Flowery Branch, Ga. ? The Atlanta Falcons signed former Jacksonville quarterback Byron Leftwich on Tuesday, giving the team immediate depth and a potential contender for the starting job.

“First of all, I’m a football player, and the last couple of weeks have been tough on me,” said Leftwich, who was cut the week before the season by the Jaguars. “I appreciate the opportunity, and I look forward to doing whatever I can to help our team.”

Leftwich’s agent, Tom Condon, said the former first-round draft pick passed a physical, worked out for the team and signed a two-year, $7 million deal. The 27-year-old Leftwich is set to join the Falcons for today’s practice.

Cowboys sign DT Johnson

Irving, Texas – Suspended defensive tackle Tank Johnson signed a two-year contract Tuesday with the Dallas Cowboys.

Johnson, who played the last three seasons for the Chicago Bears, can’t play for the Cowboys and won’t be paid until he completes his eight-game NFL suspension for violating probation on a gun charge. He has served the first two games of that suspension and still will have to apply for reinstatement.

Bills’ first coach dies

Signal Mountain, Tenn. – Garrard “Buster” Ramsey, the first coach of the Buffalo Bills, has died. He was 87. Nephew Knox Wagner Ramsey Jr. said Ramsey died of pneumonia Sunday at a Chattanooga-area retirement center where he had been living.

In 1959, he became coach of the newly formed Bills team of the old AFL, where he was 11-16-1 in two seasons before being fired in 1962.