Pro Football Rumors
The Falcons hosted a number of veterans and an undrafted rookie on Day 2 of the team’s mandatory minicamp. The veteran group included defensive tackle Byron Cowart, offensive lineman Jake Curhan, linebacker Anfernee Orji, punter Matthew Hayball, and tight end Thomas Odukoya, and the undrafted rookie was former North Carolina A&T kicker Andrew Brown.
The former No. 1 overall recruit in the Class of 2015, Cowart struggled to see the field in his first two years at Auburn. He left the Tigers two games into his junior season and, after attending a community college closer to home for the rest of the year, transferred to Maryland. One year of solid play for the Terps was enough to get him drafted in the fifth-round by the Patriots in 2019. He found a full-time starting role in his sophomore campaign with the team but only amassed one sack, three tackles for loss, and three quarterback hits in 14 games.
Bouncing around with a few other teams, Cowart didn’t appear in any games in 2021, played 17 games off the Colts’ bench in 2022, played zero games in 2023, and finally found significant playing time again in 2024. With the Bears two years ago, Cowart started seven starts in 15 games and logged 2.5 sacks, five tackles for loss, and four quarterback hits. He continued his trend of sitting out odd-numbered years in the 2020s last season after being placed on injured reserve, but he could be due for a return in 2026.
Curhan is a former undrafted free agent out of Cal. He signed initially with the Seahawks in 2021 and appeared in 29 games — starting nine — over three years with the team. In the two seasons since leaving Seattle, Curhan has started three of 24 games played between the Bears, Cardinals, and Panthers. So far in his career, he’s appeared at every position in an NFL game except for center.
Orji, Hayball, and Odukoya, like Cowart, have not appeared in an NFL game since 2024. Orji was with the Saints that year and started two of 16 games at linebacker, totaling 30 total tackles and two tackles for loss. Hayball was also in New Orleans that year. He served as the Saints’ second one-year punter in a row, following in the steps of Lou Hedley. Odukoya is a native of the Netherlands and could try to make a case for himself as an International Player Pathway participant so as not to count against the team’s practice squad player limit.
Brown played for the Aggies all five years at the collegiate level. His career long in college was 56 yards, and he converted 40 of this 56 attempts at North Carolina A&T.
