4 takeaways from new Falcons GM Ian Cunningham’s free agency media session

New Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham spoke with media via videoconference Friday at the end of the first week of free agency.

He gave fans a few things to nibble on.

A sampling:

QB derby starts now

Newly signed quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is coming to the Falcons to compete with Michael Penix Jr. for the starting job. So said Cunningham.

“For Tua coming in here, he knows he’s coming in to compete, just like Michael knows that he’s coming in to compete,” Cunningham said.

Barring injury, Tagovailoa will have the advantage of being healthy during offseason workouts and the start of training camp as Penix recovers from his torn ACL. With that inside track, it’s conceivable that Tagovailoa could seize the starting job and never give Penix a chance to win it back.

It’s not necessarily likely. But it would seem clear that Penix won’t have anything handed to him.

And to think that it was only in January that owner Arthur Blank said, “I do think Michael is our franchise quarterback.”

Spending frugally

Cunningham framed the Falcons’ free agency signings as “looking to elevate our floor,” meaning the signees were added to strengthen the team’s depth as opposed to being leading playmakers. Another phrase he used was “looking for value across the fronts and throughout the roster.”

The direction was driven by the fact that there’s not a lot of room to operate.

Said Cunningham, “Quite frankly, just the limited cap space that we had, we had to be strategic with some of those moves.”

As of Friday, the Falcons were 22nd in salary cap space with $20.4 million, according to Spotrac.

Also by Spotrac’s accounting, the Falcons’ free agent contracts had a total value of $21.6 million as of Friday afternoon. In this free agency cycle, of the NFL’s other 31 teams, 27 had signed or re-signed a single player to a contract with more value than that.

Nearly all the Falcons’ free agent contracts through Friday were for one or two years at relatively modest amounts.

“That’s very important, giving guys a chance to come here, compete, play meaningful snaps to potentially help them in their career, but also most importantly, help us this season,” Cunningham said.

They are players such as edge rusher Azeez Ojulari, the former Georgia Bulldog and Marietta High grad who recorded eight sacks as a rookie with the New York Giants in 2021 but has been hampered by injury since; linebacker Channing Tindall, another former Bulldog who figures to be a core special-teams player; and wide receiver Jahan Dotson, a first-round pick in 2022 who caught 84 passes and started 26 games in his first two NFL seasons with Washington, but then was traded to Philadelphia and had a smaller role.

Dotson didn’t mind viewing himself as overlooked.

“I 100% believe in my talent and my ability to make plays in this football league,” he said Friday. “It’s just about getting an opportunity to do so.”

Number crunching

Cunningham hailed the role that the team’s analytics staff played, saying that he sought alignment on prospective targets from that group, along with the team’s scouts and coaches. He said the staff created models that put grades on free agents.

“Our analytics crew is awesome,” Cunningham said. “They helped with a lot of the decision-making.”

Analytics is something of a broad term, and the use of it is pervasive across sports, but Cunningham’s reliance upon it to this degree is interesting. If used effectively, it can obviously be an asset for the organization.

Saying something says a lot

Cunningham gave a brief but telling comment regarding edge rusher James Pearce Jr., whose legal situation has become increasingly troubling. Earlier this week, ESPN’s Marc Raimondi and Michael Rothstein reported that Pearce had been charged with three felonies — aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, fleeing and eluding police and resisting an officer with violence to his or her person — and a misdemeanor related to a Feb. 7 incident involving WNBA player and former girlfriend Rickea Jackson. ESPN previously reported that Jackson filed a petition for protection against Pearce, saying that she would fear for her life without the court’s intervention.

“Obviously, we’re aware of the most recent articles and things that have come out regarding James Pearce,” Cunningham said. “Those are concerning, to say the least.”