Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris addressed the recent release of wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud III, stating that the decision was based solely on performance. “There was nothing disciplinary,” Morris said. “I’ve seen all that stuff. It’s just based on performance.”
The move was made official on Tuesday, with Morris discussing it with reporters the following day. McCloud had joined the Falcons in 2024, coinciding with Morris’s first year as head coach. Over two seasons, McCloud started 14 games and appeared in 21 out of a possible 23.
Recently, McCloud was a healthy scratch for both Week 6 and Week 7 games—first against the Buffalo Bills and then against the San Francisco 49ers—and did not participate in practice last week or travel with the team to California.
“Just got to do what’s best for the team every single week,” Morris said. “Every move you make is in order to get you better, in order to have better results. That’s what we came to the conclusion as.
“I wish Ray-Ray nothing but the best.”
Following McCloud’s release, David Sills V moved into the third starting wide receiver spot on Atlanta’s depth chart. Sills signed a reserve/future contract with Atlanta in February and has played in all six games this season. His offensive snap count has steadily increased from just over two percent in Week 1 to nearly forty-five percent by Week 7.
Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson commented on Sills’s performance: “I thought Sills had another good week (against the 49ers). I know he hasn’t had ball production, but he was separating a lot versus man coverage in that game. The ball just didn’t find him.”
Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. also expressed confidence in Sills: “He’s great,” Penix said. “He’s been great since he got here. He made a lot of plays in camp; obviously, one of the reasons why he is here… We got a good connection.”
The Falcons have faced challenges at wide receiver this season due to injuries among starters such as Darnell Mooney, who missed time because of shoulder and hamstring issues dating back to training camp.
Casey Washington filled in during those absences and has caught five passes for sixty-nine yards across four games this season.
Other options include Jamal Agnew and KhaDarel Hodge—typically special teams players who can contribute offensively if needed.
“We’ll find any ways that we can use our whole roster to help us out,” Robinson said.
Morris noted that while internal discussions about potential trades are ongoing ahead of the NFL trade deadline on November 4, they were not directly related to McCloud’s release: “To say that it has anything to do with the decision that happened with Ray-Ray, I can’t say that’s the case,” he said. “I can say that they’re always looking, they’re always talking and they’re always doing everything with those ramifications.…
“But we got a lot of confidence in the guys that we have on our football team, got a lot of confidence in the guys that helped us play the last couple weeks, to be able to go out there and get things done in even higher fashion than we have.”
