The Eagles are trading safety Sydney Brown to the Falcons for a swap of picks, according to multiple reports.
The teams swapped fourth- and sixth-round picks, with Philadelphia acquiring picks No. 114 and 197 and Atlanta receiving picks No. 122 and 215 in addition to Brown.
Brown is entering the final year of his contract with a $1.484 million base salary and a $1.829 million salary cap hit.
Brown, who turns 26 on Saturday, has played 42 games with nine starts in his three seasons. He has totaled 86 tackles, two interceptions, five passes defensed and two forced fumbles.
The Eagles made him a third-round pick in 2023.
In 2025, Brown played all 17 games with three starts, seeing action on 22 percent of the defensive snaps and 76 on special teams.
DeMarcco Hellams, who has played only 11 games the past three seasons due to injury, was the third safety for the Falcons before the trade.
Falcons Clips
The Dolphins are adding a punter.
Miami has agreed to terms with Bradley Pinion, according to a report from NFL Media.
Pinion, 31, spent the last four years with the Falcons. He averaged 45.1 yards per punt with a 40.6-yard net average in 2025 and 53.1 percent of his punts downed inside the 20-yard line.
Pinion has also served as a kickoff specialist, with his touchback rate at 24.4 percent in 2025.
A 49ers fifth-round pick in 2015, Pinion spent his first four seasons with San Francisco before heading to Tampa Bay in 2019. He then signed with the Falcons in the summer of 2022.
The Falcons have agreed to terms on a one-year deal, according to Jordan Schultz of The Schultz Report.
Holmes, 27, spent the past two seasons in Las Vegas.
He played 29 games but started only one for the Raiders, seeing action on 471 defensive snaps and 126 on special teams. Holmes totaled 49 tackles, a sack and three pass breakups in his time with the Raiders.
The Giants made Holmes a fourth-round pick in 2020.
He has appeared in 83 games with 12 starts in six NFL seasons, recording 164 tackles, four interceptions, 21 passes defended, two forced fumbles and 1.5 sacks.
Holmes has experience playing the nickel, providing the team with a backup plan if Billy Bowman Jr. doesn’t return from his Achilles injury before the start of the 2026 season.
Arizona has added a tight end.
The Cardinals announced on Wednesday that Teagan Quitoriano has signed with the team on a one-year contract.
Quitoriano, 26, was a Houston fifth-round pick in the 2022 draft, effectively spending his first three seasons with the club. He caught nine passes for 33 yards with two touchdowns with the Texans. He signed with the Falcons last March, appearing in 17 games with one start in 2025.
Teagan was mainly used as a special teams player, as he was on the field for 54 percent of the unit’s snaps last season. He played just 12 percent of offensive snaps.
Additionally, the Cardinals announced the previously reported signing of Devin Duvernay to a one-year deal.
The Falcons kicked off the offseason by installing a new group of decision-makers at the top of the franchise and they’ve spent the last week putting their stamp on the roster.
President of football Matt Ryan, General Manager Ian Cunningham and head coach Kevin Stefanski got the ball rolling by using a franchise tag on tight end Kyle Pitts and then moved on to signing players like quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, wide receiver Jahan Dotson, kicker Nick Folk, tight end Austin Hooper, punter Jake Bailey, edge rusher Samson Ebukam and others.
Cunningham said that the team went into the offseason “looking to elevate our floor” and he feels that they have succeeded in that effort.
“For the fans, I’m excited,” Cunningham said, via the team’s website. “We all are excited. We feel like we got better this week. Like I said, we’ve elevated our floor, but we’ve also got players that are coming in here ready to prove themselves, to showcase their ability and help our team for the now and in the future.”
The Falcons have not been to the playoffs since 2017 and Raheem Morris was the second straight head coach to pass through Atlanta without taking them to the postseason during his tenure. Stefanski’s chances to break that trend will be determined by how much higher he can get the ceiling in the coming months.
Cornerback Nahshon Wright’s play with the Bears during the 2025 season landed him a contract with the Jets and it earned him the most performance-based pay in the league for last year as well.
The NFL announced that Wright earned more than $1.44 million in performance-based pay. The bonus more than doubles Wright’s base salary for the season.
Wright signed with the Bears after being released by the Vikings last April. He was named to the Pro Bowl after recording 80 tackles, five interceptions, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries during the regular season.
The performance-based pay fund is part of the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement to compensate all players based on a formula encompassing their playing time and salary. It paid out more than $542 million for the 2025 season.
Browns safety Ronnie Hickman earned over $1.293 million for second place and tackle Elijah Wilkinson earned over $1.272 million for his work with the Falcons. Wilkinson has since signed with the Cardinals.
Panthers safety Nick Scott, former Commanders guard Chris Paul, Ravens guard Andrew Vorhees, Vikings defensive end Jalen Redmond, Steelers guard Mason McCormick, Chiefs defensive back Chamarri Conner, and Patriots safety Craig Woodson make up the rest of the top 10 recipients of performance-based pay for 2025.
The Giants are adding another target for second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart.
According to multiple reports, they have agreed to terms with wideout Darnell Mooney. It will be a one-year deal worth up to $10 million for the former Falcon.
Mooney was released by Atlanta earlier this week after spending the last two seasons with the team. Mooney had 64 catches for 992 yards and five touchdowns in 2024, but dropped to 32 for 443 yards and a touchdown during the 2025 season.
Mooney had 213 catches for 2,593 yards and 11 touchdowns for the Bears in his first five seasons.
The Giants have also added tight end Isaiah Likely and wide receiver Calvin Austin to go with a returning Malik Nabers, Darius Slayton, Isaiah Hodgins, and Theo Johnson.
The Falcons have agreed to terms with defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand on a one-year, $3 million deal, Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports.
Hand, 30, played for the Chargers last season. He started 13 games and saw action on 451 defensive snaps and 53 on special teams, totaling 29 tackles, 1.5 sacks, five quarterback hits and an interception.
He spent four weeks on injured reserve after injuring his groin in a Week 5 game.
Hand entered the NFL as a fourth-round pick of the Lions in 2018 and spent three-plus seasons in Detroit. He also spent time with the Titans and Dolphins.
In his career, Hand has totaled 131 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 14 quarterback hits, nine passes defensed and four forced fumbles.
Tua Tagovailoa is officially a Falcon.
Word that Tagovailoa planned to sign a one-year deal in Atlanta surfaced before he was officially released by the Dolphins earlier this week, but the team formally announced the move on Friday afternoon.
The Falcons will only be paying Tagovailoa the league minimum because the Dolphins remain on the hook for the rest of his $54 million guaranteed salary for the coming season. Tagovailoa started 76 games for Miami over the last six seasons, but was benched late last season after throwing a career-high 15 interceptions in 14 games.
Falcons General Manager Ian Cunningham said that Tagovailoa and Michael Penix will be competing for the team’s quarterback job once Penix is cleared to return from his torn ACL.
The Falcons haven’t officially signed quarterback Tua Tagovailoa yet, but they have a plan in mind for when he is formally added to the roster in Atlanta.
Tagovailoa will be joining Michael Penix Jr. on the depth chart and Penix is coming off of a torn ACL, which has joined his past performance in keeping the Falcons from naming him as the starter for the 2026 season. General Manager Ian Cunningham reiterated that on Friday when he told reporters that Tagovailoa is not resigned to any role as he starts his time with the team.
“For Tua coming in here, he knows he’s coming in here to compete, like Michael knows he is coming in to compete, everybody quite frankly, not just those two at the quarterback position,” Cunningham said, via the team’s website. “There are no starters right now.”
Cunningham said the Falcons spoke to Penix when they decided to pursue Tagovailoa because “you don’t want to blindside somebody,” but the team’s clear message that Penix won’t be handed the job made it inevitable that they’d be bringing in another starting option once they parted ways with Kirk Cousins. Now all that remains to be seen is which player winds up under center to start the 2026 season.
