All offseason long, the Atlanta Falcons have preached the art of competition all across their roster. Kevin Stefanski has sent the message that if a player wants a roster spot or a meaningful role on this football team, they're going to have to earn it--which is a big change from previous Falcons coaches.
One of the more intriguing position battles Atlanta has embarked on is very under-the-radar. If you're not paying attention you might miss it. We know Bijan Robinson will be the RB1 and Brian Robinson Jr. will be the RB2, but Nate Carter, Tyler Goodson, and Cash Jones are competing for the RB3 role.
However, none of them have really done much to separate themselves from the pack. Carter and Goodson have had some good moments, but not enough to stop this coaching staff from adding another challenger to this competition, as the Falcons reportedly signed Georgia native Trey Sermon to add to the RB battle.
The Trey Sermon signing set the Falcons' RB3 competition ablaze
The 27-year-old has been around the block as a journeyman. Across five NFL seasons, he's played for the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, and was Goodson's teammate with the Indianapolis Colts for two seasons, but Trey Sermon spent 2025 as a backup RB with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
He was a 2021 third-round pick of the 49ers out of Ohio State, but was buried behind Raheem Mostert and Elijah Mitchell on their depth chart. Sermon never got a true shot to get touches in San Francisco, but in recent seasons he's cemented himself as a quality third RB on a team's depth chart.
The one thing that Sermon will offer the Dirty Birds is another option in the return game. With the Colts in 2024, he averaged 23 yards per kick return, but he averaged 25.5 yards per kick return with Pittsburgh in last season, so he'll offer special teams value, but Zachariah Branch is likey going to be the primary return man.
But let's dive into how this will affect the running back competition. Unless the Falcons want to roster four running backs, they're going to have to make a decision. Carter has the benefit of experience, but this new regime willingly brought in Jones, Goodson, and Sermon as free agents this offseason.
Nate the Great was solid in his limited action last year and like Goodson, and Sermon, also offers special teams value-- so this will likely come down to who performs best in the preseason. Unfortunately, the Cash Jones experiment hasn't gone according to plan after he was moved to slot receiver and then back to running back, and is the least established runner of the four.
Instead of three running backs in the mix in the Falcons' RB3 battle, there's now four, so the Trey Sermon signing is definitely going to spark some late-summer chaos as a new challenger for the job. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.
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