Former Atlanta Falcons offensive lineman Elijah Wilkinson, for the second time in four seasons, decided to leave the franchise he spent three of the last four campaigns with in order to sign a contract with the Arizona Cardinals. However, he is leaving on less friendly terms this time around.
The former Falcons tackle was clearly not a fan of what Raheem Morris brought to the table last season, as he got into it with a group of fans who may not have been too pleased with the effort Wilkinson showed last season.
In since-deleted messages on Instagram, Wilkinson called the Morris-led Falcons a "clown show," even calling out former teammates by name. Wilkinson bemoaned the dropped passes from wide receiver Darnell Mooney and Kyle Pitts. To make matters even wilder, Wilkinson said he "bailed the Falcons out when they had nowhere to turn" after the Kaleb McGary injury. Perhaps you're taking a bit too much credit.
"Good luck with that clown show over there," Wilkinson said," Have fun rooting to lose the NFC South. 28-3. 28-3… Haahahahahhahha laughing stock." These sound like something a salty fan would be sending, not a professional player.
Former Falcons OL Elijah Wilkinson rips team after leaving in free agency
Let's ignore the fact that Wilkinson was ranked as the 57th-best tackle in the NFL by Pro Football Focus last season, and often put together showings that were worse than those numbers would indicate. Let's also skip over Wilkinson not even being guaranteed a starting role in his new digs.
Of all the teams to join off the back of a year that was apparently hell on Earth for him, why join the Cardinals, a team that has historically averaged more than 10 years in between playoff appearances and is projected to be one of the worst teams in the league in 2026?
Morris was apparently running a clown show, but a team coached by a non-play-calling offensive coach in Mike LaFleur with Nathaniel Hackett as the team's new OC is so good that he had to jump at the opportunity to head back to Arizona. These comments sound purely like sour grapes.
After becoming one of the main reasons that Atlanta failed to live up to its potential last season and then joining a team that just about everyone projects to have a worse record in the 2026 season, Wilkinson is not expected to be welcomed back to Georgia anytime soon.