by Sports Xchange

Harris, one of the Falcons' top performers on special teams, will compete with Thomas DeCoud, William Moore, Erik Coleman, Eric Brock and Jamaal Fudge for a safety position on the Falcons' final 53-man roster. The Falcons carried five safeties last season.

Harris played in 12 games last season before suffering a groin injury and was placed on injured reserve on Dec. 9. The surgery and the previous injury were unrelated, according to Chilcoat.

The Falcons open training camp on Aug. 1.

--The Falcons signed linebacker Spencer Adkins, a sixth-round pick in the 2009 NFL draft, the team announced on Monday (June 22).

The Falcons have now signed five of their eight draft picks. The terms of Adkins deal were undisclosed.

The Falcons earlier signed cornerback William Middleton, a fifth-round pick from Furman who graduated from Marist, defensive tackle Vance Walker, a seventh-round pick from Georgia Tech, cornerback Chris Owens, a third round pick from San Jose State and tackle Garrett Reynolds, a fifth round pick from North Carolina.

Defensive tackle Peria Jerry (first round), safety William Moore (second round) and defensive end Lawrence Sidbury (fourth round) remain unsigned.

--Former Pro Bowl safety Lawyer Milloy has maintained a low profile since the Falcons elected not to re-sign him after the 2008 season.

Milloy took part in the Walgreens All-Star Football Camp at Holy Innocents' Episcopal School in Buckhead. Milloy, clearly not wanting to burn any bridges, didn't want to discuss his departure from the Falcons or his plans for next season. He has yet to sign with another team.

After the playoff loss in Arizona, Milloy said he wanted to return to Atlanta.

Milloy, always a straight shooter over his three seasons with the Falcons, did want to talk about the more than 250 kids, ages 8 to 18, attended the fifth annual camp, which is put on by local super agent Todd France's firm, France's All Pro Athlete Management.

"The camp is good," Milloy said. "We have a good turnout. It was even better yesterday. Anytime that you can have a free camp, that's important, especially in this economy."

Milloy is big on the fitness aspects of the camp.

"It helps parents get their kids off the couch and away from their XBox and Wii (computer game) systems and stuff like that," Milloy said. "Just get them out doing some activities. It's important. Health is important. Doing it right with discipline. Those are some of things we are trying to instill in these kids here at the camp."

--The Falcons reached an injury settlement with offensive lineman Alex Stepanovich and released him on Wednesday.

Stepanovich, who missed all of the offseason workouts with a back injury, was signed as a free agent in March of 2008. He played in four games last season, mostly on special teams.

The Falcons also released wide receiver Khalil Jones, an undrafted rookie free agent.

--The Falcons have announced their training camp schedule, which includes several practices open to the public.

The Falcons will hold their training camp scrimmage at Brookwood High School in Snellville on Aug. 7. They will hold a mock game at the Georgia Dome on Aug. 8.

The team will hold 28 practices from Aug. 1-14 before facing Detroit in its first preseason game Aug. 15.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "We are still in underwear, so we can't hit anybody." -- Falcons offensive line coach Paul Boudreau on how it's hard to evaluate his unit in OTA workouts.