Falcons claim Abdullah, Ivey, and Williams: the 53 already looks different

Sunday's initial 53 lasted about 20 hours. Monday, Ian Cunningham claimed three players off waivers, cut a 2023 third-rounder to make room, then flipped JD Bertrand for Josh Woods before dinner.

The Pittsburgh 53 is still 12 days away. This is the version they actually wanted once the rest of the league dumped its camp leftovers.

Who they claimed, and who paid for it

Yasir Abdullah (Jaguars, 2023 fifth round), Jared Ivey (Seahawks UDFA out of Ole Miss / Georgia Tech / North Gwinnett), and Cameron Williams (Eagles, 2025 sixth round) are on the 53. The corresponding cuts: Jammie Robinson, Natrone Brooks, and Zach Harrison.

Harrison is the one that stings. Forty games, 8.5 sacks, a Swiss-army interior/edge piece from the 2023 third round. The Falcons needed bodies for the front after Jalon Walker's ACL and James Pearce Jr.'s eight-game suspension, then turned around and waived the guy who had actually been here. Official copy called it developmental upside on Ivey and Williams plus special-teams mileage on Abdullah. Fine. It still means Harrison lost a numbers game to a North Gwinnett kid who played 25 snaps as a Seahawk rookie.

Abdullah's case is cleaner: 436 special-teams snaps over the last two seasons in Jacksonville. The Falcons have been hunting gunners since cutdown night. Ivey is the local swing — Tech, North Gwinnett, some run-game reputation in Seattle's camp. Williams is a 6-foot-5, 317-pound tackle who missed most of his Eagles rookie year with a shoulder. Wanya Morris already got waived. The swing-tackle carousel did not stop.

Bertrand to IR, Woods back on the 53, Goodson on the taxi

Monday night: JD Bertrand to reserve/injured (designated to return, four-game sit, one of eight return tags). Josh Woods signed off the practice squad. Woods played 82 percent of special-teams snaps in the 12 games he was active last year. That is not a mystery. Bertrand was the third-year linebacker who kept losing these arguments, and this time the argument won.

The practice squad is almost all camp leftovers, which is what Kevin Stefanski said he wanted after Miami. Tyler Goodson is back. Darnay Holmes is back. Carlos Allen Jr., Cash Jones, Cam Sample, Nick Muse, Antwane Wells Jr. — the names from Sunday's cut list that nobody claimed. Woods' elevation left two practice-squad spots open. The initial 15 is already 14.

Two running backs on the 53, Goodson on the taxi. That was the bet on cutdown night. They at least got him back in the building.

What this 53 is actually saying

Four quarterbacks are still here. Two running backs are still here. The edge room that lost Azeez Ojulari on Sunday now has Ivey instead of Harrison. Special teams got Abdullah and Woods. The offensive line got a second-year tackle who has barely played.

None of that names a Week 1 starter at Heinz Field. It does tell you Cunningham is treating the waiver wire like a second draft, which is the correct instinct when your pass rush is Za'Darius Smith, Samson Ebukam, Cameron Thomas, and a bunch of maybes.

Bird Gang bottom line

The initial 53 was a holding pattern. Monday was the first real edit: three claims, Harrison gone, Bertrand on IR, Goodson on the practice squad. If you are opening a league at pickembaby.com, keep Atlanta in pencil until Stefanski names a quarterback — and until this roster stops moving every afternoon.

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