Ryan Neuzil Trade Leaves Falcons With a Big Question on the Offensive Line

FLOWERY BRANCH – The Atlanta Falcons are 3-6, and they say the playoffs are still in reach. By Tuesday night, they had traded the center who started their last 26 games. On Sunday, his replacement will line up against Chris Jones.

Atlanta surprised many by trading center Ryan Neuzil at the deadline on Tuesday, flipping him to the Baltimore Ravens for interior offensive lineman Andrew Vorhees and a conditional 2028 draft selection.

Neuzil played five seasons with the Falcons and started the last 26 games (39 total). He was a solid center for Atlanta this season, allowing one sack and committing a single penalty, but the move makes it clear the team was ready to go in a different direction once he hit free agency this offseason.

In his place, Corey Levin will get the nod on Sunday.

“Obviously, love ‘Neuz’ [Ryan Neuzil],” Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski said Wednesday when asked about the move. “Great person. Just felt like this was an opportunity for our football team and comfortable and feel good about Corey Levin stepping in.”

Levin joined the Falcons this offseason, following his former offensive line coach, Bill Callahan, from the Tennessee Titans. He has mostly handled special teams for the Falcons this season, but that will ramp up in the second half.

Stefanski expressed confidence in Levin’s ability to step in, perform snaps with Michael Penix Jr., and hold up as the team’s starter. The head coach confirmed that Levin had already been getting reps in practice and would be ready to go. Stefanski said he feels “really good” about where Levin is in understanding what the team is doing.

“He brings great energy into the locker room and onto the field,” Falcons running back Bijan Robinson said about his new center. “He doesn’t have an off switch. He’s already ready to go, always ready to play, no matter what the situation is. He just gives extreme effort.”

But the veteran has started only three games since the end of the 2022 season, and what’s waiting for him on Sunday would be a difficult challenge for even the most tenured center. For the Falcons, it is a massive question mark that could leave the heart of the offense exposed.

The Kansas Chiefs piled on five sacks and pressured Jets quarterback Geno Smith on half of his dropbacks. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is renowned for his ability to send exotic looks at players, and All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones recorded two of those sacks last Sunday – Levin will be matched up with him on every snap.

“Corey Levin, being a veteran center and a guy who’s played in games and can think the game,” Stefanski said, “is important for a week like this.”

The Falcons are banking on it, especially given how he's the only rostered player with starts at center.

As for the additional piece of the deal, the Falcons are confident in what they have in Vorhees.

The interior offensive lineman was a projected day-two pick in 2023, but a torn ACL during the scouting combine tanked him into the seventh round. He started all 20 games from 2024-25, and made five more appearances (two starts) this season.

In Atlanta, he will likely fill a depth guard position alongside Kyle Hinton. At 6-foot-6 and 330 pounds, Vorhees adds immediate interior size and the traits Callahan loves.

“I've competed against him over the years, and he's a good football player,” Stefanski said about the plan for Vorhees. “Coach [Bill] Callahan and crew will get their arms around him and get him up to speed.”

Vorhees will be a free agent this offseason, so there is no guaranteed future even if he pans out as a player the Falcons can develop over the final weeks of the season.

The playoffs are still in reach for this team, especially in a winnable NFC South, but the deadline moves didn't get them any closer. If anything, they’re further away.

They moved two starters, and the question shifts to why the team felt so comfortable leaving an important position in question with half the season still to play. It’s a reasonable question, given how the Falcons dropped to 3-6 on Sunday, their fourth loss in the last five games, but Stefanski reiterated that the focus has not shifted in this locker room.

“We’re excited about the opportunities we have in front of us, but decisions that are made for our football team are always in the best interest of our football team,” Stefanski said. “We talked about it earlier this week – sometimes there is that tension [between] short-term and long-term, but I know the group we have of players. I know the group we have of coaches and staff. Our focus hasn't changed one bit.”

The Falcons’ center position might say otherwise, and Chris Jones will test it on the first snap.

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