The Falcoholic
Before the season officially kicked off and after the Atlanta Falcons set their initial 53-man roster, I had three questions I felt could make or break the team’s season. As it turns out, these were the right questions to ask, as the Falcons answers to each of them had a major impact on their 2025 season. As you are aware, the season did not go as hoped.
The decision to trade for Michael Jerrell felt like throwing a water balloon on a house fire at the time, and that’s essentially what it was. Jerrell was a healthy scratch nearly the entire season, minus one game against the Bills. According to PFF, he was the worst-performing Falcons offensive lineman this season, by at least 40 points. These grading systems are subjective, but that’s a pretty wide margin.
The team would elect to roll with Elijah Wilkinson, and while Wilkinson did a good job for someone who had to fill in at the last moment and was signed to play in the interior, he was not close to being considered good enough. Per PFF, Wilkinson led the team in surrendered pressures (46), sacks (6), QB hits (9), and penalties (12). Wilkinson’s penchant for collecting false starts has been a trademark of his career, and it killed multiple drives this season. The right side of the offensive line also struggled to generate the push it has in years past. Bijan Robison covered up a lot of these issues with his sensational play.
It’s hard to be overly critical of this situation, given the timing of the Kaleb McGary and Storm Norton injuries, plus Norton’s recovery worsening, a factor they didn’t anticipate. You can argue that Wilkinson was still good enough for the team to make the playoffs. However, he still created too many negative plays on his own and ultimately played a key role in the Falcons volatile offensive performance.
The keyword in this question is “room.” The Falcons had their best starting pair of linebackers in years this season, but their depth and management of the overall room cost them multiple games. My worry that Divine Deablo wouldn’t stay healthy for the entire season and that Kaden Elliss would get stretched too thin came to fruition in the second quarter of the season.
Second-year linebacker JD Bertrand was a disaster in the preseason, and that carried over to the regular season. The former Fighting Irish defender looked outmatched physically in the run game, but also mentally, as he was a step late on nearly every play. The results in coverage were even worse, most notably against a Miami Dolphins team that was 2-6 heading into the matchup.
Josh Woods would end up being nothing more than a special teamer this season, but he also dealt with nagging injuries of his own. The one bright spot, late camp signing Ronnie Harrison, was inserted into...
