Falcons rookie stock report after eye-opening Week 1 loss vs. Steelers

The Atlanta Falcons thought they struck gold with their 2026 NFL Draft class since they have a group of players who made an instant impact in training camp. But this isn't the preseason anymore, we aren't playing backups. The regular season is here, and we're throwing these youngsters right in the deep end against some of the best this league has to offer.

The Falcons' rookie class got their first taste of NFL regular season action on Sunday afternoon, as the Dirty Birds headed to Acrisure Stadium to face the Pittsburgh Steelers. And while the matchup saw Atlanta lose 20-13 because of a brutal start from Cooper Rush, that's not all that matters.

The debut of the rookie class was another chance to evaluate their progress and see how Ian Cunningham's first six picks are going to age. The honeymoon phase is long in the rearview, and despite not having a first-round pick, the Falcons got impactful play from some of their later picks.

Here is where the Falcons' rookies (with the exception of Anterio Thompson, who was placed on the active/NFI list at the start of training camp), are looking with Week 1 in the books.

Atlanta Falcons rookie updates after the first week of the regular season

CB Avieon Terrell

Avieon Terrell was listed as the starting nickel on the initial Week 1 depth chart, but the reality was that he was splitting CB3 work with Sydney Brown: with Brown playing on traditional run downs while the rookie stepped in on passing downs. And that experiment fared pretty well for the defense.

Even though he didn't see the field a ton in his NFL debut, the second-round pick out of Clemson fared pretty well. He held Steelers rookie Germie Bernard catch-less in his own debut, while Roman Wilson didn't fare much better against his coverage. And he only allowed one catch for 10 yards.

According to Pro Football Focus, Terrell finished fifth on the team in both tackling grade (73.0) and coverage grade (68.1), so his debut has given reason for optimism.

Verdict: Stock slightly up

WR Zachariah Branch

With the 79th overall pick, the Dirty Birds selected Georgia wideout Zachariah Branch. Unfortunately, he's fourth in the WR pecking order behind Drake London, Jahan Dotson, and Olamide Zaccheus, and the loss didn't help him stand out among the pack--at least from a pass-catching perspective.

Since every Falcons pass-catcher not named Bijan Robinson had a quiet performance on Sunday, Branch put up a goose egg in the stat sheet. No catches. No receptions. Not even a target. You'd think they'd want to scheme up touches for him to make Rush's life a little easier, but nope. Zilch. Nada.

However, just because he didn't make an impact on offense didn't mean he was a non-factor. The 22-year-old is one of Atlanta's primary return men (mainly in the punt return game), but he also had a 66-yard kick return on his first NFL touch, but unfortunately it was wiped out by a holding penalty.

But he had three punt returns for 33 yards and another kick return for 30 yards--so not a bad day.

Verdict: Stock slightly up

LB Kendal Daniels

Of all the rookies the Atlanta Falcons drafted in April, Kendal Daniels had the most to prove in the opener. Not only was he named a starter on the initial depth chart, Christian Harris was a healthy scratch, so we saw a healthy dose of Daniels (roughly 67% snap share) next to Divine Deablo.

The fourth-round pick from Oklahoma was selected with the 134th overall pick knowing he's an athletic freak who Jeff Ulbrich would love, and we got to see why. The athleticism popped, he looked solid in coverage, and made a couple of nice plays, but he certainly didn't look like a finished product.

The tackling wasn't particularly clean, as he had two costly misses (so his 27.6 tackling grade from PFF was worst on the team), and the converted safety needs to process the game quicker, but all in all it wasn't a bad debut. The Falcons asked a lot of him, and I expect him to improve over time.

Verdict: Stock neutral

DT Anterio Thompson

We have no idea what is going on with Thompson, as he hasn't been activated and we have no clue when he'll return. He missed all of training camp and the opener, so this pick is looking like a miss until he gets healthy and we can evaluate him fully.

Verdict: Stock down

LB Harold Perkins Jr.

While he didn't see the field as much as Daniels did, sixth-round pick Harold Perkins Jr. rotated in a lot for a guy selected outside the top 200. He was the biggest benefactor of Harris' absence, as while he only played 33% of the snaps, he took advantage of all 24 snaps we saw him out there for.

Perkins' Week 1 grades (from Pro Football Focus):

• Overall grade: 71.3 (sixth on the team)
• Tackling grade: 73.2 (fourth on the team)
• Coverage grade: 75.1 (third on the team)

All offseason we've been talking about how much of a steal this guy looks like, and if he keeps on flying around the field the way he did, he'll keep pushing for more snaps in that tweener rolea.

Verdict: Stock up

OT Ethan Onianwa

Ethan Onianwa is more of a developmental tackle more than anything, so even though he wasn't a healthy scratch or anything, it's hard to be shcoked he didn't play a single snap in the loss. Not much has changed here.

Verdict: Stock neutral

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