Billy Bowman Jr. is back in the Falcons’ mix, and the biggest sign of that came from the team’s own front office.
After the defensive back’s Achilles injury in a November walkthrough ahead of the Week 12 game against the New Orleans Saints, Falcons GM Ian Cunningham said Wednesday he was proud of the way Bowman pushed through the recovery process. Cunningham also made it clear the team is comfortable enough with where Bowman stands physically to move on from PUP.
"We do feel comfortable enough not to keep him on PUP, so that should tell you something," Cunningham said Wednesday. " “It's a testament to him,. "His work ethic, his resilience, the time in which he's put into his body to fight to get back.”
That matters because a placement on the PUP list or short-term IR to open the season would have cost Bowman at least the first four games. Instead, Atlanta kept him on the 53-man roster, a strong indication that he’s much closer to being available than expected.
Bowman’s return would be a welcome one for a defense that saw exactly what he can bring before the injury. The fourth-round pick out of Oklahoma won the starting nickel job in his first training camp, then wasted no time making an impact.
He had a half-sack against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1, then picked off a pass on "Sunday Night Football" in a Week 2 win over the Minnesota Vikings. Bowman appeared in the first four games of the 2025 season before a hamstring injury sidelined him until the Week 10 game in Berlin, Germany against the Indianapolis Colts.
His skill set fits the way Atlanta wants to play. At 5-foot-10 and 194 pounds, Bowman gives the Falcons the kind of “ versatility on the back end ” Cunningham referenced Wednesday. In six games, he put up 26 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 1 FF, and 1 INT, while also taking on pseudo-linebacker duties in Jeff Ulbrich’s attack-style front.
That attacking mentality has been part of Bowman’s identity for a while. At the 2025 NFL combine, he laid it out plainly.
"I want to suffocate offenses," Bowman said. "Offense is easy to play.
You know your play. You know where the ball is going.
All you got to do is get the ball, make somebody miss. Defense, it brings so much more of a challenge.
So it's so much more fun. But my goal is just to suffocate offenses.
I don't want to give them nothing. I want to hold them to zero to 3.
When the ball is in the air, it's mine. If they hand the ball off, I want to rally to the ball as quick as possible.
My mentality is suffocation."
That approach helped make Bowman a value pick at No. 118, and it’s part of why Ulbrich was so excited to land him. Bowman said the difference shows up whenever he’s on the field.
"I feel like everybody can see it when I'm out there," Bowman said. "Something is different.
The way I move. The way I run to the ball.
The way I get to the ball."
Even while he’s been working his way back, Bowman hasn’t been out of the football side of things. Head Coach Kevin Stefanski said Bowman has stayed engaged mentally throughout the recovery process.
"Billy is right there, making sure that even though he's maybe not getting a full-speed rep, he's right in the thick of it," Head Coach Kevin Stefanski said. "(Bowman is) making sure he's not missing out on any mental reps."
In Other News...
Falcons Defense Is Taking On A New Identity Up Front
The Falcons have spent this stretch of roster building making their defensive intentions pretty clear, and it starts with the front. General manager Ian Cunningham has described a philosophy built around bigger, stronger, more physical players, and Atlanta has backed it up by adding defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr. and claiming edge rusher Jared Ivey off waivers as part of a broader effort to reshape the line.
Those moves fit with a larger pattern that also includes a trade for Masson Smith, the drafting of Ethan Onianwa and a waiver claim on Cameron Williams, all with the same goal in mind: more size and more depth up front. The interesting part now is not just the accumulation of bodies, but how quickly this new identity can take hold once the Falcons get on the field and ask those additions to translate philosophy into pressure, leverage and control at the line of scrimmage. [Read more 🡒]
Falcons Just Passed On A Veteran Edge Option They May Need
Azeez Ojularis brief run in Atlanta ended before it ever really got started, with the veteran edge rusher failing to make the Falcons 53-man roster or their practice squad after signing with the team in March. Ojulari, who has put together 22 sacks and 113 tackles across five NFL seasons, quickly found a new landing spot by joining the Raiders practice squad.
For a Falcons defense still sorting through its depth on the edge, the decision stands out because the team clearly continued to stock up elsewhere, adding several players to bring its practice squad to 16. Atlanta has options to evaluate, but passing on a player with Ojularis experience leaves a familiar question hanging over the roster: whether the pass rush is complete enough as the season approaches. [Read more 🡒]
Falcons Still Have One Unsettling QB Question Before Week 1
The Falcons are heading into the final stretch of camp with the most important question on the roster still unresolved: who opens Week 1 at quarterback. Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr. are competing for the job, and the decision appears tied to Penixs readiness more than anything else. Along the way, head coach Kevin Stefanski has publicly praised Penixs progress, but he has stopped short of naming a starter, leaving the team in a holding pattern as the opener draws closer.
Ian Rapoports read on the situation added another layer of uncertainty, suggesting Tagovailoa could get the first crack if Penix is not ready, though possibly with a short leash. A decision could come soon, but there is no guarantee it will, which is not exactly the kind of clarity a team wants with Week 1 approaching. For Atlanta, the bigger concern now is less about who wins the job than how much patience the staff will have if the first answer does not settle the issue for long. [Read more 🡒]