FanHouse Peria Jerry

On Tuesday the Atlanta Falcons placed 2009 second-round draft pick William Moore on injured reserve with a hamstring injury.

Moore, who Atlanta thought would be ready to immediately help at safety from day one, has been battling injuries since training camp. The 55th-overall selection from Missouri had knee surgery at the beginning of camp, only to recover and hurt his hamstring shortly thereafter. Moore battled through two hamstring tweaks this season before finally succumbing to the final blow that landed the 24-year-old on the injured reserve list.

Offensive tackle Andre Smith became the 31st 2009 first-round draft pick to sign, coming to terms with Cincinnati. Find all the signed picks' contract details below:

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- The Atlanta Falcons head to Detroit to play the Lions this Saturday, August 15 for their first preseason game. The team has released a preseason depth chart to show an early glimpse at where players stand. You need to remember that the Falcons are less than two weeks into camp and the start of the regular season is still more then a month away. There are many things that can and will change between now and then.

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- The Atlanta Falcons finished the 2008 season ranked 24th overall in team defense allowing 347.9 yards per game. In response to this lackluster performance, the Falcons used all but one of their 2009 draft choices on the defensive unit. That's brought a lot of youth and energy to training camp this week and it's created a different kind of atmosphere.

Third-year cornerback Chris Houston answered affirmatively as to whether or not the defense has a chip on their shoulder announcing they were, "hungrier than hungry".

Rookie cornerback Chris Owens spoke about linebacker Mike Peterson's monumental ability in the locker room to get the Falcons' defensive unit fired up before practices. Peterson, along with veterans Erik Coleman and Houston, has been, "getting in our ears, especially the rookies", Owens said.

(Update July 30, 2009): Peria Jerry has signed with the Falcons. The financial terms were not disclosed, but the contract was reported as being a five-year deal.

Peria Jerry was a driving force in making the University of Mississippi's run defense the fourth best in the country in 2008. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jerry is on the verge of signing with the Falcons, instantly upgrading their shaky defensive line.

The Falcons and first-round pick Peria Jerry are expected to reach a contract agreement later Thursday, according to his agent James "Bus"Cook.

Jerry has made it a point since the draft to show that he wanted to sign prior to training camp. If the deal gets done today, he'll make it just in the nick of time as camp opens Saturday morning August 1st.

Hopefully for the Falcons, this will all be forgotten in two weeks, but first-round pick Peria Jerry injured his knee during Saturday morning's minicamp practice.

Jerry bumped knees with another player, then left the field under his own power. Trainers were taking a look at his knee and giving him some ice, they should know if it's a problem or, more likely, no big deal by the end of the day.

It's most likely just a bruise, but you have to get nervous anytime a player limps off during minicamp -- already the Patriots have lost one of their draft picks for the season with a torn ACL. If Jerry misses a couple of run-throughs while icing the knee, it's no big deal -- he's still around the team and is already starting to digest the playbook, but the Falcons can't have Jerry out with a significant injury -- he's too important to a very thin group of defensive tackles.

Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.

A year ago, Falcons general manager Tom Dimitroff faced a huge challenge--he had to figure out how to turnaround an awful team. So he traded away some unhappy veterans and stockpiled draft picks.

He then went out and made those draft picks count. The top three picks all became immediate starters including Matt Ryan, the franchise quarterback the Falcons needed.

This year, Dimitroff faced a much different challenge. The Falcons are a playoff team, which means they don't have nearly as many holes as they did a year ago, but it also means that the Falcons have to prove they are not a one-year fluke. When you consider that Atlanta has never gone to the playoffs in back-to-back years, that's a significant challenge of its own. So this draft was more about filling holes rather than just going to find the best available players.

When Thomas Dimitroff took the Falcons general manager job last year, he was given the job of rebuilding one of the league's worst rosters. So we knew that Dimitroff would be making some serious changes.

But it's pretty impressive how much of a turnover he's given the team so fast. As Dimitroff comes out of his second draft, nealy half of the Falcons projected starters this season will be players that he has brought in since taking over the team. That's 10 starters in two years.

It's amazing how a player can rise and fall in the final weeks of the draft. Tyson Jackson hasn't played a game since early January. All through January, February and March, he was looked at as a defensive end who could go somewhere between No. 10 and No. 20.

But now in the final days before the draft, all of a sudden multiple mock drafts are predicting Jackson to go No. 3 overall. We'll find out soon whether it's a true rise or some subterfuge.

With the draft just hours away, here is a final look at who the mock drafts are picking to go where. This is a roundup of 17 different mock drafts, all of the mock drafts are from this week and most are from the last day as experts try to refine their final predictions. Everyone will get No. 1 right, as everyone predicts the Lions will take Matt Stafford.