DO OUR BEST TO RETAIN THEM! DECOUD IS THE WORST PLAYER ON DEFENSE AND WE ACTUALLY WANT TO SIGN HIM!?!??!?!?! SERIOUSLY DIMITROFF!?!?!?! YOU SHOULD BE PAYING PEOPLE TO TAKE DECOUD!!!!!!1
AtlsportsFa
March 6th, 2012
1:04 pm
Ok, well that tells me where the mindset of this coaching staff is. DeCoud was hot garbage last year. I guess we will be looking for another coach after this year along with a GM. This deal is a joke.
ohhhhYEAH
March 6th, 2012
1:06 pm
Ken Strickland
You’re right, those numbers are great against the mediocre and bad teams, but from watching him the past three seasons, I dont recall him ever showing up in the big games, very rarely does he play as well as you think his numbers suggest when we play the Saints, Packers, and so forth. I seem to remember him completely whiffing at Brandon Jacobs this past playoff game. Fact is, in big games, he plays scared, gets beat, and won’t hit the big backs. And THAT, isn’t what a truly good FS would do.
jay
March 6th, 2012
1:06 pm
Why in the HEIEELLLL did we resign this guy?!?!?!?
lowdownjj
March 6th, 2012
1:10 pm
Just heard on 680 it’s a 2 yr deal worth $5 million. At that price I’ll take him. I hope that figure is accurate.
ohhhhYEAH
March 6th, 2012
1:11 pm
Falcon James,
DeCoud was third, Lofton and Spoon were first and second respectively
jay
March 6th, 2012
1:13 pm
@lowdownjj – 2.5 mill is too much for Decout. They should have let another team have him for that price. He’s a good back up, but shouldn’t be starting in the NFL.
Nookah
March 6th, 2012
1:15 pm
Greetings Falcon Fans.
I am happy we resigned DeCoud. What we need to remember is that apart from DeCoud’s stats, Nolan must have scoured over hours of tape and must have had a say in re-signing him. Sometimes what your eyes see on TV or even if you are there live, does not tell the whole story. You have to be in the film room to really break down each play and analyse where the real mistake was made.
DeCoud will be very good next year, mark my word.
Nuff respect!!!
Go Falcons!!!
BigDaddyLongStroke
March 6th, 2012
1:18 pm
They should have paid someone else 2.5 mill to take him!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yeahsure
March 6th, 2012
1:22 pm
@JTH
LOL. the turner incident? Let’s cut anyone that has women issues!!!!!
Falcons are speaking with Garcia?! Did you get that from the one source saying he spoke to a single scout? If they wanted him, he’d already be signed instead of on his couch.
and Ryan still has another year. They have plenty of time to extend his contract.
jay
March 6th, 2012
1:30 pm
@JTH, you’re an idiot if you think they are going to bring in a guy that got dumped from his college team for basiclly what amounts to alcoholism. AS for Turner, who gives a crap about his personal life? If you care about that stuff then watch TMZ.
GregKennesaw
March 6th, 2012
1:37 pm
where did all the Saints Trolls geaux? hahahah LMAO – they have cap issues, bounty issues, and have managed to piss off their best player with the franchise tag…………beautiful
Augusta bred
March 6th, 2012
1:40 pm
For all who keep clamoring about signing Super Mario; you do realize he’s been hurt the past two seasons right? We’ll be back in the same boat again!
Brian Hunt
March 6th, 2012
1:44 pm
2yrs and $5 million is a good value for DeCoud. I like it. The biggest issue for the secondary is the inconsistent pass rush up front. Fix that, and the secondary will be decent.
Devil's Advocate
March 6th, 2012
1:55 pm
This is great if we plan to safety blitz on the majority of downs.
Die Hard Falcon
March 6th, 2012
1:57 pm
I think this is a solid deal, 2 years, $5mil, I am okay w/ that, he led the team in INT’s last year, and all DB’s in tackles. Not sure who we’d get that’d be an upgrade either. Good deal, I’m really hoping that we just get the Grimes cap # down or trade him for an early 2nd pick
ronhen24
March 6th, 2012
2:09 pm
Decoud is not bad and will be much better in a much discipline system. He played one play and celebrated and got torched the next. Need to be more consistent. BVG did not demand anything from last years defense. I look forward to him breaking out again, just like his second year as a starter.
falcons relax
March 6th, 2012
2:13 pm
I’ll take the deal. Everyone will get better in nolans defense. We didn’t have anybody else. It had to be done