New Falcons’ WR needs an interpreter

By Darrell Laurant  |   Sunday, July 08, 2007  |  Comments( 0 )

Atlanta Falcons
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He may have been signed as an afterthought, but the Atlanta Falcons' newest wide receiver is sure to get a lot of media attention when training camp opens.

After all, it's not every day that a team adds someone from Ritsumeikon University. Or has to figure out how to print its playbook in Japanese.

Noriaki Kinoshita, the pride of Osaka, was signed Thursday as a potential wideout and kick returner.

"I'm excited to have Nori in camp," said head coach Bobby Petrino, who was impressed with Kinoshita's performance for the Amsterdam Admirals the past three seasons.

In 2007, Kinoshita averaged 22.7 yards on 27 kickoffs in NFL Europe, returned 26 punts for a 7.8-yard average, and caught 21 passes for 308 yards and two touchdowns. Last season, he was third in the league with 29.9 yards per kickoff return and broke one punt return 59 yards for a touchdown.

Commentary: The book on Kinoshita is that he has decent speed and good hands but needs a lot of work on his English. At 5-foot-9, 178 pounds, he's probably too small to crack the team's wideout rotation, but Amsterdam special teams coach Richard Kent, who also coached Dante Hall, gives him high marks as a natural kick returner. Kinoshita is the second Japanese-born player signed by Atlanta, the first being TE Nachi Abe in 2000.

Fantasy Football Impact: Atlanta ranked 26th in the league in punt returns last season, with Allen Rossum handling that duty. Rossum had about the same per-return average as Kinoshita, however, against better competition, so it would probably only be salary issues that would give the newcomer a chance. Even at that, WR draftee Laurent Robinson will get a long look there.

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