Photo by Blervis, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsCunningham Just Cooked the NFC South Without a First-Round Pick
Two days ago I was 70% sure the Falcons were behind the division. I'm eating that take with hot sauce. The draft class Cunningham just assembled without a first-rounder should terrify New Orleans, Tampa, and Carolina.
Two days ago I said the Falcons were behind the NFC South. That Cunningham was running drills while the division ran laps.
I'm eating that take. Publicly. With hot sauce.
I'm 85% sure the Falcons just won this draft without ever hearing their name called in Round 1. And the NFC South should be terrified.
Let me walk through the receipts.
Avieon Terrell at 48. Clemson corner. Joins his brother A.J. to form the first sibling CB tandem in franchise history. Put them on the outside with Jessie Bates over the top and tell me which NFC South quarterback wants to test that secondary. Tyler Shough enters Year 2 as the starter — good luck testing this secondary as a sophomore. Baker Mayfield watched Tampa's secondary get worse this offseason, not better. Bryce Young is still Bryce Young.
Zachariah Branch at 79. Georgia kid. Ran a 4.35 forty. Elite run-after-catch ability. Stefanski needed a weapon who creates after the catch, and he got one in the third round.
But here's the pick that separates Cunningham from the rest. He traded back from 122 to 134 and turned one pick into two. Patient. Surgical. Gained Anterio Thompson — a 9.36 RAS freak athlete at defensive tackle — for free. That's the kind of move that builds depth while everyone else spends capital.
Harold Perkins Jr. in the sixth round is borderline theft. Seventeen career sacks at LSU. Pre-injury? First-round projection. The ACL recovery is the only reason he fell to 215. If he's 80% of what he was, the Falcons just got a starting-caliber pass rusher for a seventh-round price.
CBS gave Day 2 an A+. PFF was stingier at C+. The overall grades ranged from B to B+. I don't care about the consensus. I care about the division math.
New Orleans is rebuilding around Tyler Shough. Year 2 starter, second-rounder. Their defense just lost key pieces. Tampa lost contributors and is banking on Mayfield keeping the magic going at 31. Carolina has Bryce Young and hope. Hope is not a scheme.
Two days ago I said prove me wrong at 48. Cunningham didn't just prove me wrong at 48. He proved me wrong at 79, 134, 208, and 215.
I was 70% sure the Falcons were behind the division. I'm flipping that. I'm 85% sure they win the NFC South. The secondary is the best in the division. The pass rush just got a lottery ticket in Perkins. And Cunningham played the draft like a guy holding pocket aces — never panicked, never reached, just kept extracting value.
Bookmark this. The NFC South isn't ready.
Tell me I'm wrong.
The Tilt
The Falcons won the 2026 NFL Draft from the cheap seats and the rest of the NFC South is not ready for what's coming.
— Dex Ponce
What's your take?
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