Falcons sign long snapper Beau Brinkley

The former Titan overlapped with Arthur Smith in Tennessee, and will replace long-time snapper Josh Harris in Atlanta.

With the exception of a short injured stint, Josh Harris has been the only long snapper the Falcons have known since 2012. When the Chargers signed him away this offseason, the team needed a capable replacement and signaled they’d be going after a veteran.

As The Falcoholic’s columnist and Locked On Falcon’s host Aaron Freeman predicted, that man will be former Titans long snapper Beau Brinkley. The veteran took over the job in Tennessee in 2012 and held it until partway through the 2020 season, spending last year bouncing between the practice squads of the Lions, Cardinals and Chargers, and will hope to hold down the fort in Atlanta for the entire 2022 season at minimum. He was cut in mid-March by the Bears, who had signed him in February.

Brinkley is a three-time Pro Bowler and a two-time All-Pro (once 1st Team, once 2nd Team), and his fall from a consistent and oft-honored long snapper to someone who is struggling to get more than a cup of coffee with teams is pretty surprising. Brinkley reportedly had a couple of miscues—a low snap and a skipped snap, specifically—that prompted the Titans to cut ties with him. Given that he plays a position where even one mistake stands out in a major way, Brinkley may still just be dealing with the fallout of a pair of errant snaps from 2020.

With Atlanta, the hope will be that he proves to be as reliable as he was all those years in Tennessee, and if the Falcons are signing him they’re likely counting on that. A couple of errors shouldn’t overshadow a great career, and long snappers tend to be able to play a very long time, so I’m not going to bet against Brinkley ending his sojourn and finding a multi-year home with the Falcons. Welcome Brinkley to Atlanta, and here’s hoping he’ll prove to be an excellent replacement for the legendary Josh Harris.