Ever torn your Achilles tendon? I’m not a pro athlete, but having blown mine, it is brutal enough to earn a golf clap that Atlanta Falcons defensive back Billy Bowman Jr. is nearly back on the field.
After the November injury occurred during a walkthrough for the Week 12 game versus the New Orleans Saints, Falcons GM Ian Cunningham said at his Wednesday presser that he's really proud of how Bowman fought to get back on the field.
Here’s a backpedal and hip-turn from Billy Bowman Jr., who’s nine months removed from his Achilles injury. He remains on PUP.
— Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) August 28, 2026
Falcons will make a decision Sunday on whether Bowman starts the year on IR or makes the active roster. pic.twitter.com/ijSYVJYPJJ
"We do feel comfortable enough not to keep him on PUP, so that should tell you something," Cunningham said Wednesday. " “It's a testament to him,. "His work ethic, his resilience, the time in which he's put into his body to fight to get back.”
That’s particularly huge news considering if he had landed on the PUP list or short-term IR to open the season, Bowman would have been out, at a minimum, for the first four games. But instead the Falcons opted to keep him on the 53-man roster
Billy Bowman Jr. is ready to wreak havoc for the Atlanta Falcons' defense in 2026
What does it “tell”? That’s for speculation, but what we do know is that Bowman won the starting nickel job in his first training camp and hit the ground running. A fourth-round pick out of Oklahoma, Bowman recorded a half-sack against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1 and welcomed himself to the national audience with an interception on "Sunday Night Football" in a Week 2 win versus the Minnesota Vikings. Bowman played in the first four games of the 2025 season before being out until the Week 10 game in Berlin, Germany versus the Indianapolis Colts with a hamstring injury.
I miss watching Billy Bowman Jr. ball out on Sundays. pic.twitter.com/a2VBDQ3BU9
— Nick Penticoff (@NickPenticoff) December 31, 2025
At 5-foot-10 and 194 pounds, Bowman brings more of that “versatility on the back end” Ian Cunningham discussed Wednesday. His six-game statline of 26 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 1 FF, and 1 INT even showed him playing pseudo-linebacker snaps in DC Jeff Ulbrich’s attack-style front.
Talk about that mindset…attacking rehab and recovery, attacking the depth chart, attacking offenses, that’s part of the gel in the Ulbrich-Bowman pairing. And this was something he discussed at the 2025 NFL combine.
"I want to suffocate offenses," Bowman said. "Offense is easy to play. You know your play. You know where the ball is going. All you got to do is get the ball, make somebody miss. Defense, it brings so much more of a challenge. So it's so much more fun. But my goal is just to suffocate offenses. I don't want to give them nothing. I want to hold them to zero to 3. When the ball is in the air, it's mine. If they hand the ball off, I want to rally to the ball as quick as possible. My mentality is suffocation."
There’s more than one reason Ulbrich was ecstatic on draft day to get Bowman’s value at Pick 118. From the tape study, collegiate production, and performance as the best safety at the Senior Bowl, it was projected he’d have been gone sooner. "I feel like everybody can see it when I'm out there," Bowman said. "Something is different. The way I move. The way I run to the ball. The way I get to the ball."
Bowman does not have to get ready to mentally pick up from last year, he has stayed ready. "Billy is right there, making sure that even though he's maybe not getting a full-speed rep, he's right in the thick of it," Head Coach Kevin Stefanski said. "(Bowman is) making sure he's not missing out on any mental reps."
Add us as a preferred source on Google