Atlanta Falcons rookie cornerback Cobee Bryant had a rough debut last Thursday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but he has a prime bounce-back opportunity ahead of him versus the Arizona Cardinals. Should he achieve that, it could have significant ramifications for decision-makers at the top of the Falcons organization.
While last week’s win over Tampa Bay was not Bryant’s first action of the season, it was his most extensive action to date. He was forced to fill in for injured starting cornerback
Mike Hughes, who has already been ruled out against the Cardinals.
Stepping into the role as a starter, Bryant was repeatedly targeted by Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield. According to PFF, Bryant allowed seven catches on nine targets for 134 yards, earning a 28.7 coverage and overall grade on 41 coverage snaps. However, my own charting of the game suggests that PFF was lowballing those numbers. Watching the film myself, Bryant allowed seven catches on 11 targets for 142 yards.
To put that in context, PFF has a coverage snaps-per-target metric that indicates how often a defender is targeted. Bryant’s 4 snaps per target is currently the lowest number of any cornerback that has played at least 50 coverage snaps this year. His fellow cornerbacks, Dee Alford and Mike Hughes, are not far behind him with 4.7 and 5.8 snaps per target. Alford ranks second among nickel cornerbacks and Hughes eighth among outside cornerbacks. All of this thanks to the presence of A.J. Terrell on one side of the field. Terrell is the fourth least targeted cornerback in the NFL, with 9.7 snaps per target.
Bryant’s confidence is his greatest asset
Yet despite being picked on by Mayfield, it didn’t affect Bryant’s supreme confidence. I was told by The Athletic’s Josh Kendall on a recent episode of Locked On Falcons that Bryant was seen chirping after that game with Bucs fans. That bravado made Bryant an instant fan favorite despite being an undrafted free agent for the Falcons this past spring.
He joined the team with high expectations, as the premier player from the team’s vaunted undrafted class. However, injuries during training camp derailed his hopes of making the team’s 53-man roster, with him instead landing on the Falcons’ initial practice squad. However, fellow rookie nickel Billy Bowman’s season-ending injury cleared the way for Bryant to be permanently promoted to the roster.
With Hughes’ current injury, it clears a path for Bryant to see extended action. The Falcons have experienced a revolving door at cornerback this season, with all three starters in and out of the lineup due to nagging injuries, prompting Alford, Keith Taylor, Natrone Brooks, and now Bryant to see action. The team still has veteran C.J. Henderson on the practice squad as another option should Bryant not take advantage of his current opportunity.
There are significant challenges ahead for Falcons’ cornerbacks
But it makes plenty of sense for the Falcons to let Bryant sink or swim this week against the Cardinals. Arizona wideout Marvin Harrison Jr. is on the mend, and his teammate Michael Wilson has been on a tear lately. However, neither seems as formidable as the weapons the Bucs were throwing at the Falcons’ secondary last week. Nor are they on par with what the Falcons could be facing next week on Monday Night Football against the Los Angeles Rams, should Davante Adams recover from his hamstring injury and rejoin the lineup with Puka Nacua, fresh off a 225-yard performance against the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday Night Football.
If Bryant can’t handle the Cardinals’ wide receivers, then the Falcons have every reason to see if Henderson can deal with the Rams’ duo next week. Or revert back to Hughes, should he be fully recovered from his ankle injury.
Bryant’s 2025 finish could impact job statuses
However, if Bryant thrives this weekend, it could be the exact confidence booster he’d need to face Adams and Nacua. Well, perhaps Bryant doesn’t quite need the boost to his confidence, since he possesses that already in spades. But it would give this coaching staff more confidence that he may be another young building block on a defense that has already shown plenty from the 2025 draft class, especially for Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot, who is on the hot seat after five consecutive losing seasons. The best case Fontenot can present to ownership to keep him around is based on the success of rookies Jalon Walker, James Pearce, Xavier Watts, and Billy Bowman.
Now that Bowman’s Achilles injury will certainly linger into 2026, it’s in Fontenot’s best interest to walk away with something at the cornerback position heading into next season. Bryant has a golden opportunity to prove to be another feather in Fontenot’s hat.
It’s the best selling point for the current regime to stick around. Previously, Fontenot and head coach Raheem Morris could hope that quarterback Michael Penix would finish the year strong as their best selling point to ownership. If Penix played well down the stretch, firing them could disrupt his development. However, once Penix went down for the year with a partial ACL tear, those specific hopes for redemption were dashed. Now, their status may depend on how well the defense finishes the season. Even though Kirk Cousins has played well in Penix’s stead, Cousins’ status in Atlanta beyond this year is murky at best.
That means that their initial pitch for stability at quarterback is a non-starter. Instead, defensive continuity should make up the bulk of their sales pitch to ownership to keep their jobs. With the revamped pass rush thriving in part due to Walker and Pearce, it’s now on the secondary to join the conversation.
Now, Bryant has a chance to insert himself into that conversation and let his play do more talking than he does towards opposing fans. But he won’t be able to do it simply with bravado and swagger. Instead, he’ll need to start backing it up on the field by making plays. That was something he did at a high level in college, intercepting 13 passes across his collegiate career. There were a couple of moments against the Bucs where you could see Bryant trying to jump some throws and nearly succeeding.
Now that he’s weathered that initial storm in Tampa, jump-starting his play-making ability could provide a considerable boost to the Falcons’ defense. With Terrell still lining up opposite him, Bryant will continue to be targeted a bunch. Bryant picking off passes and making opposing quarterbacks pay for that strategy could be a massive shift for this secondary. It will not only help the Falcons’ defense close out the season strong by winning games, but also save jobs.
