With 90 spots on the offseason roster, teams sometimes use one to take a look at an athlete who is trying to make a switch to football from another sport.
The Falcons are doing that with former University of Georgia track and field athlete Garrett Scantling. Scantling posted a picture of his contract signing on Instagram on Sunday and said he’ll be trying to make his mark as a wide receiver.
Scantling was a three-time SEC heptathlon champion during the indoor track season and finished fourth in the trials for a spot as a decathlete on the 2016 U.S. Olympic team. He last played football during his senior year of high school and worked out for NFL teams at Jacksonville University’s pro day in March.
“It’s hard, it’s tough to pick right back up again,” Scantling said, via News4Jax.com. “I’ve always had my hands, that is one of my strong suits, they haven’t left me. So, I just had to learn how to run the routes again which I think I picked up pretty easily so I can’t complain.”
Scantling and the rest of the Falcons start their offseason program next Monday.