Neuzil started eight games at center for the Falcons last season, and now he's expected to be in that role full-time in 2025.

Terrin Waack

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. After months of penciling center Ryan Neuzil onto the Atlanta Falcons' 2025 roster, the team officially announced Thursday the final starting piece of the offensive line re-signed.

ESPN's Adam Schefter first reported the news Wednesday, tweeting Neuzil and the Falcons "reached agreement" on a new contract that will keep him in Atlanta. Schefter noted it is a two-year deal worth up to a total of $9.5 million.

The Falcons placed a right-of-first-refusal tender on Neuzil as a restricted free agent when the new league year began on March 12. Neuzil was then able to entertain offers from other teams, but he did not receive any. Still, Neuzil gained valuable experience during a multi-game stretch as a starter in 2024.

After Drew Dalman's ankle injury in Week 3, Neuzil started the next eight games in his place. The Falcons went 5-3 with Neuzil starting at center and averaged 24 points per game. Neuzil played in every game last season and finished with a career-best 577 snaps on offense and 75 snaps on special teams.

"We had eight games that he was able to go out there and really be competitive and play at a very high level," Falcons head coach Raheem Morrissaid at the Annual League Meeting. "To be able to go watch him get the confidence that way, we feel really good about what Neuzil can do.

"Even before that. Watching him in practice, doing some things he was able to do. Watching the continuity between him and (quarterback Michael Penix Jr.) just throughout the season, with those guys being the 2s at certain points in the season and the 1s at certain points in the season. I feel really good about those guys."

The 2025 season will mark Neuzil's fifth in Atlanta. He originally joined as an undrafted free agent in 2021 and spent his first year on the practice squad. Neuzil made his NFL debut in the Falcons' 2022 Week 9 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, taking four snaps on special teams. He appeared in nine games that year.

In 2023, Neuzil appeared in every game and earned his first start in the Falcons' Week 6 loss to the Washington Commanders. He took four offensive snaps and two special teams snaps. Neuzil started three more games by season's end.

Neuzil's return is critical to the Falcons' offense this season because Dalman signed with the Chicago Bears as a free agent. So, Neuzil was next in line to be the offensive line's full-time anchor. With Organized Team Activities (OTAs) already underway, the Falcons have repeatedly expressed confidence in Neuzil's abilities to work well with Penix, also now a starter.

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