The Atlanta Falcons dropped three games below .500 on Sunday in Spain with a 34-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, and they made it very clear on Monday morning where that leaves them ahead of Tuesday's trade deadline. 

Sending away All Pro safety Jessie Bates to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a second round pick and a fifth round pick -- strong value for an impending free agent -- illustrated that buying is probably not on the table for this team even though they are still in the race for the NFC South.

Targets we suspected could make sense for Atlanta such as Jauan Jennings, Josh Downs, or Will McDonald all would cost draft selections, and the Bates trade makes it obvious that the Falcons are in the draft capital acquisition business rather than being willing to part with it. There are two players worth monitoring before the 4:00 p.m. EST deadline on Tuesday who could make sense to move for additional draft compensation.

Linebacker Christian Harris as well as cornerback Mike Hughes become names that teams could be interested in bringing in considering the fact they would likely only cost a late round selection to acquire.

Harris is on a one-year contract and fell out of favor during training camp with the emergence of young stars at linebackers, and while Hughes is under contract through the 2027 season, he has struggled to live up to the billing over the last couple of seasons.

These are expendable assets, and while the return on either guy will certainly be underwhelming, this Atlanta franchise is making it a point to acquire as many draft assets as possible and in the process building towards the offseason with the goal of completely reshaping things under this new regime for the Falcons.

Despite the disappointment of the direction this season is headed, the new front office in Atlanta is going to get the chance to build things how they want with extra draft picks and a ton of cap space this offseason. Ultimately, the organization has a lot more questions to answer at the most important positions on the field, but it does seem like they are pressing the reset button here.

As for the deadline today, if there are moves made by the Falcons, it does not read like it will be any big splashes rather than a couple of potential small moves to get more draft picks.