ESPN Slams Atlanta Falcons Free Agency Class in Latest Rankings

The biggest moves in NFL free agency have already been made, but the Atlanta Falcons were forced to watch from the sidelines with very-little salary cap space for the 2025 cycle.

They addressed some needs with linebacker Divine Deablo, edge rusher Leonard Floyd, and safety Jordan Fuller. However, ESPN’s Ben Solak was critical of the Falcons ability to sign players as well as who they signed.

Solak recently ranked all-32 NFL teams and their 2025 free agency classes on ESPN+, and he has the Falcons dead last at No. 32. He listed what he loved and didn’t love from each class. Atlanta entered free agency ranked between 30 and 31 in available-cap space according to Spotrac, and that helped shape the narrative for Solak.

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It was all downhill from there.

“Pretty much nothing,” Solak wrote about what he loved in the Falcons’ class

What he didn’t love? “Pretty much everything.”

Ouch.

Solak immediately took the Falcons to task for poor salary cap management before digging into the players Atlanta signed.

“The Falcons walked into this cycle with a preposterously little amount of cap space for a team that hasn’t appeared in the playoffs for the past seven seasons,” wrote Solak. “But what they spent on doesn’t move the needle.”

The Atlanta Falcons are doing a good job of turning quarterback Kirk Cousins into the bad guy, but they’re the ones who signed him to a two-year guaranteed contract. Cousins’s money was always going to be part of 2025. That he’s not the starter has nothing to do with his cap hit, whether they trade him or not (a trade helps the 2026 cap).

Questions about why this team parlayed themselves into such a poor position are valid.

However, Solak may have let his disdain for Atlanta’s cap management bias his thoughts on the players they signed.

“Floyd is a Raheem Morris retread and lacks the pass-rush juice to save an anemic front four in Atlanta,” wrote Solak. “Morgan Fox was once a handy player, but is a few years beyond his prime. Deablo probably will not break the starting lineup behind Troy Andersen and Kaden Elliss. Fuller, another Morris retread, will have the same athletic limitations Justin Simmons did in 2024.”

I feel salary cap management is a different category than scouting and signing. The Falcons did a poor job of allocating their resources last year and flushed up to $100 million down the drain on Cousins.

Given how poorly the Falcons played under previous defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake, upgrading the play at specific positions shouldn’t be overly difficult. Is Justin Simmons a better player than Jordan Fuller? Probably, but he didn’t very well last year.

Getting better play out of the safety spot from Fuller than Simmons in 2025 under new defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich isn’t a leap of faith, it’s almost a certainty.

Edge rusher? The Falcons sent a third-round pick to the Patriots for Matthew Judon to watch him chase running backs on wheel routes into the secondary. Is Leonard Floyd better than Judon? That one is up for debate, but Judon was poor for the Falcons. Floyd will play better at edge than Judon did.

With a one-year, $10-million deal when premier pass rushers are making $30-million-plus, Floyd isn’t being asked to save an anemic front four. He’s being counted on to improve it.

As far as Deablo sitting behind Troy Andersen – Andersen has started six games in the last two seasons. Simply being healthy gives Deablo a leg up on Andersen. If Andersen is healthy, Ulbrich has one of the most athletic linebacker rooms in the NFL and gives Elliss the license to free lance on the pass rush more often.

The Falcons may have had the worst free agent group in the NFL, but it’s easy to see how the players Atlanta signed this month can help the team in 2025 without burdening them financially beyond this season.