{"id":734525,"date":"2026-02-07T00:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T00:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/734525\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T00:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T00:16:13","slug":"nfc-notes-trey-mcbride-bijan-robinson-ian-cunningham-cardinals-falcons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/734525\/","title":{"rendered":"NFC Notes: Trey McBride, Bijan Robinson, Ian Cunningham, Cardinals, Falcons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cardinals TE Trey McBride<\/a> was elected to his second Pro Bowl and earned first-team All-Pro honors after recording 126 receptions for 1,239 yards and 11 touchdowns this season. McBride is soaking in being at the Pro Bowl.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it\u2019s crazy,\u201d McBride said, via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN<\/a>. \u201cHonestly, it\u2019s really cool to be up there with Ja\u2019Marr Chase<\/a>, all these guys that lead the league every year, all these stud receivers that do it. Just to be in the same conversation as those guys means a lot to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

McBride still thinks he\u2019s far from being the best tight end in the NFL and names players like George Kittle<\/a> and Travis Kelce<\/a> as veterans with a high pedigree.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019m a great tight end, I just don\u2019t think I\u2019m the best,\u201d McBride said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m considered one of the top tight ends, but I got to just keep proving myself each and every day, each and every week, every year. I\u2019ve had a good couple years, but [49ers tight end George] Kittle, [Chiefs tight end Travis] Kelce, these guys have had eight, nine years of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

McBride thinks his strong points are his ability to get open and reel in catches.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI get the ball a ton, but I feel like I can catch the ball and get open a lot and I feel good,\u201d McBride said. \u201cI feel young and I don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to change anytime soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cardinals are hiring Miami running backs coach Matt Merritt as their new running backs coach. (Pete Thamel)<\/p>\n

When mic\u2019d up at the Pro Bowl, Falcons RB Bijan Robinson<\/a> gave a ringing endorsement of new HC Kevin Stefanski, adding that OC Tommy Rees will call their plays.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cKevin Stefanski, he\u2019s fire bro,\u201d Robinson said, via PFT<\/a>. \u201cI like him a lot, and his offensive scheme. Tommy Rees, he\u2019s the OC, but he\u2019ll call the plays.\u201d<\/p>\n

Falcons\u2019 new GM Ian Cunningham described his vision for Atlanta\u2019s roster, saying he wants players to be \u201csmart, tough, physical, physically and mentally tough.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be smart, tough, physical, physically and mentally tough,\u201d Cunningham said, via FalconsWire<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s a part of the process that we\u2019re going to instill and push with our scouting staff \u2014 both college and pro scouting. We\u2019re going to look at those things along the way. That\u2019s what we\u2019re going to be. That\u2019s what we\u2019re going to be built on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cunningham notably worked as an area scout with the Ravens from 2013 to 2016, and was the Eagles\u2019 director of college scouting from 2017 to 2021. President of football Matt Ryan<\/a> said one of Cunningham\u2019s selling points was his experience as a scout.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the biggest selling points for us on Ian was his experience in all areas on scouting,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cHe has touched it all. And I think for the general manager position an understanding of what those positions go through and what the expectations for them are was very important to us through that process. So we are very excited about the experience that he brings to the Atlanta Falcons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan added that they wanted someone who was \u201cwell-versed\u201d in scouting and could guide their entire front office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were looking for someone in this position that was well-versed in terms of their experience and has touched all the different parts of scouting,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cThat was something that was important for us because there\u2019s a lot that falls under Ian\u2019s control. So you want somebody who is comfortable, who understands each individual\u2019s role in his department. So that was something that was really big. Aligned vision on how to build a football team, on what wins games, on the types of players that you want to bring in the building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking for the latest NFL Insider News & Rumors?<\/p>\n

Be sure to follow NFL Trade Rumors<\/a> on X.com<\/a>\u00a0and FACEBOOK<\/a>\u00a0for breaking NFL News and Rumors for all 32 teams!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cardinals TE Trey McBride was elected to his second Pro Bowl and earned first-team All-Pro honors after recording…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2554,4127,224,7,6066,53720,8591,105794,2859,6,26961,500,6042],"class_list":{"0":"post-734525","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-falcons","10":"tag-atlantafalcons","11":"tag-bijan-robinson","12":"tag-falcons","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-george-kittle","15":"tag-ian-cunningham","16":"tag-kevin-stefanski","17":"tag-matt-merritt","18":"tag-matt-ryan","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-tommy-rees","21":"tag-travis-kelce","22":"tag-trey-mcbride"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116026473083902528","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734525","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=734525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}