Apparently, the Falcons are going to cut their losses on Lofa Tatupu at $600,000.
D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that the Falcons are planning to release the injured linebacker, since he was going to be out for the season with a pectoral injury.
They signed him to a two-year deal this offseason, with $600,000 guaranteed, and roster bonuses for games played. The Falcons would have been on the hook for his $750,000 base salary if he was placed on injured reserve.
More likely, they’d have placed him on the reserve/non-football injury list, which would have allowed them to withhold his pay.
A league source told PFT Tuesday that Tatupu’s weight-lifting injury was not in the Falcons weight room, but off-site, which limits their liability.
Either way, they’re done with him, and any comeback looks much less likely now that he’ll be two years removed from the field. Knee and concussion issues ended his time in Seattle, and the pectoral injury kept him from a shot at a starting job with the Falcons.