{"id":924029,"date":"2026-06-20T13:54:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T13:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/924029\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T13:54:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T13:54:16","slug":"former-bengals-undrafted-free-agent-uses-the-ufl-to-earn-another-shot-at-making-it-in-the-nfl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/924029\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Bengals undrafted free agent uses the UFL to earn another shot at making it in the NFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Cincinnati Bengals undrafted free agent signing Devonnsha Maxwell has found a new home in the NFL. Maxwell signed a one-year contract with the Atlanta Falcons earlier this week.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Former
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Jay Tufele (97), Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Joseph Ossai (58) and Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Devonnsha Maxwell (69) stand together at Bengals spring practice at the IEL Indoor Facility in Cincinnati on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9 Albert Cesare\/The Enquirer \/ USA TODAY NETWORK<\/p>\n

Former Cincinnati Bengals undrafted free agent signing Devonnsha Maxwell has found a new home in the NFL. <\/p>\n

Maxwell, fresh off his second season with the UFL\u2019s DC Defenders, signed a one-year contract with the Atlanta Falcons<\/a> earlier this week.<\/p>\n

The #Falcons<\/a> are signing DT Devonnsha Maxwell, formerly of the UFL\u2019s DC Defenders, per agent Hector Ruiz.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Devonnsha Maxwell\u2019s history with Bengals<\/p>\n

Cincinnati was Maxwell\u2019s first taste of the NFL. The Bengals signed the defensive tackle as a UDFA following the 2023 NFL Draft. He suffered an injury during his first training camp and the club placed him on the Reserve\/Injured list prior to final cuts, ending his rookie season before it started. The decision helped Cincy keep him in the building for the entire year, and allowed him to come back in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Maxwell rehabbed with the Bengals and started training camp in 2024 on the Physically Unable to Perform list. He was activated on Aug. 12 of that year, and waived exactly a week later on Aug. 19. He didn\u2019t play an NFL down that year and would sign with the Defenders in December.<\/p>\n

From UFL stud back to NFL Long shot<\/p>\n

DC has had Maxwell on its roster for the last two years. He posted 20 tackles, three tackles for loss, and a blocked kick during his debut season in 2025. The club retained him for 2026 and he helped the Defenders make the postseason and nearly win the championship.<\/p>\n

Two years of UFL film and production has the Falcons ready to take a shot on Maxwell, but it will be a long shot.<\/p>\n

Sports Illustrated\u2019s Mike Kadlick<\/a> gives Maxwell, one of 23 UFL players to sign an NFL contract this week, a 15% chance at making Atlanta\u2019s roster.<\/p>\n

Maxwell has been dominant in the trenches for the Defenders over the past two seasons, totaling 43 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and four sacks while helping DC to the UFL championship in 2025. He\u2019ll compete with Brandon Dorlus, DaShawn Hand and Anterio Thompson in Atlanta\u2019s defensive tackle room.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chance to make 53-man roster:\u00a015%<\/p>\n

Mike Kadlick<\/p>\n

Sports Illustrated Breaking and Trending News writer<\/p>\n

Maxwell went nearly three full years without playing football due to injury and lack of opportunity. He proved he can still impress for one of the UFL\u2019s best teams. He\u2019ll now look to prove the Falcons right for taking a chance on him.<\/p>\n

DC retains retain the rights to Maxwell if he makes a return to the UFL.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Cincinnati\t\t<\/p>\n

Cincinnati Bengals News<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tFormer Bengals offseason hero is working with the team again to be a different kind of long shot in football\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Damion Willis made a name for himself with the Cincinnati Bengals at the very beginning of his short NFL playing career. He\u2019s now trying to make it as an NFL coach thanks to a program launched by a former Bengals coach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Cincinnati Bengals undrafted free agent signing Devonnsha Maxwell has found a new home in the NFL. Maxwell…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":924030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[254,228,227,256,2296,7,6,5220],"class_list":["post-924029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cincinnati-bengals","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-bengals","tag-cincinnati","tag-cincinnati-bengals","tag-cincinnatibengals","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-ufl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116782777229939852","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924029","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=924029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/924030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=924029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=924029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=924029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}