FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Ian Cunningham was just about to board his flight from Chicago back to Atlanta. He'd only been the Atlanta Falcons general manager for a couple months, just long enough for winter to melt into spring.

Cunningham was still living in the dorms at the Falcons' facility at the time as his family prepared to make the move to Atlanta after the kids wrapped up their school year in Chicago. It was a quick trip, but back to work Cunningham went.

As he reached his gate, a familiar face met him: Falcons defensive lineman Zach Harrison. Harrison was on Cunningham's flight back to Atlanta.

The two chatted, caught up and then flew back to Atlanta together. They parted ways at the Atlanta airport, with Cunningham driving to the Falcons facility. It was late evening by the time he finally pulled into the office; just enough time for a quick workout at the gym before making the walk over to the dorms for the night.

"It's like 7:30, 8 o'clock," Cunningham said. "And who's in there? It's Zach Harrison."

The lineman was also getting in a late-evening workout after his flight. Cunningham smiled.

"This is right before like OTAs and workouts," the general manager continued, "so this is a guy that takes care of his body. He's a pro's pro. He's a great dude."

This offseason, Harrison was coming off a season-ending knee injury that cut a standout 2025 performance short. Prior to the injury, Harrison was tied for the team lead in sacks. He was disruptive and playing well in Jeff Ulbrich's system.

It was a welcome fit for Harrison, who had been moved around a couple different times across the defensive line based on the coordinator at hand that particular year. He changed his body to meet those new expectations, too. That said, it seemed this attack-style front really fit what Harrison could do, and he thrived early.

"I had him as a three-down starter (coming out of Ohio State)," Ulbrich said last season. "I had him as a guy that I thought had amazing upside because he's obviously — I mean, you've just seen him, he's just enormous. He's long. He's got just an amazing body in that way, perfect for that defensive end position in the attack front. Then, with the speed, the instinct, the toughness and all that that he showed, I thought he had just an amazing potential in this league."

Through seven games, Harrison accumulated 4.5 sacks, forced two fumbles, had five quarterback hits and five tackles for loss.

But then, injury came and Harrison was sidelined. Harrison spent the offseason actively working back to full strength. The Falcons placed him on the NFI list prior to the start of training camp. He was activated on Aug. 7 and returned to full capacity of work.

And work he did, with defensive line coach Nate Ollie nicknaming him the "Ambassador of Strain."

"He does all the right things," Ollie said a couple weeks ago. "Just want him to stay healthy."

Harrison's time in Atlanta, though, almost came to an end this week, when the Falcons waived him in the aftermath of claiming several players off waivers. It was a difficult reminder, as Cunningham noted, that this is the business of the NFL.

"Those are some of the tough decisions, right?" Cunningham said. "We put three claims in. You're guessing what the other 31 teams are going to do, not knowing if you're going to get one claim or three. We were fortunate enough to get three. And you go through it knowing if you get those three claims, what's the decision that you're going to have to make? And once we got that, it's like, as happy as we were, it was a gut punch too, personally, just because I knew that Zach was most likely going to be the option. (I have) a lot of respect for Zach and what he's done."

The option always remains that once you send a player to waivers, they don't get claimed and you can find a way to bring them back in some capacity. But the other side of the coin is they go to waivers, get claimed and you lose them. It's constant risk assessment, and how much you're OK with taking said risk.

The Falcons took the risk, and 24 hours later, Harrison cleared waivers. The Falcons altered their practice squad and Harrison returned to the team, which makes the sting of cutting someone who had a productive start to last season hurt quite a bit less.

"We got him back on practice squad this morning," Cunningham said Wednesday. "I'm happy to get him back. ... It gives us some veteran leadership, some veteran guys on practice squad that have been there, have done it. And now we know if, in the event that we need him, he'll be ready and we can elevate him."

All's well that ends well, as the saying goes. But the movement of Harrison over the last week is a case study in roster construction: how tough decisions have to be made, how they sometimes come back to you, but also how the risk remains.