Falcons: Multiple Pro Bowl pass rushers emerge for trade

The Falcons pass rush has been a weakness for two decades, but the hope is Terry Fontenot and Raheem Morris can put that to bed in 2025.

There’s not much of a foundation, with Arnold Ebiketie, Bralen Trice, Zach Harrison, and Ruke Orhorhoro as the young building blocks, joined by veterans in Grady Jarrett and David Onyemata, both of whom could be out of the picture in the next month or so.

The Falcons have a lot of work to do. Whether it’s through free agency or the draft, multiple bodies have to be brought into Atlanta, interior and on the edge. Thankfully, there’s a third avenue that can be used — the trade market — with two Pro Bowl pass rushers available to acquire.

Harold Landry and Jonathan Allen have been given permission to seek trades from their respective teams, per Adam Schefter. 

Allen missed nine games this past season with a torn left pectoral muscle, but in the previous six years, Allen only missed a total of three games. Still, he finished with three sacks, three tackles for loss and seven QB hits while only playing about half of last year.

The former first-round pick has generated 42.0 sacks, 118 QB hits and 60 tackles for loss over the past eight seasons from the interior defensive line. A trade for Allen would probably follow or proceed cutting David Onyemata. Allen has a $15.5 million base salary, which is less than Onyemata’s nearly $17 million cap hit in 2025.

If the Falcons believe Allen can give them more production than Onyemata, enough to part ways with draft capital, the Alabama product should be on their radar.

Landry led the Titans with nine sacks last season while starting all 17 games, adding 71 tackles, 18 pressures, and four pass deflections. The 28-year-old has 50.5 career sacks since joining the Titans as a second-round pick in 2018.

Landry is under contract for the 2025 and 2026 seasons with a base salary of $17.5 million. For a guy who has 19.5 sacks in the last two seasons, that’s the going rate. Depending on the asking price, he should also be on the Falcons radar.

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Photographer: Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire