Billy Bowman Jr. came back at the perfect time for depleted Falcons' secondary

Now that A.J. Terrell has been placed on injured reserve with a groin injury, the Atlanta Falcons' cornerback room has been held together by duct tape and gorilla glue, but the good news is that they finally got some reinforcements as Billy Bowman Jr. made his season debut on Thursday night.

Bowman tore his Achilles in November, and missed all of training camp and the preseason while rehabbing. And while he practiced in full leading up to the first two games, he was not ready to play quite yet, but just like Michael Penix Jr., he returned to the field against the Packers on primetime.

And the 34-15 victory saw Bowman look fairly impressive: for his first game action in 10 months that is. Without Terrell, the prospects of this CB room seemed bleak since Mike Hughes and C.J. Henderson would start on the outside, but his return has come at the perfect time amid the CB woes.

Billy Bowman Jr. looked fairly impressive in his season debut with the Falcons

The second-year corner played 43 snaps in his return, which has saw second-round rookie Avieon Terrell's playing time take a dip--as he played just 13 snaps. And that level of faith in Bowman coming off such a serious injury is clear, and he gave the secondary the juice it was missing without Terrell.

According to PFF, Bowman was targeted eight times, and surrendered just four receptions for 73 yards--most of which came on a 34-yard chunk gain from Christian Watson. He was less of a liability in coverage than Hughes, although he wasn't the star of the show like Henderson was in the win.

The 23-year-old also recorded multiple PBUs (two to be exact) in his first game back, including one play where he managed to get his hand up to prevent Matthew Golden from picking up chunk yardage. This was a play where he got burnt, managed to recover, and turned his head to get a hand on this football.

For a guy who spent the better part of the last year dealing with a torn Achilles (one of the toughest injuries to come back from), he made a real impact in his first start of 2026. We all missed seeing Bowman out there making plays, and the good news is that even after all the rehab, he's still a playmaker.

The 2025 fourth-round pick out of Oklahoma is firmly entrenched as the Falcons' starting slot corner, which is what they needed without their All-Pro. This means they can experiment with Avieon on the outside amid Hughes' struggles and utilize his versatility to stabilize the boundary alongside Henderson with his big brother on the shelf now that they have a nickel they trust.

Now that Billy Bowman Jr. is back in the lineup, the Atlanta Falcons have much more flexibility at the cornerback spots--which is what they need with A.J. Terrell out of the lineup. And given how good he looked and how depleted the secondary was, it's safe to say the Falcons couldn't have got their young corner back at a better time.

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