The Atlanta Falcons have signed free agent wide receiver Jerome Pathon to a contract. Terms of the deal were not announced.

Pathon joined the Falcons before the start of last season after being waived by the Seattle Seahawks. The Washington product went on to appear in eight games with Atlanta, making just one catch for 18 yards.

The former second-round pick in the 1998 draft spent his first four seasons with Indianapolis before moving on to New Orleans for three years.

In his career, the 6-foot wideout has grabbed 260 passes for 3,350 yards with 15 touchdowns in 99 games.

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Filling one of their biggest remaining offseason needs, the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday afternoon reached an agreement to acquire New Orleans left offensive tackle Wayne Gandy in a trade that sends three-year veteran safety Bryan Scott and an undisclosed 2007 draft choice to the Saints.

The trade, unusual in that it involves division rivals, is expected to be completed on Friday when the pertinent paperwork is forwarded to the league offices.

The Falcons lost starting left tackle Kevin Shaffer to the Cleveland Browns as an unrestricted free agent in the opening days of the signing period and, even before his departure, they were looking to upgrade at the position. ESPN.com reported Friday in its "Tip Sheet" column that Atlanta officials had spoken to the San Francisco 49ers about the possibility of acquiring former first-round draft choice Kwame Harris in a trade, and that the Falcons were also keeping an eye on Gandy's situation.

New Orleans nearly released Gandy last spring after he declined to restructure his contract, and there had been recent rumblings the Saints no longer had the 12-year veteran in their plans for 2006. The Saints are scheduled to begin a mandatory mini-camp on Friday under rookie head coach Sean Payton, and clearly New Orleans officials wanted to resolve Gandy's status before that.

In addition to Harris and Gandy, the Falcons also met with free agent tackles, including Brad Hopkins (Tennessee), Torrin Tucker (Dallas) and Todd Steussie (Tampa Bay).

In Gandy, the Falcons are acquiring a 35-year-old veteran who played at a very high level in 2005, and who should be able to provide Atlanta a couple more good seasons. Landing him allows the Falcons to take time to develop Frank Omiyale. A fifth-round selection from Tennessee Tech in 2005, Omiyale did not play a single snap as a rookie, but Falcons coaches love his potential and view him as their starter of the future.

Omiyale is very raw, however, and now the Falcons are under no urgency to force him into the lineup. Also, the addition of Gandy, who makes his offseason home in Atlanta, will give Omiyale a patient veteran tutor. Gandy is known as a high-character player whose presence in the locker room will be welcomed by the Falcons coaches and players.

Gandy has three seasons remaining on his contract, at base salaries of $4 million for 2006 and $3.5 million each for 2007 and 2008. It is not yet known if his contract was adjusted as part of the trade.

In 12 seasons, Gandy, a first-round choice of the then-Los Angeles Rams in 1994, has appeared in 191 games and started in 184 of them. Since 1995, his second year in the league, the former Auburn star has started at least 15 games every season. His career has included stints with the Rams (1994-98), Steelers (1999-2002) and Saints (2003-2005).

It remains to be seen how the Saints, who have now lost three offensive line starters in the offseason, will replace him. One option might be to move Jammal Brown, the team's first-round choice in 2005 and an immediate starter at right tackle as a rookie, to the left side. Another might be to use the second overall pick in the draft to select a tackle. The Saints lost Pro Bowl center LeCharles Bentley to Cleveland as an unrestricted free agent and recently released guard Kendyl Jacox.

Scott, 25, was the Falcons' second-round choice in 2003, but the former Penn State standout has never played up to his draft status. The Falcons' offseason additions of veteran safeties Lawyer Milloy and Chris Crocker, and the initiative to make a wholesale overhaul at the position, made Scott extraneous.

In his three seasons in Atlanta, Scott registered 221 tackles, four interceptions, 13 passes defensed, 3½ sacks, four forced fumbles and four recoveries. He appeared in 47 games and started in 35 contests. In 2005, Scott started in 13 of 16 appearances and had 73 tackles, one interception and seven pass deflections.

Over the past two weeks, even as the NFL's player movement spigot has been turned toward the off position, deals have continued to trickle in.

The Atlanta Falcons acquired left offensive tackle Wayne Gandy from New Orleans in a trade. The New York Jets signed unrestricted free agent center Trey Teague of Buffalo and the Giants persuaded punter Jeff Feagles to delay his retirement for another year. Oakland added a proven pass rusher, Lance Johnstone, to provide some help for Derrick Burgess, the league's sack leader in 2005. New England brought back one-time first-round flop Tebucky Jones to bolster the safety position and signed Martin Gramatica, who hasn't attempted a field goal since November of 2004, to get a kicker onto the roster. Carolina added free agent Keith Adams to compete for a job at outside linebacker, where the Panthers are without both starters from a year ago.

None of those were headline or big-money deals, for sure, but all were important to the respective teams involved and for a variety of reasons. Why? Because they filled needs, some much bigger than others, that the clubs won't necessarily be forced to address in the draft in two weeks.

"If you can, you like to give yourself a little flexibility in the draft, so you're not backed into a corner," Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden said. "You like to have options. And, sometimes, a little roster tweaking here or there in the week or two leading up to the draft [provides] that for you."

The Bucs, for example, still figure to choose an offensive tackle with a high-round selection, perhaps with their first-round pick. But the absolute urgency to do so may have been alleviated by the acquisition of restricted free agent Torrin Tucker of Dallas and the contract extension to which the club signed exclusive-rights free agent Anthony Davis last week. Tampa Bay may not be so desperate now to reach for a tackle out of need.

Indeed, if these are the times that try the souls of veteran players who are still unemployed, then it is also a time during which many teams try to address obvious needs, or to build depth, before the draft. Even as general managers and scouts hunker down in their draft bunkers, with interminable evaluation meetings over the next couple of weeks, some minor deals will continue to be completed as franchises attempt to tie up whatever loose ends they can before draft weekend.

Even a seemingly incidental addition to the roster now can affect a team's overall draft plans.

Take the Jets, for example, and their acquisition of Teague, a quality center who, for whatever reason, lasted far longer in the free agent market than he should have. By signing the eight-year veteran to a modest two-year contract, the Jets aren't forced to move left guard Pete Kendall, who played center earlier in his career, to the hub spot. It also means New York, which could grab left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson of the University of Virginia with the fourth overall selection in the draft, might not have to take, say, Ohio State center Nick Mangold, the draft's highest-rated prospect at his position, in the second round.

Getting the 12-year veteran Gandy, who should be able to provide Atlanta a couple of good seasons even at age 33, means the Falcons won't be as pressed to invest a high-round choice on a left tackle. And it allows the coaching staff time to patiently develop second-year veteran Frank Omiyale, a promising but raw fifth-round pick in 2005, who didn't register a single regular-season snap as a rookie.

Said Falcons coach Jim Mora: "The last thing you want to be in a draft is locked into having to get a player at a certain position. That's when mistakes get made. If you can give yourself some leeway, even in terms of adding depth [before the draft], it's really helpful."

One general manager likened the late, predraft maneuvering to a trip to the corner convenience store. "Not like when you go to the super market, with your big shopping list, to buy all the groceries for the week," he said. "More like those times when you just need one or two [items] and you want to get in and get out."

With that in mind, there figures to be some more minor roster tinkering before the draft, as teams attempt to create options for themselves. Most of the free agency deals or trades, though, will be minor in nature. And that means some clubs will go into the draft with voids to fill.