Falcons just moved on from longtime defender in surprise pre-season twist

The Atlanta Falcons have been wheeling and dealing ever since yesterday morning, as they acquired Gervon Dexter from Chicago and cut down their roster from 90 players to 53. And the initial roster was set in stone, but corresponding moves after waiver claims have sent everything into a tailspin,

While most of the players the Falcons waived ended up on their practice squad, the Falcons claimed three players off of waivers: Yasir Abdullah, Jared Ivey, and Cameron Williams to join their active roster, which meant they had to make three corresponding moves: and one of them was a shocker.

Per the team, Atlanta waived fourth-year defensive tackle Zach Harrison and DBs Natrone Brooks and Jammie Robinson to make room for their waiver pickups. And while cutting both Robinson and Brooks was expected given the 13 DBs on the initial 53--nobody expected them to cut Harrison.

The Atlanta Falcons are waiving former third-round pick Zach Harrison

The 2023 third-round pick recorded 4.5 sacks in seven games for Atlanta in 2025 before being placed on season-ending IR due to a knee injury. With a guy like Zach Harrison, the talent was always there, but even his breakout season was halted because he's unable to stay on the football field.

Harrison will now be placed on waivers, and it's fair to assume he should get claimed by another team fairly easily. With a cheap cap hit on the final year of his rookie deal, yeah, any DT-needy team should be chomping at the bit to go get a player who only got cut because he's in a crowded IDL room now.

Presumably if the Dirty Birds are waiving the 25-year-old, they tried to field trade offers on him but likely didn't get much interest. And while there's still a chance that they re-sign him or use the only practice squad opening they have on him when the dust settles, why waive the kid to begin with?

After the Falcons acquired Dexter from Chicago, it definitely sent a message about the Ohio State product's standing in Atlanta. He was firmly behind Dexter, Brandon Dorlus, Maason Smith, La'Cale London and Da'Shawn Hand in the defensive tackle pecking order, and his long-term status was in flux since his hopes of a long-term extension evaporated in large part due to his new teammate.

Zach Harrison was always approaching rough terrain with the Atlanta Falcons because of the injury, history but nobody saw this coming--and even though the defensive tackle room can handle this loss, that doesn't mean it won't sting when the veteran defender thrives with a new team and possibly lands an extension.

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