Over The Cap,<\/a> the Falcons have approximately -$14 million in effective salary cap space heading into 2026, which ranks in the bottom 10 rate of the league. The Falcons and Kirk Cousins agreed to a modification in the quarterback\u2019s contract to push back the date of his 2027 guarantee until the third day of the league year, so his future will be decided before that date. It\u2019s likely Cousins will be a post-June 1 cut, which would free up about only $2 million in 2026 cap space. A Darnell Mooney release would open up another $8 million in space.<\/p>\nAdvertisement<\/p>\n
To get cap compliant, the Falcons have a few options in restructures that could include A.J. Terrell, Jessie Bates III, Chris Lindstrom and Jake Matthews.<\/p>\n
Pending free agents<\/p>\n
TE Kyle Pitts
RB Tyler Allgeier
LB Kaden Elliss
OL Elijah Wilkinson
DL David Onyemata
Edge Arnold Ebiketie
Edge Leonard Floyd<\/p>\n
Pitts had a career year and led the team in targets and yards, though Drake London surpassed Pitts in rate stats, but missed games. A franchise tag could be on the table for Pitts, given how the tight end figure is so much lower than the tag at receiver. But in a salary cap crunch and a new deal for London upcoming, Pitts might be a luxury a new regime decides against paying. Allgeier is in a similar boat, an efficient runner in a tandem with Bijan Robinson, but it\u2019s increasingly difficult to have a second-contract back splitting carries with what might be the best running back in the league.<\/p>\n
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Positional needs<\/p>\n
Quarterback
Cornerback
Wide receiver<\/p>\n
If Kirk Cousins is not on the roster and Michael Penix Jr. is not ready to start the season \u2014 or maybe if he is \u2014 the Falcons need someone to play quarterback. Penix and Cousins had nearly identical efficiency stats for the season but much of that comes down to the availability of Drake London. Penix had London on the field for almost all of his dropbacks, while Cousins had the top receiver for just over a third of his. With London, Cousins had 0.04 EPA per play, as opposed to Penix\u2019s -0.02. Having a reliable second receiver would help whoever the quarterback is and London in 2026. The star-and-everyone-else grouping also appears in the secondary. Young safeties have emerged for the Falcons, and rookie Billy Bowman was fun in the slot before getting injured, but having an outside corner opposite A.J. Terrell would improve the defense.<\/p>\n
2026 NFL Draft picks<\/p>\n
2nd round
3rd round
4th round
6th round
7th round<\/p>\n
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Good draft fit<\/p>\n
Kelley Jones, CB, Mississippi State<\/p>\n
Jones is long, good at the catch point and a willing tackler, traits that project well as CB2 opposite A.J. Terrell. And the best news is he\u2019ll likely be available when the Falcons make their first pick on Day 2.<\/p>\n
What could move the fantasy needle in 2026?<\/p>\n
Figure out the quarterback spot<\/p>\n
Atlanta made two big bets at quarterback in the 2024 offseason and as we head into 2026, I don\u2019t think you can label either as a hit. Perhaps Michael Penix Jr. becomes that guy. However, I\u2019d bet against a new front office and Kevin Stefanski\u2019s coaching staff hanging their hats on that as their answer, considering the soon-to-be 26-year-old quarterback is still unproven and coming off his third ACL reconstruction. I\u2019m not exactly sure what the path forward is for this team, which lacks a Round 1 selection in the upcoming draft, but I doubt either Penix or Kirk Cousins opens the season as the starting quarterback. \u2014 Matt Harmon<\/p>\n
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Betting nugget<\/p>\n
The Falcons barely missed the postseason, finishing at 8-9 in a weak NFC South, but bettors weren\u2019t rewarded for backing Atlanta in games the Falcons were supposed to win. Atlanta went a putrid 2-7 ATS as a favorite. \u2014 Ben Fawkes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NFL offseason has begun, and Yahoo Sports is previewing the coming months for all 32 teams, from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[7861,223,254,2554,228,4127,1176,11406,6709,11413,4130,11423,224,7,309,703,2664,11415,294,6153,7862,18665,1591,6,428,236,1257,238,426,222,11410],"class_list":{"0":"post-686100","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-arnold-ebiketie","9":"tag-atlanta","10":"tag-atlanta-falcons","11":"tag-atlantafalcons","12":"tag-bengals","13":"tag-bijan-robinson","14":"tag-billy-bowman","15":"tag-chris-lindstrom","16":"tag-darnell-mooney","17":"tag-david-onyemata","18":"tag-drake-london","19":"tag-elijah-wilkinson","20":"tag-falcons","21":"tag-football","22":"tag-jake-matthews","23":"tag-james-pearce-jr","24":"tag-jessie-bates-iii","25":"tag-kaden-elliss","26":"tag-kirk-cousins","27":"tag-kyle-pitts","28":"tag-leonard-floyd","29":"tag-michael-penix","30":"tag-nfc-south","31":"tag-nfl","32":"tag-packers","33":"tag-panthers","34":"tag-quarterback","35":"tag-seahawks","36":"tag-steelers","37":"tag-texans","38":"tag-tyler-allgeier"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}