The Atlanta Falcons shook off an 0-2 start with a Thursday Night Football win over the Green Bay Packers, and with that result they’re the only team with a victory so far this week. While the rest of the league plays Sunday, Atlanta gets to take a breath and look back on a fast-opening season from a few unexpected standouts.
This group of newcomers has changed the look of the roster on both sides of the ball, but three names have stood out in a way few saw coming: Gervon Dexter Sr., Za'Darius Smith and Cameron Thomas.
Dexter arrived in a deal that sent defensive back Clark Phillips III and a fifth-round pick to the Chicago Bears. That move came on cutdown day, and it has already paid off in a big way. The Falcons now have three defensive tackles on the roster who were among the NFL’s 20 players at the position with at least five sacks last season, and Dexter has quickly made his presence felt in the middle of the defense.
He isn’t lighting up the box score with huge tackle totals - he has seven tackles and half a sack - but his impact goes well beyond that. At 6-foot-6 and 325 pounds, he’s given Atlanta the kind of force it was missing up front.
He’s helped anchor a defensive line that leads the NFL in rush defense at 47.7 yards per game, while also adding four quarterback pressures and two knockdowns. Dexter is set to become a free agent after the season, and the Falcons want to get an extension done before that happens.
Phillips, meanwhile, has played just 12 snaps on special teams.
Smith’s hot start has been one of the more surprising storylines in the league. There were plenty of jokes when Atlanta signed him out of retirement, but the backstory matters: Smith stepped away because he wanted to be near his sick mother, not because he was done as a player. The Falcons gave him a contract worth $5 million that can climb to $8 million, and so far it looks like money well spent.
Through three games, Smith has 2.5 sacks and four tackles for loss. That sack total puts him tied for sixth in the NFL.
He has played an extra game, but the workload still stands out: just 77 snaps, compared with 143 for Lukas Van Ness and 119 for Andrew Van Ginkel, the players he’s tied with. Smith turned 34 earlier this month, but he says he still has plenty left.
Right now, there’s not much reason to argue.
Thomas has also emerged as a real factor on Atlanta’s front. A third-round pick of the Arizona Cardinals in 2022, he had only started three games in his career before this season, all in 2023. Now he’s in the Falcons’ lineup as an every-down edge rusher, taking over the role vacated by Jalen Walker.
The results have been loud. Thomas has seven tackles, a forced fumble, 1.5 sacks and has already matched his career high with seven quarterback hits.
At 265 pounds, he gives the front more size and has been another reason the run defense has taken such a step forward. PFF has him graded as the No. 13 edge in the NFL at 79.0, a major jump from his previous career best of 70.0.
He also played 17 games for head coach Kevin Stefanski in Cleveland last season, and the move to Atlanta with his coach has worked out for both sides.
In Other News...
Falcons Just Added To A Quarterback Debate Fans Will Enjoy
Kirk Cousins has quietly pushed his way back into the conversation as one of the more efficient veteran quarterbacks in the league, and that matters in a season where several familiar names have already hit turbulence. After three weeks, the review of early quarterback play has centered on a few stark swings: Drake Maye has battled turnovers and inconsistency in New England, Deshaun Watson has helped steady Cleveland during a recent winning stretch, and Jordan Love has had to survive shaky protection while fighting accuracy issues in Green Bay.
For Atlanta fans, the wrinkle is that Cousins early work in Las Vegas gives the Falcons another familiar reference point in the league-wide quarterback debate. His command of that offense has been a reminder of what steady veteran play can look like when it is supported by cleaner decision-making and a more functional structure, and it naturally invites comparisons to where the Falcons have been and where they still want to get. The larger question now is whether this early form is real enough to stick, because the first few weeks have already shown how fast the conversation can change around a quarterback. [Read more 🡒]
Falcons Fans Already Have A Coaching Debate They Didnt Expect
The first few weeks of the season have already given Falcons fans a fresh reason to compare notes on the coaching hire. Atlanta brought in Kevin Stefanski to lead the team, while Klint Kubiak landed in Las Vegas, and the early results have given both fan bases something to point to. The Raiders are off to a 3-0 start and just handled the New Orleans Saints, while the Falcons sit at 1-2 after picking up a primetime win over the Green Bay Packers.
For Atlanta, the debate is less about one game than the bigger picture of what kind of impact Stefanski can make as the season settles in. Kubiaks quick start in Las Vegas is the kind of early momentum that naturally invites second-guessing, even if the Falcons have their own reason for optimism after a nationally televised victory. The first month has not settled anything, but it has made the coaching conversation more interesting than anyone expected this soon. [Read more 🡒]
Falcons Suddenly Have A Real NFC South Chance Again
After an 0-2 start, the Falcons steadied themselves with a meaningful win over the Packers and suddenly find the NFC South looking far less closed off than it did two weeks ago. A division that appeared to be slipping away has tightened up quickly, helped along by losses from the Saints, Panthers and Buccaneers that left the race in a three-way tie at the top.
Now the focus shifts to a matchup with New Orleans that feels like more than just another early-season game. For Atlanta, it is the kind of divisional test that can reshape the standings in a hurry and offer a clearer read on whether that rough opening was a temporary stumble or a deeper problem. [Read more 🡒]