Falcons Signing OT Jake Long

Update:

Dan Graziano of ESPN has confirmed that veteran OT Jake Long will be in Atlanta on Tuesday, and is expected to sign a contract with the Falcons.

• Adam Schefter confirms that Long is, in fact, signing with the Falcons today.

According to Graziano, the Giants also had some interest in Long, but it appears as though the Falcons were his best option.

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Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that free agent OT Jake Long is expected to sign with the Falcons this week.

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Vaughn McClure of the ESPN.com expects the the Falcons to sign veteran OT Jake Long at some point this week.

McClure mentions that adding Long would give them more offensive line depth, and wouldn’t have anything to do with former first-round pick LT Jake Matthews, who is coming off a strained back.

Instead, Long would likely serve as added insurance at reasonable price, according to McClure.

Atlanta brought Long in for a second visit last week, but it makes sense that they didn’t immediately sign him to a new contract, seeing as the Falcons would have had to guarantee his salary, due to the vested veteran rules.

McClure reports that Long was believed to be looking for at least $4 million at the start of free agency. However, McClure seems to think the Falcons could get him under contract for around $2 million.

There are obvious concerns given his age and injury history, but there also isn’t much in terms of available offensive tackles at this point in the year.

Long, 30, was released by the Rams back in March in a move that cleared $8 million in cap space for St. Louis.

In 2014, Long was limited to appearing in seven games and playing a total of 449 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. Long ultimately graded out as the No. 36 offensive tackle out of 84 qualifying players in 2014.

We’ll have more regarding Long and the Falcons as the news is available.