The Atlanta Falcons have already made four expensive bets this offseason, and one of them may be the quietest of the bunch. While the deals for Drake London, Kyle Pitts and Bijan Robinson drew the most attention, Matthew Bergeron’s new four-year, $96 million contract put him right alongside Chris Lindstrom among the league’s highest-paid guards.
That kind of money usually comes with a simple expectation: a player should already be established. Bergeron may fit that description better than the national conversation suggests. Pro Football Focus picked him as Atlanta’s best breakout candidate for the 2026 season, even though he’s already logged more than 3,000 snaps in his career and has posted PFF overall grades above 70.0 in back-to-back seasons.
The case for Bergeron is built on steady growth. PFF noted that he has been better as a run blocker than in pass protection, but he has still produced pass-blocking grades above 65.0 in each of the last two seasons. In 2025, he gave up 28 pressures on 519 pass-blocking snaps.
That resume makes it fair to wonder whether Bergeron has already broken out, even if he didn’t get much national attention for it. And at 26 years and and old, he still looks like a player whose best football could be in front of him.
If Bergeron doesn’t end up being the answer, Atlanta will be looking for another young player to make that leap. The Falcons are also hoping for a breakout from one of their young edge rushers, especially with four new free agents added to the group and Bralen Trice still waiting to make his NFL debut.
In Other News...
Jake Matthews Just Gave Falcons Fans Another Reason To Respect Him
Jake Matthews has long been one of the steadier fixtures in Atlanta, the kind of left tackle the Falcons have been able to pencil in season after season without much worry. Since being drafted sixth overall in 2014, he has been a consistent starter, built the franchise record for consecutive games played, and carried the longest active streak of starts in the NFL at 195. He has also done his part off the field for the roster, restructuring his contract to help the Falcons create more room under the salary cap.
During training camp, though, Matthews revealed another layer to that durability: he spent the stretch run of last season dealing with a high-ankle sprain and still kept going. For a team that has leaned on him for years, it only deepened the respect around him, even as it raised the obvious question of how much longer Atlanta can expect that kind of ironman availability. [Read more 🡒]
Falcons Rookies Are Suddenly Fighting For More Than Preseason Snaps
With preseason games on the horizon, the Falcons are getting a first real look at a rookie class that could matter right away once the games count. Branch, the third-round wide receiver who has turned heads, is among the young players expected to push for early-season work, while a second-round defensive back and an undrafted quarterback from Minnesota State-Moorhead are also in the mix as Atlanta sorts out who can help beyond camp.
For the coaching staff, these exhibitions are about more than just shaking off rust. They are a chance to test rookies against live competition, sort out roster battles and start piecing together who might earn real snaps, or even bigger roles, when the season opens. The Falcons have several young players competing for those opportunities, and the next few weeks should go a long way toward showing which ones are ready to turn a strong summer into something more permanent. [Read more 🡒]
Michael Penix Jr. Gets One Crucial Shot In Falcons QB Battle
The Falcons are giving Michael Penix Jr. a meaningful runway next week when they head into joint practices with the Indianapolis Colts, and head coach Kevin Stefanski said the rookie will be involved in 7-on-7 work. For a quarterback competition that has been watched closely all summer, those reps matter because they offer a cleaner look at Penix in a competitive setting, where timing, decision-making and command can be judged without the full chaos of a preseason game.
Penix has not taken the field in the preseason opener, while the other quarterback drew the start and the early work with the starters. That leaves the joint practices as one of the first real chances for Penix to show how far he has come and make his case in a battle that still feels very much in motion. [Read more 🡒]