The Atlanta Falcons have dropped two straight and are desperate to get back on track against an unbeaten San Francisco 49ers team in Week 7. And given the 49ers are again getting hit by the injury bug and narrowly escaped the Commanders on Monday night, they have a shot to pull off the upset.
The matchup will mark Atlanta's first matchup against former head coach Raheem Morris since his firing in January--and it'll also mark his return to Mercedes-Benz Stadium. So there will be a whole lot of emotion on both sides, and you know Falcons fans will want to see a victory in this revenge game.
They enter this matchup off of an extra day of rest compared to the Niners, but they have less momentum. There is a lot of buzz about this team, particularly after some unforced errors and play-calling issues sank them in Sunday's 31-23 loss to the Chicago Bears despite the late comeback.
So let's dive into all of the news surrounding the Dirty Birds across the last couple of days as Week 7 nears.
- The Falcons are releasing Bralen Trice (again)
- Is Mike Hughes headed for a smaller role?
- Quick Slants
- The last time the Falcons beat the 49ers
The Falcons are releasing Bralen Trice (again)
The biggest news to come out of the last couple of the days for the Falcons comes courtesy of 2024 third-round pick Bralen Trice, who was hoping for a redemption arc after missing his first two seasons due to injury, but he's been cut for the second time in three months.
According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Atlanta signed Charles Snowden to the active roster off of the Commanders' practice squad, and Trice's release was the corresponding move. Snowden spent the last two seasons in Las Vegas, starting 18 of the 31 games he appeared in, where he recorded 4.5 sacks and eight TFLs--including three sacks in nine starts of 2025.
Atlanta first released the 25-year-old during roster cutdowns and signed him to the practice squad, where Trice was a gameday elevation in Weeks 1, 3, and 5 (where he had three pressures against the Ravens) before being signed to the active roster full-time on Saturday for the Bears game, but it was clearly a short stay for the Washington product, who played just 76 snaps this season.
With an open spot on the practice squad after Trice's elevation and release, the Falcons signed LB T.J. Quinn to the practice squad with Kendal Daniels and Divine Deablo banged up. Quinn went undrafted in the 2026 NFL Draft out of Louisville and spent the summer with the Green Bay Packers before getting released during final roster cuts.
Is Mike Hughes headed for a smaller role?
Mike Hughes has been the cornerback opponents have picked on all year due to his coverage issues, and it's worked. He's allowed the second-most yards and the fifth-most catches among CBs through six weeks, and it sure seems like he only got the start on Sunday because A.J. Terrell and C.J. Henderson were inactive.
However, Terrell is eligible to be activated off IR this week and Kevin Stefanski said he will practice today. And once he returns, especially if Henderson does as well, it begs the question if whether or not they'd start Henderson and Terrell on the boundary or start both Terrell brothers on the outside with Hiughes being moved to the bench.
The AJC's Daniel Flick asked Stefanski on Monday about whether or not the Falcons would make a change once Terrell returned, and his response was interesting.
"Yeah, we'll work through all those things this week," Stefanski said. "Obviously, Mike's a vet we're counting on. You know, these are tough matchups and we can always look at things we can do better, certainly, as we design the defense and those type of things, we'll always look at what we can do better. But bottom line is we expect a lot from our corner position."
We know Terrell is expected back soon, and given both Henderson and Avieon Terrell have outplayed Hughes in A.J.'s absence, a possible change to the starting lineup is worth monitoring, although I doubt the former first-round pick gets fizzled out completely.
Quick Slants
Several Falcons have supported Zachariah Branch after his two-fumble game
Following his two-fumble effort in Week 6, we heard several people involved with the Falcons express their support for rookie wideout Zachariah Branch. We saw Bijan Robinson console and pray with him on the sideline on the broadcast after his second fumble, and we saw Drake London do the same.
But that's not all. Kevin Stefanski spoke on Atlanta's belief in their third-round pick, revealed he thought this was just a rookie who will be better because of this. But Jahan Dotson (who also fields punts) put himself in Branch's shoes, and used the lessons he learned from A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith to encourage him to keep his head up and remind him he's still being counted on.
It goes to show you how good the leadership is on this team, because there is a lot of good human beings that don't want to kick a kid while he's down. And while that won't come at the expense of holding him accountable or helping him learn, the amount they care will help him stay out of his own head and not lose faith in himself--and evidently he's appreciative of these teammates.
Kevin Stefanski speaks on how Andy Dalton's signing will affect Jack Strand
As we all know the Falcons signed Andy Dalton on Monday and released Cooper Rush, so he'll likely start off as Atlanta's third-string quarterback and could push Tua Tagovailoa to be Penix's backup once he's more comfortable. Here's the thing though: the Dirty Birds have rostered four quarterbacks all season because of undrafted rookie Jack Strand.
Stefanski was asked point blank if the addition of the Red Rifle will affect Strand's situation in any way, to which he answered "No". He needed just one word to convey the point, which confirms they'll keep four QBs on the roster and there are no plans to send the 22-year-old down to the practice squad.
However, he did say Dalton would be inactive this week against the 49ers as he adjusts to the new system.
The Falcons have a new limited partner
One of the more interesting tidbits of Falcons news came out on Tuesday afternoon. Back in August, Arthur Blank agreed to sell a 10% stake in the franchise (with a $10.6 billion valuation) to Arctos, a private investment firm for $1.06 billion.
Per the team, NFL owners approved Arctos as a limited partner yesterday, where they'll acquire a 7.5% stake in the time now, with the remaining 2.5% coming at a later date, and the transaction is expected to close this month.
No absence for Kendal Daniels?
You don't need me to tell you that Kendal Daniels' injury in Sunday's loss to the Bears was incredibly frightening. When your facemask collides with a player's knee and the collision is so severe you have to be stretchered off, it's safe to assume the worst. The medical staff had to cut off his jersey and immobilize his neck. The guy was taken to the hospital for precautionary examination.
Based off of that alone, it sounded like this head/neck injury would end his season and possibly impact his career, but that's not the case. Stefanski said that he would practice Wednesday, and isn't in concussion protocol. And given three days ago we saw him stretchered off, that is incredible.
This is nothing short of miraculous. You have to commend his toughness because the fourth-round rookie seems to have a real shot to play this week which is closer to the best-case scenario than the worst.
The last time the Falcons beat the 49ers
Nobbody needs to tell us how one-sided the Falcons-49ers "rivalry" is. Atlanta has just 33 wins against them all-time, while the Niners coincidentally have 49, so they can go for 50 on Sunday. But the last two matchups were against Mac Jones, and this one will see Brock Purdy get the start.
So let's take a trip down memory lane. The last time the Falcons beat the 49ers was in their last matchup at Mercedes-Benz Stadium back on Oct. 16, 2022 (Week 6), as Atlanta won 28-14. That's a little over four years ago now. .
And the roster looked a lot different. Not only was this the peak of the Arthur Smith era, Marcus Mariota, who totaled three touchdowns, was the starting quarterback, Caleb Huntley (not Tyler Allgeier) was the leading rusher, and Troy Andersen was the leading tackler. And believe it or not, Olamide Zaccheus, who has been brutal this season, was the Falcons' leading receiver in this game.
Even better? Dean Pees' defense forced three turnovers on the game, and two of them were courtesy of Jaylinn Hawkins (a fumble recovered in the end zone and an interception) and Isaiah Oliver also picked off Mac Jones. Also, MyCole Pruitt caught a touchdown from Mariota on the opening drive.
For reference, Bijan Robinson was in his final season at Texas at the time, Zachariah Branch was a senior in high school, and Matt Ryan was in his final NFL season--though he was in Indianapolis at the time. That's how much has changed since then, so the Falcons have a long streak to break.
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