As of yesterday, the only 2021 Atlanta Falcons draft pick still on the roster was Kyle Pitts. As of today, there are two of those players on the 90 man roster.
That’s because the team just announced they’ve signed cornerback Darren Hall, their 2021 fourth rounder and a former 10 game starter for Atlanta. After a quiet one-year stint with the Colts in 2023 and two years in Arizona that saw him appear in 17 games and start two, Hall is back with the Falcons and hoping to compete for a reserve role in a very,
very crowded depth chart. The team has waived safety Tysheem Johnson to make room for Hall.
I always thought Hall was a potential low end starter and useful reserve, but he was bumped during final cuts in 2023 after the team draft Clark Phillips, signed Tre Flowers, and added Jeff Okudah and Mike Hughes to a group that already featured A.J. Terrell and Dee Alford. His 2022 season, which saw him start nine games, was uneven and saw him surrender 362 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 27 receptions against 37 targets; he allowed five of six receptions for 79 yards and a touchdown in Arizona last season. While the coverage is up-and-down, Hall has been a plus run defender for a corner basically his entire career, has dabbled at safety enough to think he might be able to take snaps there, and chips in on coverage units on the special teams side. The versatility gives him a shot at sticking as CB5 or CB6 or at least pushing his way onto the practice squad, which would be fun after spending three years away from the team.
To get there, of course, he’ll have to unseat someone from a group that currently features Clark Phillips, Cobee Bryant, 2025 signing Darnay Holmes, Mike Ford Jr., C.J. Henderson, and Natrone Brooks. There’s enough talent there that Hall’s best shot at the moment feels like a practice squad slot, but the summer will tell the tale, as it always does.
For the moment, welcome Hall back to Atlanta, and we’ll see if this reunion is a fruitful one for the Falcons and the cornerback.
