Azeez Ojulari’s stay with the Falcons turned out to be brief, and now the veteran edge rusher is headed to Las Vegas.
According to ESPN insider Adam Schefter, Ojulari was one of three players to land on the Raiders’ practice squad Thursday, joining wide receiver Ronnie Bell and guard Evan Neal. The move gives Ojulari a new home after Atlanta brought him in back in March for edge depth, only to leave him off both the 53-man roster and the 16-man practice squad.
The decision raised some eyebrows in Atlanta. Ojulari didn’t exactly light up training camp, but the Falcons were also dealing with Jalon Walker’s season-ending ACL injury and James Pearce Jr.’s eight-game suspension, which made the pass-rush picture even thinner. Still, Ojulari was the odd man out.
The 26-year-old has shown he can rush the passer before. He posted eight sacks as a rookie with the New York Giants in 2021, but he hasn’t topped six sacks in a season since. Over five NFL seasons - four with the Giants and one with the Philadelphia Eagles - he has piled up 113 tackles, including 61 solo stops, along with 22 sacks and 38 QB hits in 49 games, 32 of them starts.
Ojulari now joins former Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins in Las Vegas. Cousins was recently named the starter over Fernando Mendoza.
Atlanta, meanwhile, filled out its own practice squad by adding Zach Harrison, Khalid Kareem and Jammie Robinson, bringing the total to 16 players. The full group includes WR Vinny Anthony (86), DT Carlos Allen Jr. (79), OL Kam Dewberry (61), WR Dylan Drummond (80), RB Tyler Goodson (25), DB Darnay Holmes (30), OT Riley Mahlman (76), OL James Brockermeyer (66), TE Nick Muse (87), RB Cash Jones (32), TE Jack Velling (84), WR Antwane Wells (82), OL Josh Thompson (67), DL Zach Harrison (96), EDGE Khalid Kareem (92) and DB Jammie Robinson (34).
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 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 🡒]
Falcons Already Face An Uncomfortable Jawaan Taylor Problem
Jawaan Taylor arrived in Atlanta on a one-year deal as a notable add to the Falcons offensive line, bringing with him the kind of experience the team hoped would steady a group in need of help. The move also came with plenty of baggage, since Taylor has long carried a reputation for penalties, and his transition has included time lost to injury while he works his way into a new system under offensive line coach Bill Callahan.
The early signs of that adjustment have not made the Falcons any more comfortable. Taylor has continued to battle false starts in preseason action, and for a player whose penalty history already followed him from Kansas City, that is exactly the sort of issue Atlanta was hoping to avoid. The Falcons do not need a long learning curve up front, and how quickly Taylor settles in could become an important subplot as the season approaches. [Read more 🡒]