The Falcons have put one of their best players under contract for 2027.
Per Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, Atlanta has exercised running back Bijan Robinson’s fifth-year option on Friday.
Robinson is projected to make $11.3 million in 2027 under the option.
This was an expected move, especially after Robinson led the league with 2,298 yards from scrimmage in 2025. He rushed for 1,478 yards with seven touchdowns and caught 79 passes for 820 yards with four TDs.
The No. 8 overall pick of the 2023 draft, Robinson has played every game for which he’s been eligible over the past three seasons. He’s registered 3,910 yards rushing with 25 touchdowns and caught 198 passes for 1,738 yards with nine touchdowns.
Falcons Clips
The Saints have meetings with a couple of wide receivers on the docket for Saturday.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Ted Hurst and Omar Cooper are both slated to visit with the NFC South team.
Hurst had 127 catches for 1,965 yards and 15 touchdowns at Georgia State the last two seasons. He transferred to the school after playing at Valdosta State and is meeting with the Falcons on Friday. Another local prospect, former Georgia defensive tackle Christen Miller, is also in Atlanta.
Hurst is not generally projected to go as early in the draft as Cooper, who starred at Indiana en route to last season’s national title. Cooper is meeting with the Commanders on Friday.
Falcons running back Bijan Robinson says he feels like he’s entering his physical prime, and he says offseason workouts with 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey are a big part of that.
“Now going on my fourth year, I want to be a leader of these guys,” Robinson said at the start of the Falcons’ offseason program.
“I’m pretty excited. How I feel, they talk about your prime years, this is the best I’ve felt my whole time being here.”
Robinson said he and McCaffrey work hard together but also are very mindful of not over-taxing their bodies and the importance of recovery to go along with the importance of working out.
“I was working in California with McCaffrey. That’s a cool deal. We put in work. We take care of our bodies. His regimen has been really good for me,” Robinson said.
Robinson’s production has increased in each of his first three NFL seasons, and he said constant improvement is the goal.
“Every year I’m just trying to be better than the last year in all aspects of my game,” Robinson said.
Robinson said he and new Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski have spent a lot of time going over the offense, and he said he’s excited by the changes Stefanski is making, while also crediting Stefanski for keeping running backs coach Michael Pitre, the only position coach Robinson has had in the NFL, on the Falcons’ staff.
“I’m super excited. We’ve been talking since he’s been here, going about the plan and what to expect. I’m super pumped to get out there,” Robinson said. “Looking at the plays and starting to study, it’s going to be explosive.”
Jessie Bates has spent the past three seasons in Atlanta after signing a four-year, $64.02 million deal as a free agent. The one-time Pro Bowl safety enters the final year of his contract hoping to finish his career with the Falcons.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Bates said, via Tori McElhaney of the team website. “I want to retire as a Falcon. I have a beautiful house here, a beautiful family. My family loves it here. Why would I not want to be a Falcon?”
Bates said the Falcons have not discussed a potential extension with him.
“I think every year is a one-year contract,” Bates said. “Things can change. People can get traded, get cut. That’s the mindset you’ve got to have when you’re talking about a one-year approach. Whether I had two years left on my deal or I had one, I would come in here and work like I only had one.”
Bates, 29, has started all 51 possible games the past three seasons and has totaled 332 tackles, 13 interceptions, 27 passes defensed and eight forced fumbles.
He wants to show he still can play at a Pro Bowl level as he approaches 30.
“I say every year you have something to prove,” Bates said. “Every single year you have to prove to whoever it is that you’re still this player, or this leader. Whatever it is, you want to go and prove to somebody that you’re still that guy.”
Toledo safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren appears headed to being a late first-round draft pick later this month.
McNeil-Warren has become a popular top-30 visitor.
He is currently visiting the Dolphins in Miami after recent visits with the Patriots, Browns, Cowboys and Falcons, according to Jordan Schultz of The Schultz Report. McNeil-Warren will head to Pittsburgh after finishing in Miami today.
McNeil-Warren earned second-team All-American honors last season when he totaled 77 tackles, three forced fumbles, two interceptions and seven passes defensed.
Dane Brugler of TheAthletic.com ranks McNeil-Warren as his 23rd-best player in the draft, third among safeties.
After Kaleb McGary announced his retirement, the Falcons have found a veteran candidate to slot in at right tackle.
Jawaan Taylor has agreed to a one-year deal with Atlanta, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
Schefter notes the deal is worth $5 million with another $1 million in incentives.
Taylor, 28, was released in March after three tumultuous seasons with the Chiefs. While he won Super Bowl LVIII with the club in 2023, he also amassed a whopping 54 penalties in his time with the club.
Taylor started all 17 games in 2023 before starting 16 in 2024 and 12 in 2025.
Taylor’s presence on the right side will be particularly important with lefty quarterbacks Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa atop the Falcons’ depth chart.
The Falcons are in the market for a new right tackle.
Kaleb McGary is retiring, his agent announced on Wednesday.
McGary, 31, was the No. 31 overall pick for the Falcons in 2019. He played 93 games with 92 starts for the club over six seasons before missing the entire 2025 campaign with a knee injury suffered during training camp.
McGary had signed a two-year extension with the Falcons in August of last year.
Elijah Wilkinson, who started at right tackle for Atlanta last season, has since signed with the Cardinals.
With lefty quarterbacks Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa atop the depth chart for Atlanta, the club’s right tackle position is that much more important.
Word earlier this week was that edge rusher James Pearce would not be at the Falcon’s voluntary workouts while facing multiple criminal charges and the team got to work without him on Tuesday.
Pearce is not on paid leave from the league and it is unclear when he might be back with the team. On Wednesday, head coach Kevin Stefanski said only that the Falcons are remaining in touch with the 2025 first-round pick.
“We’ve been in constant communication with his representation,” Stefanski said, via Marc Raimondi of ESPN.com.
The NFL has said that they are investigating Pearce’s situation. He is currently set for a court date in early May on four criminal charges stemming from a February incident with his ex-girlfriend.
While speaking to reporters from the league meetings in Arizona, Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski said that the team will hold a competition for the starting quarterback job once Michael Penix is healthy enough to get on the field but it is still unclear when that might be the case.
Stefanski said on Wednesday that a timetable for Penix to be fully cleared to return from a torn ACL has not taken shape yet, but, via Will McFadden of the team’s website, that Penix is “right where he needs to be” at this point in the calendar.
The Falcons signed Tua Tagovailoa last month and he will be the other option at quarterback in Atlanta heading into the season. It’s a new offense for both players and Tagovailoa’s availability for offseason work could leave him with a leg up in the race to wind up as the starter.
That outcome will be a significant one for the Falcons’ overall outlook in 2026 and questions for Stefanski about Penix’s fitness will be frequent until the quarterback is back in action.
Kirk Cousins had multiple reasons to sign with the Raiders. Some substantive, at least one superficial.
“Best jerseys in pro sports I think,” Cousins told the team’s website on Monday. “I remember being in warm-ups once playing the Raiders and our head coach looked at me and said, ‘Those have to be the best jerseys that they are in pro sports.’ And I said, ‘You know what Coach, I have to agree. Those are really sharp.’”
Cousins didn’t specify the team for which he was playing at the time. He has a 3-0 career record as a starter against the Raiders — one with each of his three prior teams.
In 2017, Cousins and Washington beat the Raiders, 27-10. In 2019, Cousins at the Vikings beat the Raiders, 34-14. In 2024, Cousins and the Falcons beat the Raiders, 15-9.
Despite getting the victory in Las Vegas on a Monday night in December 2024, Cousins was benched the next day for then-rookie Michael Penix Jr. Cousins didn’t play again that season.
Now, he’s on track to start for the Raiders in Week 1, unless the Raiders don’t make quarterback Fernando Mendoza the first pick in the 2026 draft and unless Mendoza wins the job right out of the games.
As to his observation about the silver and black jerseys (along with the rest of the uniform), it’s hard to argue. There’s a reason the Raiders’ look has resisted becoming Nikefied in the 14 years since the company took over the apparel deal from Reebok, when change for the sake of change swept through the league.
While the team has needed a fix that so far remains elusive, there’s nothing broken about the Raiders’ uniforms. They’re simple and classic. And they’ve never felt compelled to embrace numbers that look different from the standard football-jersey numbers that were once nearly universal in the NFL.
