FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- After making a flurry of roster moves on Monday, the Falcons continued the trend on Tuesday by releasing outside linebacker Jacob Tuioti-Mariner and punter Cam Nizialek. In a corresponding move, the Falcons signed defensive back Chris Williamson from the practice squad to the 53-man roster.
Like James Vaughters and Daren Bates (who were signed to the 53-man roster last week), Williamson had reached his limit on how many times a practice squad elevation could be used for him. Therefore, if the Falcons wanted to keep him up on game day, per league rules he had to sign with Atlanta.
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Tuioti-Mariner's journey with the Falcons has been an interesting one. As a member of the Falcons practice squad in 2018, Tuioti-Mariner worked his way up to play a significant rotational role across the defensive line by 2020.
With a new staff coming in, Tuioti-Mariner made the move from true defensive lineman to outside linebacker after the Falcons re-signed him before the 2021 Draft. He dropped significant weight this offseason, and the Falcons began his transition to the outside linebacker position during training camp. After being a guy with his hand in the ground 95 percent of the time, the new staff began using Tuioti-Mariner in coverage.
Tuioti-Mariner never really cracked the same rotational role in 2021 as he did in 2020. He was a healthy scratch a number of times in the first half of this season, and very rarely saw action when he was on the active game day roster. Tuioti-Mariner parts ways with the Falcons after playing in 24 games through two seasons, contributing one sack, two tackles for a loss, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
As for Nizialek, the punter won the job during training camp, but a hamstring injury suffered against Washington has opened the door for Dustin Colquitt to take over the punting responsibilities. Nizialek returned to practice last week after a stint on IR, but the Falcons have chosen to stick with Colquitt moving forward.
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