NFL free agency has its share of ugly exits, but most players wait until they’re off the payroll before giving their two cents. However, 31-year-old offensive tackle Elijah Wilkinson, fresh off a two-year deal with the Arizona Cardinals, lit up social media against Tua Tagovailoa on his way out of Atlanta.

Wilkinson started all 17 games for the Atlanta Falcons in 2025, showing up every week on a team that failed to make the playoffs for the eighth straight season. But when his exit was finalized, the fanbase erupted with criticism. Many directed their jabs at Wilkinson on Instagram, and he fired off heated responses in return.

When a fan commented, “Thank God you’re gone,” Wilkinson’s reply was short and pointed.

“Good luck with that clown show over there,” Wilkinson wrote.

For a franchise without postseason football since 2017, the “clown show” label runs deeper than just one bad year. It’s a team whose reset button has been hit so many times, it’s starting to stick. Though the defense ranked impressively (with just eight giveaways), their 20.8 points per game offensively never looked enough to finally secure a playoff game.

The Falcons notably signed Tagovailoa to a one-year deal after the Miami Dolphins released him. Tua now adds his veteran experience as Atlanta’s quarterback. But while the previous dig could have doubled as something for both the team and its new quarterback, Wilkinson made sure his next shot wasn’t ambiguous.

“Good luck with concussion king,” Wilkinson fired off.

Tagovailoa has three documented NFL concussions. The most recent came in Week 2 of the 2024 season, landing him on injured reserve and costing him four games. Even before that, Tagovailoa’s concussion in Week 3 of the 2022 season was passed off as a back injury.

But when he suffered another head injury in Week 4, the league and the NFLPA sat down to update its concussion protocol. But even then, Tua followed it up with another concussion suffered during the Christmas Day matchup against the Green Bay Packers. 

The Dolphins reached the postseason after years in 2022 (repeating the feat in 2023), but without Tua, ultimately fell to the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card round. Even with Tua, they then fell to the Kansas City Chiefs in the same round.

Getting into it with fans isn’t unusual in the NFL, and sometimes it gets physical. Late in the 2025 season, Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf shoved a spectator on the sideline at Ford Field, drawing a two-game suspension without pay from the league. Though these shots taken by Wilkinson were only digital, Tua still got caught in the crossfire.

Even beyond the durability questions Tua has fielded throughout his NFL career, that wasn’t all. Tua’s 15 interceptions thrown ranked second-highest in the league last season. While the QB did manage to help Miami carve out a comeback performance late last season, Tagovailoa struggled with reads and pocket presence, occasionally turning the ball over in critical moments, stalling all momentum.

Still, the Falcons saw an upside and signed him anyway. Atlanta now bets on a quarterback whose availability has been the defining question of his career. Against that backdrop, Elijah Wilkinson’s dig was unkind, but not invented. But Wilkinson wasn’t done. What he said next went straight to the locker room.

Elijah Wilkinson’s frustration with his squad

Wilkinson wasn’t finished after his shots at Tua Tagovailoa. From the Falcons’ new quarterback, his target shifted to his teammates, the same players alongside whom he took 1,060 offensive snaps last season.

Wilkinson had a campaign to forget, with 12 penalties and a 62.9 PFF rating. The one silver lining: it still surpassed his last two seasons. Now joining Arizona, he lands on a team whose playoff drought is four years, half the length of Atlanta’s.

And yet, his Atlanta years keep resurfacing in the conversation. When a fan went at him over Wilkinson’s play, he turned the hose on his own teammates.

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“Hahaha yeah alright, and all the passes Mooney dropped and Pitts f**k off my line,” Wilkinson wrote. “Have fun rooting to lose the nfc south. 28-3. 28-3… Haahahahahhahha laughing stock.”

Now, the Mooney shot has some backing to it. Atlanta released wide receiver Darnell Mooney in early March 2026. Last season, Mooney could only post 32 catches for 443 yards and a touchdown.

It was a sharp drop from the 64 catches, 992 yards, and five touchdowns of his 2024 campaign. To cap it all off, Mooney also posted a career-worst 15.8% drop rate.

But in Mooney’s defense, he broke his collarbone on the very first play of the 2025 training camp. It was an injury the team had kept under wraps all the way until November when head coach Raheem Morris finally revealed it. Mooney also suffered a hamstring injury that impacted his numbers last season.

Wilkinson, meanwhile, also took a shot at Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts. But Pitts just had his best season in 2025: 88 catches, 928 yards, and five touchdowns. The Pitts grievance reads more personal than performance-based.

The 28-3 callback is the sharpest line Elijah Wilkinson delivers. In Super Bowl LI, the Falcons led the New England Patriots 28-3 halfway through the third quarter. Mistakes followed, driven home by a reignited Patriots squad, and Atlanta eventually lost 34-28 in overtime. That defeat remains the franchise’s defining scar, and Wilkinson invoked it knowing exactly what it meant to the fans.

But when a fan defended Wilkinson, he added one last thing.

“Thanks for supporting me when half these people commenting wouldn’t,” Wilkinson wrote. “Bailed the Falcons out when they had nowhere to turn. Good luck moving forward. 💯”

Elijah Wilkinson showed up as a fill-in when the Falcons were desperate for options. On his way out, he made sure that everyone knew it, including his new squad: the Cardinals. As for Atlanta, entering 2026 with a new quarterback and plenty of unresolved questions, it’s a messy footnote they didn’t need.