Falcons Announce Three Moves, Release WR Ray-Ray McCloud

McCloud was sent home from the team facility and did not appear in their Week 7 game. Falcons HC Raheem Morris said of the situation last Friday: “I wouldn’t say it is a disciplinary thing. More of a football thing with something we have to get straightened out.”

In other moves, Atlanta signed OL Raiqwon O’Neal to the practice squad and placed OL Ryan Hayes on the practice squad IR list.

McCloud, 29, is a former sixth-round pick of the Bills back in 2018 out of Clemson. He was in the second year of his four-year, $2.6 million contract when he was waived by the Bills coming out of the preseason.

The Panthers claimed McCloud off waivers soon after, before waiving him again, at which point McCloud returned to the Bills’ practice squad a few days later and re-signed to a futures deal in 2020. He was waived in July and signed with the Steelers during training camp. 

The Steelers brought McCloud back on a one-year deal for the 2021 season. After playing out that deal, he signed a two-year deal with the 49ers in 2022 and was testing the market as an unrestricted free agent when he signed a two-year deal worth up to $6 million with the Falcons.

In 2025, McCloud appeared in four games for the Falcons and caught six passes for 64 yards. As a returner, he brought back two punts for zero yards and four kicks for 91 yards.