Atlanta Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham has developed a pretty stellar track record in trades in his first offseason at the helm. Between Sydney Brown and Maason Smith, two of the three offseason he's made have aged well, while the Wanya Morris deal is looking like a different story.
In a surprise twist during final roster cuts, the Falcons released Morris despite acquiring him months earlier from the Kansas City Chiefs. Based on that alone, that makes it incredibly easy to label this deal Cunningham's first true miss of the offseason, but even that would be stretching this a little bit.
This trade is the closest thing you get to a miss, but isn't one. A failed trade denotes a player that a franchise gave up major assets for or was expected to play a key role for said team, but none of that is true for the plans the Falcons had for a guy who shares a name with the lead singer of Boyz II Men.
Ian Cunningham did not make a mistake trading for OT Wanya Morris
For starters, all Atlanta gave up to get the 25-year-old was a Day 3 pick swap. They sent a 2027 sixth-rounder to Kansas City in exchange for Morris and a 2027 seventh-rounder. That's not exactly major assets, especially when that's typically the price to pay for a player set to compete for a roster spot--and it was a pick swap compared to a no-strings attached deal.
Besides. Wanya Morris had the inside track to make this roster as the left tackle before an injury sidelined him for a good chunk of training camp. And by the time he came back. both Michael Jerrell and Ethan Onianwa had strengthened their grips on the Dirty Birds' respective backup tackle jobs.
At the time, they only made this deal as insurance because Jawaan Taylor was hurt while Storm Norton was ruled out for the season again. But Jerrell and Onianwa stepped up, and the price of a 2026 sixth-round pick is nothing to freak out about. It's not like this is Brown or Smith getting cut.
Here's the other thing we need to think about: the Falcons are going to recoup the pick they lost As it stands currently, Atlanta is expected to land a couple of late-round compensatory picks that will make up for this lost pick--and Cunningham made this deal knowing he'd likely get that pick back.
Currently, the Falcons are projected to pick up three comp picks: a fifth-round pick from Kaden Elliss' departure, a sixth-round pick for losing Tyler Allgeier, and a seventh-rounder for losing Arnold Ebiketie --while the David Onyemata loss was offset by the signing of Jahan Dotson.
Between the comp pick formula Ian Cunningham has taken advantage of and the other tackles who have stepped up for the Atlanta Falcons, Wanya Morris' release doesn't mean much given this was always going to be a relatively inconsequential trade--which is why he's now on Dallas' practice squad and not another active roster.
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