Falcons claim former USC star signal-caller

Not even a day after being released by the Carolina Panthers, the Atlanta Falcons have claimed former USC Trojans quarterback Matt Barkley. The Panthers released Barkley a day after activating him from the COVID-19 list.

One big reason for the signing: the Falcons recently put backup quarterback Feleipe Franks on the Covid-19 list on Tuesday.

The former star for the USC Trojans has bounced around several teams in the National Football League during his career. Barkley has played for the Philadelphia Eagles, Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, San Francisco 49ers (practice squad), Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, and Tennessee Titans (practice squad).

Barkley has started seven games — six of which were for the Bears — and seen action in 19 total contests in his professional career. He’s thrown for 2,699 yards, 11 touchdowns and 22 interceptions.

The 6-foot-2, 234-pound California native was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft, and he was the No. 1 overall recruit out of Mater Dei high school in 2009.

Falcons‘ starting quarterback Matt Ryan has had a bit of a disappointing year due to the lack of pass-catching weapons available to him. His star receiver, Calvin Ridley, packing up and leaving the team in the middle of the season didn’t help things. Ridley stepped away from the Falcons to deal with mental health issues on Oct. 31 and there haven’t been any updates since.

When at his best in 2020, Ridley was one of the most unstoppable receivers in the league, hauling in 90 catches for 1,374 receiving yards and nine receiving touchdowns. Atlanta was counting on him to be their alpha dog receiver in 2021, but others have had to step up in his place.

Rookie tight end Kyle Pitts has put up very good numbers despite drawing even more attention in the absence of Ridley. PFF has graded him out as the second-highest graded rookie receiver against single-man coverage. In 2021, he’s hauled in 64 catches for 949 receiving yards.

Per Stathead, he’s the only tight end in the Super Bowl era to haul in at least 60 catches and over 900 receiving yards as a rookie. Mike Ditka holds the rookie receiving yardage record of 1,076 yards.

The Falcons currently sit at 7-7 overall and have a slim chance of making the NFL playoffs. They are currently in 2nd place of the NFC South standings. They face the Buffalo Bills next on Jan. 2 at 1:00 p.m. EST.

On3’s Ashton Pollard also contributed to this report.