NFL Free Agency: Falcons Poach Panthers' Special Teams Stud

For the second time this week, a player that spent the 2024 season with the Carolina Panthers is headed to Atlanta to join the division-rival Falcons

Feleipe Franks played quarterback for the University of Florida from 2017-19, and then another season at the University of Arkansas in 2020. His four-year collegiate career saw the 6’6”, 228-pound performer throw for 6,700 yards, 55 touchdowns and just 21 interceptions. He went undrafted in 2021, and was signed by the Atlanta Falcons. Franks went from reserve quarterback in 2021, to tight end in ’22. Daniel Flick of SI.com documents Franks’s playing time on special teams early in his career.

Fast forward to 2024, when the former Gator and Razorback was coming off a year in which he did not play football due to a training camp injury. He inked a deal with the NFC South rival Carolina Panthers and showed his prowess on the coverage units. He appeared in 16 games, and finished second on Dave Canales’s team on special teams tackles (10), behind linebacker Jon Rhattigan (12).

Now comes news that the three-year performer is staying in the division and returning to the organization that gave him his first NFL opportunity.

Franks is not the only member of the 2024 Panthers headed to Atlanta. Safety Jordan Fuller, who played in only nine games but finished seventh on the team with 54 tackles, also signed with Raheem Morris’s team. Fuller was a sixth-round pick of the Rams in 2020, and has seen some special teams’ action during his five-year career.

Franks is not the only member of the 2024 Panthers headed to Atlanta. Safety Jordan Fuller, who played in only nine games but finished seventh on the team with 54 tackles, also signed with Raheem Morris’s team. Fuller was a sixth-round pick of the Rams in 2020, and has seen some special teams’ action during his five-year career.

Back to Franks, whose 10 special teams’ stop was a career high. Six of those tackles were of the solo variety. More significantly, it’s never great when a club loses a player (or players) to a team in their own division. According to Packers on SI’s NFL special teams rankings (assembled by Bill Huber), Carolina’s units finished 17th in the league. Will Franks’s departure be felt here?