The Atlanta Falcons are locking in defensive end Cameron Thomas to a three-year contract extension, the team announced Friday. The deal is worth up to $33 million, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter and NFL Network's Ian Rapoport..
The Falcons signed Thomas this past offseason to a one-year, $3.1 million contract and he has surpassed all expectations.
Atlanta also announced Friday that it has signed cornerback C,J. Henderson to a two-year contract extension, a deal that guarantees Henderson $11 million and could top out at $20 million, sources told Rapoport.
Thomas, 26, has two sacks and leads all Atlanta edge rushers with a minimum of 150 pass-rush snaps in quarterback pressure rate (13.5%) and QB hits (12). The latter is a career-high. Thomas has played 63.3% of the team's defensive snaps, more than any other Falcons defensive linemen
The Arizona Cardinals drafted Thomas in the third round back in 2022. The Falcons his fourth team. Thomas spent two seasons with current Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski with the Cleveland Browns prior to this season.
Atlanta defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said Thomas was the first name Stefanski mentioned as the team looked to sign an edge rusher in the offseason.
"You talk about a guy that just, he demonstrates what we love about this game every single day: the toughness, the strain, the effort -- the relentless effort -- and then the high-level execution, the consistency," Ulbrich said Thursday. "If there's a guy that we can really lean on on our defense, he's one of those human beings. I've been just so overwhelmed with what he's brought to us and it's been awesome."
The extension contract was done by Equity Sports CEO Chris Cabott, Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham and Falcons senior vice president Bryce Johnston, Schefter and Rapoport reported. It was finished Thursday night.
Henderson, meanwhile, has started the last six games at boundary corner for the the Falcons. Henderson, 28, was the No. 9 overall pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2020 and had bounced around before landing in Atlanta last season on the practice squad.
"It's been a fun journey with CJ because when he got here, obviously, he had a very well-known past in this league," Ulbrich explained. "To help him start to reinvent himself here, it brings me a ton of joy because he's just such an amazing young man. I'm excited for every opportunity he gets and every opportunity to show this league exactly who he is now, today."