Marc RaimondiOct 21, 2025, 04:35 PM ET
CloseMarc Raimondi’s first year covering the Falcons was 2024, but it wasn’t his first year at ESPN. He joined the company in 2019 and was a top combat sports reporter. He also covered professional wrestling and wrote the book “Say Hello to the Bad Guys: How Pro Wrestling’s New World Order Changed America,” which was published by Simon & Schuster in 2025. Raimondi also worked for the New York Post and Newsday, beginning in 2009, covering high school and college sports, plus the NFL, NFL, MLB and NHL.
The Atlanta Falcons sent home Ray-Ray McCloud III last week and now the wide receiver has been released outright, the team announced Tuesday.
Falcons coach Raheem Morris described the situation Friday as a private matter between McCloud and the team. Morris said it was not necessarily disciplinary in nature.
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McCloud was a surprise healthy scratch in Week 6, an eventual Monday Night Football win over the Buffalo Bills. He was sent home last week for reasons Morris did not divulge and was listed as out against the San Francisco 49ers.
On Saturday, McCloud posted in support of the Falcons on X, writing that he “wanted this one bad” with his teammates. The 49ers were McCloud’s former team.
Morris said last week that McCloud’s situation had nothing to do with the firing of Falcons wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard after a 30-0 loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 3. McCloud and Hilliard are close, and Hilliard being in Atlanta was a significant reason why McCloud signed with the Falcons in the 2024 offseason.
After the firing, McCloud said Hilliard was the best coach he has ever had and that it reminded him that “this league has no loyalty.”
Morris said Friday that McCloud being absent from the team was “more a football thing.”
McCloud, 29, had a career year in 2024, making 62 receptions for 686 yards and a touchdown. He started 13 games. This season, McCloud had just six catches for 64 yards in four games.