The Falcons’ roster overseen by President of Football Matt Ryan this year is very different from the roster of teammates Ryan had when he last played for the Falcons, in 2021. But tight end Kyle Pitts remains with the team, and Pitts says Ryan is the same kind of leader now that he was then.
“He still talks the same,” Pitts said of Ryan. “He’s just in a different role. He’s still the same person. I feel like he’s wrapping me tighter under his wing, from a different perspective as a front office guy now. But he just has a different role. He’s still leading the team in some sort of way, but just not physically.”
Ryan, who was the Falcons’ starting quarterback from 2008 to 2021, was throwing passes to Pitts on the practice field during the Falcons’ recent Organized Team Activities. Pitts enjoyed that.
“It’s a nostalgic moment,” Pitts said. “It’s great having Matt out here and, you know, he can still spin it like he can still play. So, it’s it’s pretty cool to see.”
Ryan left the Falcons after Pitts’ rookie season, but Pitts said they’ve talked often over the last few years.
“I know him more personally rather than some of these younger guys and rookies,” Pitts said. “I got a chance to play with him. But it’s it’s cool to see and and have him around the building.”
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They have to install playing surfaces that meet exacting standards. They have to change the names of the facilities. They have to shut down all other business (such as major concerts) for the duration of the World Cup.
Given the hoops through which the 11 NFL stadiums will have to jump in order to placate FIFA, it’s fair to ask whether it’s worth it.
Ben Volin of the Boston Globe recently took a look at that question. Said an NFL official from a team that won’t be hosting any of the World Cup games, “I know more than a few teams weren’t disappointed to lose the bid.”
That could be sour grapes, because those who won the right to host the matches are crowing about it.
“Can’t sleep,” Cowboys owner and G.M. Jerry Jones said recently, per Volin. “This is a great chance to associate with the worldwide love with soccer, and lets us put a little notch on our belt and share it with what soccer’s about, too. They’ll never be able to take away that we held those games in that stadium.”
Cowboys executive Stephen Jones echoed the sentiment: “We’ll be shut down all summer. But it’s worth it. I mean, this is about brand and, you know, being a part of something special.”
The Joneses wanted to host the matches badly enough to give up their suite for the matches.
“I think I’ve got to go someplace else, but that was a part of it,” Jerry Jones said. “We did a lot of things to make this work.”
The Cowboys, Patriots, Falcons, Texans, Chargers/Rams, Giants/Jets, Chiefs, Seahawks, 49ers, Dolphins, and Eagles will be hosting World Cup games in their stadiums.
The total revenue is projected, per Volin, to be roughly $11 billion. FIFA will pay rent for the stadiums, while keeping the revenue from sponsorships, tickets, suites, merchandise, concessions, and parking.
So how much will the teams get for hosting the World Cup? Per Volin, the terms “have been kept under wraps.”
Given that folks like Jones are not known for doing bad deals, they’ll surely be making more money to host the World Cup matches than they would have made in a normal summer.
Still, it’s a headache. Extra work, extra expenses, extra hassles.
Not to mention the P.R. bruise that comes from the perception/reality that NFL owners who are giving FIFA the surfaces it demands while stubbornly refusing to do the same for pro football players.
The hiring of Seahawks assistant G.M. Nolan Teasley as the Vikings’ new G.M. will carry a specific benefit for his former team.
Per the league, Teasley qualifies as a diverse candidate under the NFL provision that gives the former team of a newly-hired G.M. or head coach a pair of third-round compensatory draft picks.
The only question is whether Teasley will be Minnesota’s “primary football executive.” That requirement prevented the Bears from receiving the compensatory draft picks when assistant General Manager Ian Cunningham was hired to be the Falcons G.M. The league decided that president of football Matt Ryan is the “primary football executive” in Atlanta.
The Bears appealed the decision to the league, and Bears fans continue to be mystified by the outcome — especially since Ryan has made it clear that Cunningham is a General Manager “in every facet of the word.”
Minnesota has no similar position to Ryan’s job with the Falcons. The only alternative to Teasley would be coach Kevin O’Connell. But there has been no indication that, moving forward, O’Connell will emerge as the top football executive for the Vikings, with full control over the roster and the draft.
The NFL’s full collection of diversity of initiatives have recently come under attack by Florida’s attorney general. The Seahawks getting two extra third-round draft picks undoubtedly will spark a reaction from those who, in the current climate, attack efforts aimed at enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The Jets are signing kicker Younghoe Koo, Connor Hughes of SNYtv reports.
Koo recently participated in the Saints’ rookie minicamp, but New Orleans did not sign him.
He played for both the Falcons and the Giants in 2025, going 6-of-9 on field goals and 13-of-14 on extra points.
The Falcons released Koo after he missed a game-tying field goal at the end of a Week 1 loss to the Buccaneers. He then appeared in five games with the Giants later in the season.
The 2020 Pro Bowler, who spent seven seasons with the Falcons, is 185-of-217 on field goals and 186-of-194 on extra points for his career.
The Jets already have Cade York and Lenny Krieg on their roster at the position.
Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is still on the mend from a torn ACL. But he’s making progress and will be participating in some aspects of OTAs.
But Atlanta head coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters on Wednesday that the signal-caller is not completely medically cleared for team drills quite yet.
Via Will McFadden of the team’s website, Stefanski said Penix will continue to do individual drills and 7-on-7 work. But until it’s “appropriate” in his recovery timeline, Penix will not do 11-on-11.
Stefanski added, via Marc Raimondi of ESPN, that Penix is “doing outstanding.”
“He’s not 100 percent, but he’s exactly where he needs to be,” Stefanski said, noting that he’s not going to put an exact percentage on Penix’s recovery.
Once Penix is ready, he’s set to compete with Tua Tagovailoa to be Atlanta’s QB1.
Falcons edge rusher James Pearce Jr. has accepted a fast-track, pre-trial intervention program, his attorney, Yale Sanford, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday.
At the request of the state of Florida, the program has been extended from the originally announced six months to one year. If Pearce completes the program, all charges against him stemming from a February incident with his ex-girlfriend will be dropped.
WNBA player Rickea Jackson, Pearce’s ex-girlfriend, also dismissed her attempt to obtain a permanent restraining order against him. Pearce, though, is still required to stay away from Jackson for the next 12 months until his case is closed.
Pearce was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, fleeing and eluding police and resisting an officer with violence, as well as a misdemeanor count of stalking.
The NFL has not announced the conclusion of a review it was conducting for possible discipline under the Personal Conduct Policy.
The Falcons made Pearce a first-round pick in 2025, and he led the team with 10.5 sacks and set a team rookie record with 45 quarterback pressures.
Falcons quarterback Michael Penix isn’t a full participant in the team’s OTA practices this week, but his recovery from a torn ACL has gone well enough for him to take part in 7-on-7 work at this point in the offseason.
Penix said on Tuesday that he “feels like himself” on the field and that his goal has “always been” to be ready for the team’s season opener in September. Once Penix is cleared for full football activities, Penix will have to beat out Tua Tagovailoa to start against the Steelers in Pittsburgh.
That competition has miles to go and Penix said his focus will be on his road rather than on anything Tagovailoa is doing.
“I’m running my own race,” Penix said, via the team’s website. “I can’t look into another lane. But at the same time, we are working together. That’s what its all about. Working together and working with each other to finish the race.”
It will be hard to get a clear read on where things stand in the Falcons’ competition until Penix is back to full speed and the decision will be the first major one that Kevin Stefanski makes as the head coach in Atlanta.
The Falcons moved into the OTA phase of their offseason workouts this week and that allows them to start doing 11-on-11 work during practice sessions.
Such work will be a significant part of their quarterback decision heading into the fall, but Michael Penix is not quite ready for that step yet. Head coach Kevin Stefanski said at a Tuesday press conference that Penix remains limited to individual and 7-on-7 work as he continues to recover from a torn ACL.
Stefanski also looked ahead to how the competition with Tua Tagovailoa will unfold once Penix is ready to do everything on the practice field.
“Very intentionally,” Stefanski said. “I think it’s our job — I think [offensive coordinator] Tommy Rees does an outstanding job of making sure that we’re intentional about how we want this to operate. One guy will be up first one period and then switch with the next period and rotate every single day and really almost every drill because the truth is we’re trying to get the best version of all of our players, so we want to mix and match guys in different spots.”
It’s unclear if Penix will move up to full team drills when the Falcons will have their mandatory minicamp next month. If he doesn’t, training camp will be the time when the bulk of the head-to-head competition takes place in Atlanta.
One of the most memorable games in Monday Night Football History took place in Week Three of the 2006 season, when the Saints beat the Falcons in their return to New Orleans for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. Twenty years later, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wanted a Falcons-Saints Monday night game in New Orleans on the 2026 schedule.
NFL VP of broadcasting planning Mike North says the 2026 schedule has a Week Four Monday night game between the Falcons and Saints at the Superdome because Goodell himself requested that it happen around the time of the 20th anniversary.
“It’s really to the Commissioner’s credit, it was, ‘We’re gonna play Falcons at Saints on Monday night this year, fit it in in that kind of three-week window.’ So, it wasn’t a requirement it had to land in a special week, but it was a requirement, straight from the boss, that it landed on our schedule,” North said.
Some in New Orleans wanted the 2026 game played in Week Three, as the 2006 game was, but North said playing the game in Week Four proved to be a better fit for the NFL’s overall schedule.
“Relative to the exact date of the anniversary, honestly, we figured if we were within a couple of weeks, we were in good shape,” North said. “Fans remember that moment, the electricity, the excitement. If we were a week early, or closer to the day, or a week later, weren’t gonna throw away our best schedule just by being off a couple days. Plus, as you know, there’s a lot of events going on in that region. I don’t have the stadium availability off the top of my head, but relative to the Dome itself, the arena across the street, there’s concerts, there’s basketball games, there’s other things going on at times. It wasn’t a, ‘This game has to be in this week.’”
The 2006 game, remembered most for Steve Gleason’s blocked punt that was recovered by Curtis Deloatch for the Saints’ first touchdown, was a classic. The 2026 game will be an opportunity for New Orleans to celebrate that great moment in Saints history.
NFL Network lost its schedule-release show. It’s nevertheless gaining a late-season Saturday doubleheader.
In Week 16, on the day after Christmas, NFLN will televise a game at 4:30 p.m. ET and 8:00 p.m. ET.
The schedule identifies four potential games for the two slots: Buccaneers-Falcons, Bengals-Colts, Commanders-Vikings, and Panthers Steelers.
The decision as to which games will slide from Sunday to Saturday will be made during the season.
Coupled with a Thursday night game and three Christmas Day games, Week 16 will have 10 total windows — one more than Thanksgiving week. That leaves only eight games to be played on the Saturday afternoon windows.
