Eddie Goldman unretires a second time to return to Falcons

Maybe this time it will stick for Goldman and Atlanta.

Eddie Goldman signed with the Atlanta Falcons in 2022 to much fanfare. A talented defensive lineman coming off a bit of a down year, Goldman figured to add stability and potency to a line that needed his help. Instead, he wound up retiring just 13 days into his Falcons tenure, a surprising ending to a solid career.

Except it wasn’t really the end. Goldman unretired and returned to the Falcons in March of last year, spending the spring and much of the summer with the team before being placed on the exempt/left squad list in late July, having apparently decided to end his NFL career once again.

Except that wasn’t the end either. The Falcons are giving it a third try with Goldman, signing the veteran once again with an eye on bolstering their defensive interior. I’d be thrilled to see Goldman stick with the Falcons and be the kind of contributor we all know he can be, but obviously it’s best not to get overly excited until we make it to the regular season with him on the roster.

Goldman, 30, served as Chicago’s nose tackle from 2015-2021, opting out of the 2020 season owing to COVID-19. Over that span, he had a handful of very good seasons where he was a bear (pun intended) against the run and a useful pass rusher, piling up 13 sacks over that span and 111 run stops per Pro Football Focus. The Falcons will be mighty happy if he can capture some of his pre-2021 form—he had a down season that year and then obviously has not played the past two seasons—and provide a useful optional at nose tackle, either as a starter or a part of the team’s rotation at the position.

Again, we’ll see if that happens. There’s little question that if Goldman wants to make this roster and is ready to roll after a couple of years, he’ll find a role on a defense that could use the help up front. For the moment, the fact that Goldman and the Falcons are trying this again is at least one of the more intriguing subplots of the spring and summer for Atlanta.