Are the Falcons Big Losers of the 2026 Offseason?
As OTAs and rookie minicamps are now in full swing, analysts, experts, and fans now get a good grasp on the current state of each NFL team. Some teams have improved their roster to make a push for a championship. Others? Not so much. Despite a regime change, the Falcons seem to be in that weird middle category of not good enough to contend, while simultaneously not being bad enough to have a high-end draft pick. Atlanta’s 2026 offseason moves seemed to have done more can-kicking than anything, which may have left them behind the contenders of the NFC and even in their own division.
Before the doom and gloom begins, Atlanta can be somewhat applauded for their drafting and conservative spending. For the long-term future of the team, it was wise of them not to splurge in a relatively weak free agent class that didn’t have many game-changing players at positions of need. Not to mention, the Falcons are still up to their neck in cap salary from the litany of mistakes from the previous regime. Current general manager Ian Cunningham had around $16.5 million to work with during the 2026 offseason, not much to spend on roster upgrades. Cunningham has made it apparent from day one of his signing that 2026 was more of an evaluation year for what the Falcons will look like in the future. However, there are still a plethora of questions that linger on the team to truly consider them improved from the year prior.
For starters, the quarterback room is extremely volatile. It’s still up in the air whether Tua Tagovailoa or Michael Penix will be the starting quarterback come the start of the regular season. Both quarterbacks have massive red flags and question marks that would have any fanbase concerned about what their team’s quarterback play will look like consistently. Their receiving room also had a lot of question marks coming into the 2026 offseason. Their wide receiver two at the time, Darnell Mooney, struggled mightily during the 2025 NFL season and was promptly released from his contract. Cunningham’s answer to the wide receiver two problem? Former Eagles cast-off Jahan Dotson and Olamide Zaccheaus are now on their second stint with the team. Serviceable? Sure, but Dotson and Zaccheaus were the third and fourth wide receivers, respectively, for their former teams. Unless they’re putting lofty expectations for their 2026 third-round pick, Zachariah Branch, there were no significant improvements made in the receiving department. Hopefully, for Atlanta’s sake, the coaching change will improve their offensive output next season.
Defensively, the Falcons can be given a bit of grace, considering they’re banking on the growth of their excellent rookie class from the year prior. Even with the legal troubles, James Pearce is expected to take a leap alongside fellow rookie sensations Xavier Watts and Jalon Walker. However, there are still holes left at linebacker and especially corner that Cunningham and his staff hope will be addressed with their 2026 draft picks. Moreover, another weak spot on the defense they seemingly didn’t address was at nose tackle. David Onyemata left for the Meadowlands in free agency, leaving another hole for the front office to fill. Expecting any day two and onward prospect to make an immediate impact on the roster is questionable and downright outlandish, and Atlanta seems to be going down that path.
Overall, it’s difficult to pinpoint where the Falcons have actually improved position-wise compared to the previous year. The same cannot be said for the rest of the NFC and their own division, especially. The NFC South as a whole made vast improvements to its rosters through having strong drafts and upgrading talent-wise in free agency. New Orleans and Tampa Bay had exceptional draft classes to circumvent their lack of spending, while Carolina not only had a good draft but spent premium dollars to improve their trench play on both sides of the ball. Atlanta did neither. Little, if any, significant upgrades were made to the roster, and their draft class was lacking compared to their peers. Granted, we’ll never know how well this will age due to the nature of the draft. However, on paper, it just seems like the Falcons are stagnating while the rest of the conference passes them by. Each day, it becomes harder and harder to decipher whether or not the Falcons can truly contend for a playoff spot. For the sake of the Dirty Bird faithful, let's hope that head coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Cunningham can right the plentiful mistakes of the previous regime.
