Which way the arrow is pointing for Falcons defensive starters

Last week, I took a post-free agency shot at determining which way the arrow was pointing for Atlanta’s likely offensive starters, and it was largely a positive exercise with a clear lineup. Now we turn our attention to the defense, where the free agent signings may not be over with, the future is cloudier ahead of the draft, and the vibes are a bit less positive.

Still, let’s work our way through the potential starting lineup today to determine who looks good coming out of the first couple of waves of free agency and who could be in danger of losing a starting job or just struggling. Special teams will come later this week.

Arrow Up

DL Ruke Orhorhoro

God help me, I like Ruke Orhorhoro. There’s real skill here that we barely got to see a year ago, and Ruke’s nastiness against the run is badly needed on this front. There’s absolutely no question in my mind that after being hurt and sitting in mothballs throughout 2024, Ruke is going to effectively be a starter up front.

While we’ve been burnt by expecting too much of young defensive linemen many times in the past, I have the modest goal of seeing Orhorhoro play a lot of snaps, improve his pass rush ability in year two, and be a plus contributor against the run. I think all of that is within reach, and there was really nowhere to go but up regardless.

EDGE Arnold Ebiketie

Playing with virtually no help opposite him much of the past couple of seasons, Ebiketie has flashed real skill and has turned slow starts into blistering finishes. It’s evident that Ebiketie is the most talented pass rusher in this EDGE group—Floyd has been a better producer, but he’s played on stronger defenses—and just needs to figure out a way to get going earlier in the year to flirt with double digit sacks.

Playing with a slow-footed Matthew Judon and a rotation full of stopgap starters, and with injuries and dips in play hurting the line, Ebiketie still cashed in six sacks a year ago and was giving offensive lines fits over the back half of the season. With even modest improvement up front, something I expect like a big idiot, the arrow is definitely pointing up for a talented player entering a contract season.

LB Kaden Elliss

Speaking of modest improvement, Elliss is now going to have the luxury of playing next to a linebacker who is not a complete liability in coverage. He’s going to be working with a younger, hopefully deeper front and an EDGE group that isn’t Ebiketie and some liabilities. None of that is going to add up to drastic improvement up front, but importantly, it should mean Elliss is asked to do less of what he’s bad at (coverage, primarily) and more of what he does well (chipping in against the run, rushing the passer).

Elliss is one of the team’s better defenders, but he has clear limitations and strengths the Falcons will want to work around and with. More time spent being a nuisance in the backfield will be a big plus for both Elliss and this defense.

LB Divine Deablo

I’m penciling in Deablo as a starter given his contract, Troy Andersen’s persistent injury woes, and the fact that his athleticism and coverage ability are such a direct response to what the Falcons didn’t get out of Elliss and Nate Landman in 2024. A pretty sure tackler, Deablo’s instincts sometimes lead him awry and he is not a plus run defender, but the fact that the team is going to be focused on having him do what he does well suggests Deablo should have a fine year.

Given that, the arrow is pointing up, as long as you’re not expecting him to be a high-end starter.

S Jessie Bates

The Falcons asked Bates to do less freelancing in 2024 with the secondary struggling and he had a slight down year by his extremely lofty standards. Under Ulbrich, I’d expect Bates to get back to roaming and playmaking, especially with Jordan Fuller being less of a coverage liability than Justin Simmons was at times a year ago.

Even if that weren’t the case, Bates would belong here because he’s one of the best safeties in the league. Like other players on this list who are very obviously capable and talented, he’ll benefit if the Falcons can further lift the talent level of this defense, but I’ll never bet against Bates just continually improving.

S Jordan Fuller

The arrow would be pointing up for Fuller even if I didn’t expect him to be in the running for a starting spot, given that his season with the Carolina Panthers in 2024 was a pretty grim one. Injured, riding the bench, and struggling is no way to go through a season.

Fuller fared much better as a starter in Raheem Morris’s Rams defenses in 2021 and 2023, when he was a full-time player, and re-joining Morris should be a boon for him. The Falcons were looking for a coverage upgrade to take over for Justin Simmons, who scuffled last year, and Fuller provides that even if his run defense is not the stuff of legend. Barring an early round addition via the draft, which is a realistic possibility, Fuller would probably start over DeMarcco Hellams given that the promising young safety is coming off a major injury and is a bigger asset closer to the line of scrimmage. Whether he’s a top reserve or a starter, though, I’d expect Fuller to fare better in Atlanta than he did in Carolina.

Arrow Sideways

CB AJ Terrell

It was a fine year for Terrell minus a couple of poor games and some frustrating tackling, but the Falcons would obviously love to see the talented cornerback kick it up yet another notch. Whether he’ll do so depends to some extent on how good the defense around him is. Most of Terrell’s best games in coverage came when the Falcons pass rush came to life after the bye, and having some semblance of that up front and more talent in the secondary will allow his talent in shutting down top receivers to shine.

Until we see a more complete defense, then, I’m not predicting a big year or any real pullback from Terrell. I do hope his tackling improves.

CB Mike Hughes

I don’t think Hughes is going to take a major step back with the switch in defensive coordinators, because I think he proved last year he’s a fine, physical presence on the outside. I just don’t expect him to take any significant steps forward, either, given that he quietly played at quite a high level in 2025.

Hughes is young enough and talented enough to maintain that level of play; if he’s as good as he was a year ago minus the injuries, the Falcons will be quite happy.

Arrow Down

EDGE Leonard Floyd

When was the last time a big name free agent came to Atlanta and increased their sack total year over year, you ask? It wasn’t that long ago, because Calais Campbell (6.5 over 5.5) and Bud Dupree (6.5 over 4.0) did it in 2023. You can quibble with whether those count as big name players—neither one had double digit sacks recently when they signed—but I’ll count them.

Before that, though? You’d have to go all the way back to 2013, when Osi Umenyiora built on a six sack campaign in New York with 7.5 in Atlanta. As a rule, these signings go somewhere between okay and disastrously for the Falcons, and Floyd is joining up after a 8.5 sack season with a talented-if-underperforming 49ers defense.

Floyd will help this pass rush, but expecting his production to hold or increase in Atlanta is probably expecting too much.

DL Morgan Fox

Right now, with a muddled front seven, I have Fox as a starter with Ruke and David Onyemata. I don’t necessarily expect that when the season rolls around—the team has young players they want to take a step forward, and the draft has yet to happen—but right now he’s an established, useful player.

Will he be better in Atlanta than he was with the Chargers? Probably not. A subpar run defender most of the time, Fox adds a little pass rushing juice the Falcons lacked up front, but he’ll be playing on a Falcons front that is not any more talented than the one he had last year. Fox is also over 30 and has been a little up and down the last couple of years; he’ll have value here but ideally won’t be counted on to start Week 1.

DL David Onyemata

This arrow is pointing down for multiple reasons. The first is that Onyemata may not even be here, given that he could very well be a post-June 1 casualty if the team continues to add to their defensive line. The second is that even if he is here, Onyemata is clearly entering the slow, steady decline phase of his career, which means he’s unlikely to play as many snaps as he did the past two seasons even if he’s a nominal starter.

That could be a good thing for a player who still has nasty moments as a pass rusher and run defender and is probably better suited as a rotational guy at this stage of his career, but it doesn’t suggest a career renaissance in Atlanta, regardless of the outcome.

CB Clark Phillips

This is sort of a placeholder at the moment, because I’m very dubious Phillips will serve as the team’s nickel cornerback. They’ve shown zero interest in playing Phillips there—last year they rolled out Antonio Hamilton at the nickel with disastrous results after injury and kept playing Dee Alford despite his struggles—and thus I can’t say I feel good about the Falcons starting him there if their expectations are that low.

This is less a knock on Phillips than his chances of holding down a starting job this season, which took a major hit with the re-signing of Mike Hughes.