Falcons Clips
Azeez Ojulari is headed back to Georgia.
Ojulari has agreed to a one-year deal with the Falcons, according to a report from NFL Media.
Ojulari, 25, was born and raised in Georgia before playing his college ball at the University of Georgia. He spent last season with the Eagles, appearing in just three games before missing the rest of the season with a hamstring injury.
A Giants second-round pick in 2021, Ojulari has appeared in 49 career games with 32 starts over his five-year career. He’s tallied 22.0 career sacks with 22 tackles for loss and 38 quarterback hits.
The Falcons are adding depth to their defensive line rotation.
Former Bears defensive tackle Chris Williams is signing a one-year, $2 million contract with the Falcons, his agents told Adam Schefter.
Last year the 6-foot-2, 298-pound Williams played in 14 regular-season games for the Bears, and he was on the field for 24 percent of defensive snaps in those games.
Williams originally made it to the NFL with the Colts in 2020 as an undrafted rookie out of Wagner College. He spent three seasons with the Colts and then was briefly on the Chiefs and Browns before Cleveland traded him to Chicago in 2024. Now he’ll compete for playing time in Atlanta.
The Bears are signing veteran defensive end Kentavius Street, according to Jordan Schultz of The Schultz Report.
Street, who turns 30 in May, played under Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen in 2022 with the Saints.
He has spent parts of the past three seasons with the Falcons. In 2025, Street joined the Falcons on Nov. 14 and played seven games, totaling 21 tackles and two sacks.
Street entered the league as a fourth-round pick of the 49ers in 2018, and he has also spent time with the Eagles.
In his career, Street has recorded 125 tackles, 10.5 sacks, 17 quarterback hits, two passes defensed and a forced fumble.
Linebacker Kaden Elliss is heading back to the Big Easy.
According to multiple reports, Elliss has agreed to a three-year, $33 million contract with the Saints. Elliss began his NFL career with the team in 2019 and has spent the last three seasons with their NFC South rivals in Atlanta.
Elliss was a 2019 seventh-round pick in New Orleans and progressed from a special teamer to having a role on defense before leaving for the Falcons. He started every game for the last three seasons and compiled 380 tackles, 12.5 sacks, two interceptions, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery in that action.
The Saints will be hoping to see a similar impact on their defense once Elliss is able to officially sign with the team.
Plenty of veteran quarterbacks are and will be available. The Steelers are sitting at the window, waiting for quarterback Aaron Rodgers to come home.
But as they press a collective nose against the glass, they’re also reportedly “nosing around” the quarterback market.
Mike Garafolo used that term during a Monday appearance on NFL Network in explaining that the Steelers know they need to have a “contingency plan” in place, if Rodgers decides to play for someone else — or to not play at all.
Either way, the clock is ticking. And potential options will be disappearing.
Kirk Cousins. Geno Smith. Joe Flacco. Just to name a few. Will any of them wait to see what Rodgers will do?
The Steelers shouldn’t be waiting. All due respect to the future first-ballot Hall of Famer, but Rodgers is a long way from the guy who won four MVP awards.
Really, who else is pursuing him? Last year, Rodgers was the Plan B if Matthew Stafford left the Rams. That’s it.
This year, the Cardinals make sense, but for the fact that they can just go ahead and renovate the basement of the NFC West.
The Dolphins have found a new kicker.
Zane Gonzalez has agreed to a one-year deal with Miami, according to agent Mike McCartney.
Gonzalez, 30, spent the latter half of last season kicking for the Falcons. He connected on 19-of-22 field goals and 17-of-18 extra points in nine games.
Gonzalez started his pro career as a Browns seventh-round pick in 2017. He then kicked for the Cardinals for a couple of years before missing the 2022 season with a quad injury and the 2023 season with another injury.
After 2021, he again appeared in a regular season game with Washington in 2024.
The Dolphins released former kicker Jason Sanders earlier this month after he missed the 2025 season due to injury.
The Cardinals will be cutting quarterback Kyler Murray, who’ll be available to any other team. The Cardinals, meanwhile, will need an available quarterback.
They have Jacoby Brissett under contract for 2026, at a base package of $5.44 million. They agreed to terms on Monday with Gardner Minshew, on a one-year, $8 million deal. (More on that coming in a bit.)
Brissett is generally expected to be gone. Minshew surely isn’t expected to be the starter. So what will the Cardinals do?
The answer could be Kirk Cousins.
New coach Mike LaFleur comes from the McVay-Shanahan hive. And they love them some Kirk Cousins.
He will be cut on Wednesday. He will be available to any team. And as LaFleur tries to install his offense, he’ll want a quarterback who can run it.
It would be interesting to see Cousins in the same division as McVay and Shanahan, playing both of them twice per year.
Cousins needs a landing spot. He needs a place where he’ll be the starter. In Arizona, he would be.
Money will be an issue. Cousins has perfected the art of getting paid. He’ll command more than the $10 million the Falcons owe him for 2026.
Look around. Where else would he be QB1? While the Steelers would be wise to drop the Aaron Rodgers torch and pivot to Cousins, they apparently won’t. The Jets are a possibility, especially with Cousins emerging as a potential media presence.
Still, the Cardinals have a clear vacancy at the top of the depth chart. Cousins would be an obvious choice to fill it.
The February 7 arrest of Falcons defensive end James Pearce Jr. wasn’t his first interaction with law enforcement. It turned out to be the most recent.
Michael Rothstein and Marc Raimondi of ESPN posted on Monday afternoon a lengthy item listing at least seven 911 calls WNBA player Rickea Jackson had made in the months before Pearce allegedly rammed her car, repeatedly, before allegedly fleeing and eluding police and allegedly committing aggravated battery of a police officer.
The article, which was published in the early hours of free agency, largely went unnoticed.
Per the report, police records show that Pearce was told on January 13 to stay away from the home of a woman who was described as his ex-girlfriend. Officers were repeatedly sent to the home of Pearce’s “on-again, off-again” girlfriend in the preceding weeks; the name(s) of the individuals who had called authorities were redacted from the documents.
The ESPN article mentions other incidents from January 2026 and November 2025. The most recent visits by police happened on February 1 and February 2, days before Pearce traveled to San Francisco for the NFL Honors ceremony.
As one source with another team told PFT, the Falcons and Pearce could possibly face scrutiny, if the NFL believes any of the prior incidents required notification of the league office under the Personal Conduct Policy.
Pearce has been charged with multiple counts, including five felonies. Pearce has professed his innocence via a statement issued by his lawyers. The league is reviewing the February 7 incident. Pearce could eventually be placed on paid leave.
Former NFL tight end Hayden Hurst announced his retirement on Monday.
Hurst has not played in the NFL since 2024.
The Ravens made him a first-round pick in 2018, and he played two seasons in Baltimore before two seasons with the Falcons, one with the Bengals, one with the Panthers and one with the Chargers.
He appeared in 88 games, with 41 starts, in his career.
Hurst finished with 195 receptions for 1,902 yards and 15 touchdowns.
The Falcons have agreed to terms with linebacker Christian Harris, Cameron Wolfe of NFL Media reports.
The Texans made Harris a third-round pick in 2022, and he spent his first four seasons in Houston.
Harris appeared in 15 games last season but started only one game and played only 92 defensive snaps. He saw action on 173 special teams snaps.
Harris, 25, played most of the defensive snaps in his first two seasons. He missed most of the 2024 season with a lingering calf injury.
In his career, Harris has 206 tackles, four sacks, one interception, 13 passes defensed and two forced fumbles.
