Part of why the Atlanta Falcons fired Raheem Morris and Terry Fontenot is because meddling in mediocrity was not cutting it for Arthur Blank. He then turned around and hired Ian Cunningham and Kevin Stefanski to call the shots, which has the Falcons looking like a vastly better-run organization.
Under their new leadership, the Falcons have gotten off to a hot start this offseason, mainly in the opening wave of free agency. They made a bunch of low-risk value signings which offer some short-term excitement, but it remains to be seen about how much this changes Atlanta's 2026 prospects.
By the looks of it, it doesn't move the needle enough. In Pro Football Focus' Mason Cameron's post-free agency power rankings, he seemed pretty unfazed by the moves Atlanta, made placing them at 22nd despite praising the Tua Tagovailoa deal and choice to tag Kyle Pitts.
""Without much further cap flexibility, Atlanta was priced out of many of its own pending free agents... Various mid-level additions through free agency will fill roster spots but offer little in terms of proven production, limiting the franchise’s ceiling in year one under the new regime.""Mason Cameron
As much as I hate to say it, Cameron is dead-on. Even though the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers both spent relentlessly this offseason, the NFC South is still wide open, so if the Falcons truly valued the idea of competing under this new regime, they would have made more splash moves.
The Atlanta Falcons did not improve enough in 2026 despite being active in free agency
You can't say that the Falcons weren't active in free agency. They've signed several players, even if most of them were signed to cheap 1-2 year deals that offer Atlanta little long-term financial investment. But that is clearly the model with which Cunningham wants to build out a talented roster.
You have to commend Cunningham for sticking to his guns thinking that value signings and the hire of Stefanski will better an already-talented roster, but they easily could've done more. I understand his desire to stack up more picks, but even that isn't reason enough to let guys like Kaden Elliss leave.
I'll admit, I like the moves they made. Tagovailoa is a great cost-effective option at QB and I love the upside of players like Jahan Dotson, Christian Harris, and Sydney Brown. It didn't have to be flashy when they have to save money for some big extensions, but there are still a lot of holes on the roster.
However, the NFC South continues to get tougher and the Falcons are struggling to keep up in that arms race. If their intent is to just look at 2026 as a transition season by getting better across the board and re-evaluating QB next offseason this is fine, but there's no reason to punt on the season completely. This roster is talented enough to compete for a playoff spot.
The Falcons won eight games in each of the last two seasons and were not satisfied, so if you want to see instant results, get bold. And it's not a money thing either like Cameron said, as they easily could have opened up some cap space, but Cunningham doesn't want to mortgage the future for the now.
If your approach is to raise your floor after being a bottom-feeder for the better part of the last decade and mediocre for the last half-decade, something's missing. The Falcons haven't made the playoffs since Matt Ryan was a player, so despite the optimism, I'm not sure this streak ends in 2026.