The Falcons have not made heavy use of compensatory selections over the years. They’re tied for 15th in comp picks since 1995 with 22, per Over The Cap, but eight of those selections were earned in a two year stretch from 2013-2014. Otherwise, the Falcons have never had more than two in a single year, and have earned zero in the past six seasons and in nine of their past 11 seasons total; Terry Fontenot never used a comp pick.
With a new front office comes a chance to change that, and for at least
one year, the Falcons are tracking toward earning three compensatory picks for 2027. That would be the first time in franchise history they’ll have three, should that hold, and would allow Ian Cunningham to start stockpiling picks the way he very clearly wants to.
OTC is invaluable in forecasting this, and right now, they have Atlanta earning a fifth rounder (for Kaden Elliss), sixth rounder (Tyler Allgeier), and seventh rounder (Arnold Ebiketie). The signing of Jahan Dotson crossed out a potential sixth for David Onyemata and the addition of Nick Folk removed a seventh for Dee Alford, but it’s one of the three biggest comp picks hauls this franchise has ever lined up in a single year.
The Falcons won’t want to do this every year, because they’ll have free agents they don’t want to lose and larger splashes to pursue when they have the free agent dollars to do so. Cunningham’s last franchise, the Bears, did not have a single comp pick during his tenure as Chicago’s assistant general manager. But with the team looking to get more swings in the draft and with a tighter cap picture in 2026, lining up a few additional day three selections makes plenty of sense for this franchise, and I’m glad they’ve done so. If this projection holds, the Falcons will have nine picks in 2027—they traded a 7th next year for tackle Mike Jerrell, if you’ll recall—and a lot more flexibility to fill depth with affordable multi-year contracts, rather than relying on short-term pacts with veterans.
We don’t yet know what to expect from 2026, as the Falcons will be heavily reliant on affordable free agents, good coaching, and improvement from their existing stars and high-end starters. But we can see pretty clearly that 2027 will be a year where this new regime will have a lot more in the way of resources to work with, and that will make the next calendar year an intriguing one when we get there.
