Yesterday morning, the Atlanta Falcons used the trade deadline as an opportunity to make their biggest in-season trade in franchise history. The Falcons traded star safety Jessie Bates III to the Jacksonville Jaguars in exchange for a 2027 second-round pick and a 2028 fifth-round pick.
It came less than 24 hours after Atlanta's 34-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 9, and a sign that in Ian Cunningham's first trade deadline as the general manager, the Falcons are open for business. This is the biggest move they could've made at the deadline, and they may not be done yet.
It was one way to send a message about the direction of this franchise, as at 3-6, they're starting to realize their hopes of making the playoffs are slimming. Even in a division as open as the NFC South, it would require them to get out of the next month unscathed, which appears highly unlikely.
They were too inconsistent to be legit playoff contenders, so they dealt away their biggest impending free agent, and the ripple effects are massive. All over the roster there are winners and losers, so let's not waste any time and dive into who benefits the most and the least from the blockbuster trade,
Who were the winners and losers of the Atlanta Falcons trading Jessie Bates?
Winner: Jessie Bates III
The biggest winner of this trade, weirdly enough is Jessie Bates himself. Atlanta was almost certainly never bringing him back on a big-money extension--even with over $140 million in cap space to spend in 2027. But as far as landing spots go, it's not like he can do much better than Jacksonville.
The All-Pro safety. gets to join a 6-2 Jaguars team that's a shoo-in to win the AFC South and has real Super Bowl aspirations. Across four seasons in Atlanta, he never played a playoff game, so for the first time since he left Cincinnati, he has the chance to play meaningful football into late January (and possibly February). And he's proven across the last few weeks he can still play at a high level.
Winner: Ian Cunningham
Ian Cunningham isn't scared of making aggressive moves, yet this move was just as beneficial for the Dirty Birds as it was the player they traded. Atlanta got a really nice return for a 29-year-old safety entering a contract year, which was way better than anything they would've got from the comp pick formula had they simply let him walk.
While Terry Fontenot thought this team was always on the brink of contending, Cunningham recognized that they're not. The self-awareness is great, because the new GM is finally entering a rebuild and has Atlanta selling at the trade deadline instead of sitting around twiddling their thumbs.
The Falcons want to build this through the draft, and now he has four top-100 picks and three picks in they first two rounds of the 2027 NFL Draft--and eight total selections-- in order to do so. And considering how his 2026 draft class looked, the Falcons did this because they trust his track record as a talent evaluator to set themselves up for success in 2027.
Winner: DeMarcco Hellams
With Bates out of the starting lineup, it comes with opportunity for other DBs to step into his role. But nobody has more on the line than DeMarcco Hellams, who is expected to assume his starting spot next to Xavier Watts.
Kevin Stefanski referred to Hellams as "the next man up" while addressing the media on Monday, which tracks after he got most of the first-team reps in Bates' absence in training camp. But he's also a free agent after 2026, so he has a chance to make some money across these final nine games.
How the 2023 seventh-round pick performs down the stretch will ultimately determine whether or not he's back in Atlanta next season or if he's playing elsewhere.
Winner: Sydney Brown
Speaking of DBs set to take on a larger role without Jessie Bates, Sydney Brown is another one who is going to get extra run to fill the void the veteran left behind. And like Hellams, he's also a free agent after the season, but his role is also going to be a lot different after he was acquired last offseason.
Brown has gotten a lot of run in the nickel this season because of his strengths as a tackler, but he's been surprisingly good in coverage as well. So with that in mind, he'll likely rotate in more at safety as well and Jeff Ulbrich will continue to rely upon his versatility on the backend.
Winner: Billy Bowman Jr.
Billy Bowman Jr. was a surprise healthy scratch in Sunday's loss to the Bengals, but it's safe to say that that won't happen again. The second-year man out of Oklahoma played both cornerback and safety in college, and it sure appears that he'll get extra reps at safety in addition to his job at nickel.
And if Mike Hughes or C.J. Henderson get moved, there will be even more snaps to go around.
Loser: Xavier Watts
Just a couple of months ago, the Falcons owned arguably the best safety duo in the NFL in Jessie Bates and Xavier Watts, but not anymore they don't. While the former has been playing out of his mind across the last couple of weeks, the latter has enjoyed a brutal sophomore slump this year.
After finishing fourth on Defensive Rookie of the Year voting in 2025, Watts has regressed. Now he loses his primary running mate, which will make things harder on the backend, so unless he re-captures his rookie form and is generating takeaways and picking off passes again, this won't be fun.
No. 31 is being handed the keys to the secondary, but does he deserve to be?
Loser: Jeff Ulbrich
This Falcons' defense has already dealt with some major issues across the last couple of weeks. They couldn't defend the run against the Bucs or the pass against the Bengals. Now the unit loses one of its best players and most important leaders, which is bound to have an immeasurable impact.
And while they have solid players who can help replace him, that's all on paper. Replacing a playmaker as talented as Jessie Bates is easier said than done, and it's not like Jeff Ulbrich has done that good of a job even with him still out there.
Add us as a preferred source on Google