FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons front office has addressed the tampering penalties assessed to the team by the NFL after the signing of quarterback Kirk Cousins.

Falcons assistant general manager Kyle Smith spoke with reporters Sunday morning, a month and a half after Atlanta lost a 2025 fifth-round pick and paid a $250,000 fine for tampering with Cousins, receiver Darnell Mooney and tight end Charlie Woerner in free agency.

“You open your doors to the deal and the process,” Smith said. “Like anything, whether it’s involving us or another team, you always look at all those deals and you look at your process from within and things you have to do to adjust and move forward. So, we’ll move forward.”

Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot was additionally fined $50,000 for his role in the violation.

After a thorough, three-month-long process, the NFL found Atlanta broke the league’s rules regarding logistical and administrative contact, such as making travel plans after deals were agreed upon.

Conversely, the league didn’t find the Falcons made contact with players before the legal negotiating window opened. From the start of the process to the end, Atlanta stressed it cooperated fully with the NFL’s investigation.

Smith said the Falcons are using the penalties as a learning opportunity.

“I won’t go too far into the weeds as to what happened in the investigation,” Smith said. “But whenever that ruling comes for us, or it could be for another team, you always look at the processes of those things, and you adjust and adapt in terms of what you’re going to do moving forward, which we will do.”

Falcons owner Arthur Blank will speak with reporters Tuesday and general manager Terry Fontenot will take the podium Wednesday, marking the first time each are available following the league’s decision.

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Multiple flash floods have been issued in and around metro Atlanta Sunday night.

Warnings were issued for Barrow, Clarke, Oconee and Walton counties until 10:45 p.m., Meriwether County until 11:15 p.m., Coweta County until 11:30 p.m., and Clayton, Fayette and Fulton counties until 2:45 a.m. Monday.

Downed power lines closed SR 15 at Elder Mill Road near Athens and flooding closed SR 109 at McLaughlin Road in Meriwether County, according to the Gergia Department of Transportation.

The weather also sent the Atlanta Open off on a wet note. The rain postponed play until at least 10:30 p.m.

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The Atlanta Falcons are almost midway through training camp. While there are plenty of stories on the offensive side of the football, some defenders deserve to be talked about as well. 

All-Pro caliber safety Jessie Bates III is genuinely motivated to take the Falcons defense to another level. He told reporters at training camp that it’s the unit’s goal to be top 5 in every category.

But he cannot do this alone. It will take some other players reaching their potential in new defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake’s defense to make that possible. One of those possible players is a newcomer to the team’s defense – James Smith-Williams.

Like Bates last season, Smith-Williams is in his first training camp with the Falcons after signing as a free agent.

Through the first four days of camp, Smith-Williams has received a ‘good’ number of reps at the outside backer position. The question for some is, can the fifth-year player earn a starting bid on defense this season?

After four seasons with the Washington Commanders, the 6-foot-4, 265-pound linebacker has played 1,412 defensive snaps since being drafted in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL Draft out of NC State. As a player who has put up 47 quarterback pressures in the past two seasons, he has proven he can get after the quarterback and be a solid run defender.

What separates Smith-Williams from other players is his above-average competitive toughness. He is always seen making the extra effort to make a football play, as seen above. For Atlanta, this could propel him into one of the starting outside linebacker spots opposite Lorenzo Carter. 

Since his college days, Smith-Williams has always been a high-energy, good football I.Q., and hard-nosed football player.

“Obviously, I’m a very intelligent player. Play recognition and play diagnosis are a big part of my game. But also, I’m a guy who plays very violently. I have great hand strength and strike. That’s kind of what I enjoy most about the game: the physical part. Going pad to pad with another human being is very fun. I’m tremendously athletic and a high-energy guy,” Smith-Williams said during his draft process in 2020.

As someone who sat behind two-time Miami Dolphins Pro Bowler Bradley Chubb as a member of the Wolfpack in college, he knows a thing or two about stepping up when his number is called. For Atlanta fans, it is worth eyeing his activity in training camp not just now but presumably when the pads go on this week.

That’s when his push to be a starter this fall really begins.