The Falcons didn’t wait long to make a statement about Gervon Dexter Sr.
Less than a month after bringing the 24-year-old defensive tackle over from the Chicago Bears, Atlanta locked him in with a four-year, $78 million extension that includes $46.5 million guaranteed, according to his agents, Drew and Jason Rosenhaus, who gave the details to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
It’s a hefty price, but it matches the way Dexter has shown up for the Falcons so far. The stat line says he has only half a sack early this season, yet that barely scratches the surface of what he’s done to opposing quarterbacks. Among defenders with at least 50 pass-rushing snaps, Dexter sits eighth in the NFL with a 20.5% quarterback pressure rate.
That kind of interior disruption is exactly what Atlanta has been building around. The Falcons are third in the league with a 41.6% quarterback pressure rate even though they blitz on just 19% of defensive snaps, the second-lowest mark in the NFL. In other words, the front four has been doing a lot of the dirty work.
Defensive line coach Nate Ollie said the group’s success starts with attitude.
“It’s a mindset more than anything,” Ollie said earlier this month, adding that players must be willing to attack each snap without hesitation and “play fast, play free.”
Dexter seems to fit that mold. Atlanta got him from Chicago on Aug. 30 in a deal that sent cornerback Clark Phillips III and a 2027 fifth-round pick to the Bears. Chicago had drafted Dexter in the second round in 2023.
He flashed as a pass rusher with the Bears, piling up 11 sacks over his final two seasons there. Now the Falcons are making the kind of bet teams make when they think the best version of a player is still waiting to come out.
With this extension, Atlanta has made Dexter one of the young anchors of a defensive line that has already become one of the NFL’s most disruptive groups.
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Tagovailoa is expected to remain the primary backup when the Falcons head into their next game against the Saints, which adds a layer of stability even as the depth chart remains in motion. For Atlanta, the immediate question is no longer just who starts next week, but how the team manages the balance between Penix's momentum and Tagovailoa's return to full availability. [Read more 🡒]