The Falcons have already spent big this offseason, locking up a few of their headline names before the market could get involved. Kyle Pitts got the ball rolling with a three-year deal that replaced the franchise tag and includes two years of guaranteed money. Drake London followed with a four-year, $141 million extension that came with $100 million guaranteed.
Bijan Robinson is still the obvious name people keep circling, but he’s not actually in the same contract crunch yet. He has two years left on his fully guaranteed rookie deal. Atlanta could still work out a raise and add more guaranteed money, but that’s not the urgent question facing this roster.
The real pressure point is everywhere else.
There are 44 players headed to Flowery Branch for training camp next week who are set to become free agents after this season, and a handful of them sit right in the middle of the Falcons’ biggest roster decisions. The front office has already shown it’s willing to pay premium money for premium talent. The next question is whether it wants to keep doing that for positions it may view differently.
Jessie Bates is the clearest test case. He originally signed a three-year deal in 2023, then got an extension that created cap space and added another year.
He’s a two-time All-Pro in Atlanta, and he’s also carrying the second-highest salary cap hit in the NFL at safety. Bates wants to stay, and nobody is questioning his value.
But the Falcons already have top-three salaries at guard, tight end, and soon-to-be running back, which means safety would make it four of the five non-premium spots getting major money. Linebacker is the fifth, and the team didn’t exactly fight hard to keep Kaden Elliss this offseason.
Letting Bates walk would say plenty about how serious the Falcons are about tightening up their spending.
The same broader question hangs over Matthew Bergeron, even if he doesn’t have Bates’ résumé. Bergeron has been a steady starter at a non-premium spot, but he hasn’t made a Pro Bowl in three seasons.
Terry Fontenot traded up to grab him at No. 38 in the 2023 draft, another move that cost draft capital for a position Atlanta may not want to keep paying at the top of the market. Bergeron could be looking at something around $12.5 million per year in free agency, and the Falcons are already investing heavily in Chris Lindstrom.
The bigger issue is the math: three of Atlanta’s five starting offensive linemen are on track for free agency, and replacing all three in one offseason would be a mess.
Ryan Neuzil is another name worth watching. Signed as an undrafted free agent out of Appalachian State in 2021, he stepped in for half the snaps in 2024 when Drew Dalman got hurt.
Atlanta rewarded him with a one-year deal to be the starting center after Dalman left for the Bears and then retired after one season. PFF ranked Neuzil as the No. 5 center in the NFL last year, and the market at the position has climbed fast.
Cam Jurgens is making $17 million per year as the fourth-highest-paid center, while Connor McGovern sits at No. 5 at $13 million per year. The Falcons also have undrafted free agent James Brockermeyer out of Miami, who could make the 53-man roster this year and maybe slide into Neuzil’s spot in 2027 if the price gets too high.
On defense, Divine Deablo looks like a player Atlanta may want to keep from ever reaching the open market. He was one of the better free-agent additions in the league last year, landing a two-year, $14 million deal, but only one year was guaranteed.
That leaves him in a shaky spot, since the Falcons could move on without owing him anything else. That kind of setup is tough for a player to sit on for long, and an extension before Week 1 against the Steelers feels likely.
Arnold Ebiketie is in a different kind of spot: not a certainty, but a player whose value could rise fast if the right system finally lets him breathe. His Falcons tenure has been a mix of flashes and frustration, with injuries and usage getting in the way.
He had three sacks over the final three games of his rookie season in 2023, then got buried in 2024 when Jimmy Lake’s two-man front turned the defense into, essentially, a 2-4-5 nickel/prevent look. Ebiketie had 3.5 sacks through seven games last season before getting hurt against the 49ers.
He came back, played a career-high snap total against the Colts because of roster issues, and then didn’t play again. Now he enters year four in Jeff Ulbrich’s aggressive system, which should fit him better.
Brandon Dorlus broke out with 8.5 sacks last season, and Ebiketie has enough talent to make a similar jump in 2026.
Rookies report to camp on Friday, with veterans arriving next Tuesday, July 28th. None of the 44 players on expiring contracts are rookies, which only sharpens the focus on the veterans trying to secure their futures. With first-year players fighting for roster spots and nearly half the team playing for a new deal, training camp is set up to be a fierce competition from the start.
In Other News...
Falcons May Have Found A Bigger Answer Behind Bijan Than Expected
The Falcons have spent the offseason looking for ways to keep Bijan Robinson fresh without taking the ball out of their run-heavy offense, and Brian Robinson Jr. gives them a familiar kind of answer. Atlanta brought him in on a one-year, $2.5 million deal, a move that adds a physical backup with real starting experience and a track record of handling a larger workload when called upon.
Brian Robinson Jr. arrives with a resume that should fit what Atlanta wants behind Bijan, especially after Tyler Allgeier moved on. The question now is not whether the Falcons found a cheaper replacement, but whether they may have found a more effective one for the bruising, goal-line work that can help preserve Bijan Robinson for the bigger moments. [Read more 🡒]
Falcons Already Seem To Have A Plan If Ulbrich Leaves
Jeff Ulbrichs rise has become one of the more notable behind-the-scenes storylines around the Falcons, because the defensive coordinator has quickly built the kind of reputation that tends to draw head-coaching interest around the league. Atlanta, meanwhile, is not waiting around to be caught flat-footed if that day comes. The organization has already started thinking about how to keep continuity on that side of the ball, and that is where Patrick Toney enters the picture.
Toney arrived in Atlanta after spending the past three seasons with the Cardinals as their defensive backs coach, a stretch in which he worked with a young group of corners. He had also already accepted a defensive coordinator job at Ole Miss before choosing to join the Falcons staff instead, a move that says plenty about how the team views his trajectory. For the Falcons, the appeal is obvious: if Ulbrich keeps climbing, they may already have someone in-house who can help steady the transition. [Read more 🡒]