Eddie Goldman is coming out of retirement. On Tuesday, the Atlanta Falcons reinstated the veteran defensive tackle from the reserve/retired list, officially ushering him back into the NFL after spending a year in retirement.
Goldman signed with the Falcons last summer but announced he was walking away from the league just 13 days after signing with the team. Now, he's slated to resume his career along Atlanta's defensive line. Goldman will be 29 at the start of the 2023 season, so he should still have some gallons left in the tank, especially after taking the previous season off.
Prior to that ultra-brief stint with the Falcons before retiring, Goldman spent all of his career with the Chicago Bears. The franchise selected him in the second round of the 2015 NFL Draft out of Florida State, and he was a solid piece to its defense throughout his tenure. The nose tackle's best season came back in 2018 when he posted 40 tackles, three sacks, and five tackles for a loss for the Bears. For his career, he's totaled 175 tackles, 13 sacks, 18 tackles for a loss and 21 quarterback hits over 81 regular season games (73 starts).
This isn't the first time that Goldman will be trying to leap back into the NFL after a year off. He opted out of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was able to return the following year in 2021. That season, he played in 14 games (10 starts) and had 22 tackles and 0.5 sacks.
With him coming back to Atlanta, the Falcons will now boast the likes of Grady Jarrett, Ta'Quon Graham, and David Onyemata along with Goldman along the interior of the team's defensive line.
