North Gwinnett News

Veteran linebacker Lorenzo Carter has signed a one-year deal with the Atlanta Falcons that will bring him back to his hometown. 

Carter is still playing his way back into form after suffering a torn Achilles injury just five weeks into the 2020 season, ending his third year in the league just as it was getting started.

"For me, specifically, I was like, 'All right. Let's go,'" Carter told AtlantaFalcons.com in his first interview after signing with the team recently. "It's time to make this big step, to become the player I know I can be." 

Though the linebacker went into last season feeling at the top of his game physically, it was his mental health that gave him pause, he said. He noted that starting the season, you have to learn to trust yourself again in order to be able to take on the pressure of a "350-pound man pushing against you" on the spot that has just been repaired in the past year. 

"It came down to trust and realizing that I put the work in," Carter said in the report. "Once you put the work in it's like, all right, just go out there and do it now." 

Playing for the New York Giants, Carter finished last season with five sacks, one interception and two forced fumbles, the report said. All his sacks came in the final four games of the season, along with six of his eight quarterback hits, five of his six tackles-for-loss and both of his forced fumbles. 

Carter is a former star at the University of Georgia.

"Coming back to Georgia is big," he said. "It's huge for me. I am super excited to come home, be home, and get to play in front of my home crowd. Get to win games. Make those big impacts for the home team... It was crazy. It was a dream."