In his opening presser, new Atlanta Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham made it clear that his philosophy could not be more different from Terry Fontenot's. Under new leadership, the Falcons' new goal is to stockpile as many draft picks as possible since draft capital is king in the modern NFL.
Unfortunately, his attempts to take the lessons of Ozzie Newsome and Howie Roseman to Atlanta has one slight (massive) hitch: the Falcons are devoid of 2026 draft picks. They have just five picks and no first-round selection because of the James Pearce Jr. trade, so this will be a major uphill battle.
In Cunningham's first draft with the Chicago Bears, they entered with just five picks and came away having selected 10 players. Falcons fans should expect that same philosophy, but if they want to add more capital they're going to be moving down the draft board: and potentially parting with players.
Before that aforementioned opening draft, the Bears traded Khalil Mack to the Chargers to recoup some extra draft capital, and thats what the Dirty BIrds should do. And for as much as we love him, star safety Jessie Bates III is the most likely candidate to receive the Mack treatment this offseason.
Ian Cunningham could look to trade Jessie Bates III to the 49ers this offseason
If Bates were to be dealt this offseason, one destination makes the most sense: the San Francisco 49ers. Kyle Shanahan and the Niners just hired ex-Falcons head coach Raheem Morris to be their new DC, and he'll definitely be looking to bring some Falcons with him to the Bay Area.
The 49ers surrendered the eighth-most passing yards per game in 2025, and that was in large part because their secondary dearly missed Talanoa Hufanga patrolling the back-end. The 49-year-old needs a center fielder, so who better than the guy he spent the last two seasons coaching in Atlanta?
The All-Pro is on the decline and Xavier Watts will be one of the NFL's top safeties sooner rather than later, and safety is a pretty easy position to find talent at. That means the Falcons would actually be better suited to cut ties while they can and roll the dice on attempting to replace him in the draft.
Bates is also on an expiring deal, so his contract will be pretty easy to move. He comes with a $13.02 million base salary and a $24.77 million cap hit, but they can save $6.25 million in cap space if that money is converted to a signing bonus, which seems likely.
Shanahan is going to give Morris the free will to run his defense as he sees fit, and that means a reunion with his star safety is in the cards.