Atlanta adds a starter opposite Jessie Bates, one familiar to Raheem Morris.
The Atlanta Falcons have signed free agent safety Jordan Fuller, a former Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Rams starter who played for Raheem Morris from 2021-2023, and he should be expected to start for the team in 2025. That’s a major signing for a team that had a perilously thin safety group coming into today.
The news comes to us from insider Tom Pelissero. We’ll see what the terms are soon enough.
Veteran safety Jordan Fuller is signing with the #Falcons, per source.
Still only 27, Fuller has 55 career starts over five seasons with the #Rams and #Panthers. Now he reunites with his old L.A. DC Raheem Morris in Atlanta. pic.twitter.com/6xxLC4GY7B
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 19, 2025
Fuller did not make my list of defensive free agents this morning, to my now eternal regret, but this is a quality signing with some caveats. Fuller is a consistent force for good against the run and has been through his entire career, as well as a sound tackler, which will be welcome for a Falcons team that needs that consistency. In his years with the Rams, Fuller was also a capable if far from excellent option in coverage, so last year’s shakier effort in Carolina stands out as something of an outlier.
Another note on the nine games piece: Fuller has two full seasons as a starter in the past four years, and has missed 22 games between 2022 and 2024. That’s not to say that injury is inevitable for the still-young safety, but it’s probably the only real note of caution for a player who otherwise should step in as a perfectly capable starter. The fact that he was a much better player in Morris’s Rams defense than he was last year in a decrepit Carolina D should make us hopeful he’ll bounce back from a rougher, injury-marred year.
Fuller’s welcome history of causing turnovers—he had three interceptions and three forced fumbles in 2023’s 17 games under Morris in LA—is another point in his favor.
We’ll see what the terms of the deal are, but the Falcons desperately needed help at safety and an established starter to pair with Jessie Bates, and Fuller provides that. With DeMarcco Hellams now set to be the third safety assuming good health, I feel much better about the position group than I did yesterday, even if the team can and should stock more depth.
Give Fuller a warm welcome to Atlanta, if you would.