While the question of whether the Bears will or won’t (they won’t) get a pair of third-round compensatory picks as a result of the hiring of former assistant General Manager Ian Cunningham by the Falcons as General Manager has been resolved, many still wonder why the provision rewarding teams for developing minority candidates for high-level promotions didn’t apply to Chicago.
On Monday, we asked Falcons president of football Matt Ryan if he understands why the Bears didn’t get the picks, given the clear impression that Ian Cunningham is the Atlanta G.M.
“He is the G.M.,” Ryan said. “He is the G.M. I’m learning — I mean you talk about things that are coming on your desk every day, management council things, different things like that, why they rule certain ways, why they don’t rule certain ways. I’m not experienced enough to give you a really credible answer on that at this point. I would say this, I think in every facet of the word, Ian’s a General Manager in this league.”
Obviously, it’s not Ryan’s call. It’s the league’s call. And it’s still not clear why the league called it the way they did.
Maybe, frankly, it was part of the apparent “no sudden moves” strategy aimed at avoiding the kind of assault on the Rooney Rule that Florida attorney general James Uthmeier started last week.
“The environment has changed,” as Steelers owner Art Rooney II said last week. Perhaps that changed environment has prompted the NFL to change its approach to granting the picks where a new General Manager has someone else between him and the owner in the football operation.
Kevin Stefanski went through a kind of offseason quarterback competition last year with the Browns.
Now head coach of the Falcons, Stefanski is preparing to have another one in 2026 — although this one will take a different shape.
With Michael Penix Jr. still recovering from a torn ACL, Tua Tagovailoa will take the bulk of the offseason reps at quarterback. But once Penix is healthy, the Falcons are expecting QB1 to be up for grabs.
“It will be a competition but I can’t tell you exactly what it will look like until Michael gets healthy,” Stefanski said at the annual league meeting on Monday, via Tori McElhaney of the team’s website. “But the quarterback position — like all of our other positions — will be a competition, yes.”
Stefanski also noted that Penix’s top goal for now is to focus on his rehab and get healthy.
“He’s in the building all the time and I’m excited for what that looks like when he’s healthy,” Stefanski said. “But we’re not going to rush him, and he’s not going to rush himself.
“There are obviously timelines when it comes to injuries, but we are all different. So, we want to see how he looks in a week, how he looks in a month,” Stefanski added, saying it wouldn’t be fair to say if he thinks Penix will be ready for the start of the season.
But either way, there will be competition.
“I think our plan was to always bring in competition across our roster,” Stefanski said. “It’s something Ian believes in, I believe in, Matt believes in. That only makes all of us better at every position.”
Kevin Stefanski hasn’t coached Tua Tagovailoa yet, but the Falcons head coach thinks he already has some common ground with the quarterback.
Stefanski was hired by the Falcons after being dismissed by the Browns at the end of the 2025 season and Tagovailoa signed a one-year deal with the team after being released by the Dolphins. Stefanski told Mike Garafolo of NFL Media that he feels a desire to show that the Browns made a mistake and that he believes Tagovailoa has the same motivation as he prepares for his first season in Atlanta.
“There’s something to be said when you’re fired,” Stefanski said. “I can attest to that. You want to prove people wrong. You have a chip on your shoulder. I think where I’m coming into this, where Tua’s coming into this is, listen, this is not exactly how you thought it would go, but guess what, that’s the reality, and how are we gonna respond? I think that’s what he’s made of. You look back his career, you look back at his college career, he’s responded.”
Michael Penix will have a say in whether Tagovailoa is on the field for the Falcons this fall, but he still needs to recover from last season’s torn ACL and that process should offer Tagovailoa space to show that he’s capable of running the offense at a higher level than he reached in Miami.
The Buccaneers hosted free agent linebacker DeAngelo Malone on a free agent visit on Thursday.
Malone, 26, spent his first four seasons with the Falcons after they made him a third-round pick in 2022.
He landed on injured reserve last season after injuring an ankle in Week 10 against the Colts. Malone ended up playing nine games, and he totaled eight tackles, an interception and a pass defensed.
Malone played all but two games in his first three seasons.
In his career, Malone has recorded 59 tackles, three sacks, an interception and a pass defensed.
The Falcons have signed free agent running back Tyler Goodson, the team announced Thursday.
Goodson is a native of Suwanee, Georgia, who attended North Gwinnett High School, so he is returning to his home state to continue his professional career. He will join a backfield that features Bijan Robinson.
The Packers signed Goodson as an undrafted free agent in 2022 after he gained more than 3,000 scrimmage yards during his three-year career at the University of Iowa. He spent his rookie season on the Packers’ practice squad before joining the Colts in 2023.
Goodson has appeared in 33 games for the Colts the past three seasons with one start. He has gained 376 yards from scrimmage, including 264 on the ground, and has scored two touchdowns.
In 2025, Goodson played 35 offensive snaps and 130 on special teams in 11 games. He had 11 touches for 32 yards.
