The Falcoholic
It’s a mixed bag of injury news and a busy day for the Atlanta Falcons. Raheem Morris and the team provided multiple updates, including some positive updates for Divine Deablo and Malik Verdon (remember him?) and bad news regarding Storm Norton.
Let’s break it all down quickly.
This would be huge. The Falcons have begun losing games for many reasons, several of them on the offense, but the loss of Deablo is still a major factor. He was one of the team’s most impactful defenders, both in coverage and working against the run, and replacements Ronnie Harrison, Josh Woods, and especially JD Bertrand have been considerable downgrades.
There’s no guaranteed Deablo will be back, but given the nature of his injury and how much the team has missed him, I expect Week 12 to be legitimately in play. I can’t wait.
Unfortunately, Norton will not be back. Elijah Wilkinson has been the line’s worst regular, as widely anticipated, but held his own a bit better this past week against the Colts. There’s no cavalry coming, as Norton’s expected return didn’t materialize; he began practicing but suffered an unspecified setback that has his 21 day practice window closing without him on the field.
Norton’s solid work in pass protection would have been welcome, but now we’ll see him in 2026, if we see him back with the Falcons at all. Wilkinson will, if he stays healthy, likely log a full season as a starting right tackle, which can only help his 2026 market.
Malone has once again been one of the team’s most relied-upon special teamers, and one of the few in recent weeks who has not had a catastrophic number of missed tackles. Unfortunately, he’s headed for injured reserve, meaning the Falcons will be down another contributor.
Did you forget about Verdon? I wouldn’t blame you, considering he’s been on NFI forever and was an undrafted free agent. The reason his return is a little bit intriguing is because of his background and the team’s plans for him.
Like Divine Deablo before him, Verdon is an excellent athlete set to transition from safety to inside linebacker in the NFL. Considering Deablo’s success and the fact that it provides an archetype Jeff Ulbrich seems to be coveting, the similarly-sized Verdon (they’re both 6’3” and listed around 220 pounds) could be a factor in the inside linebacker room in 2026 and beyond. At the very least, getting him some practice time and maybe game experience in 2025 can only help.
The former Panthers safety joins the Falcons practice squad with the hope of sticking around for a bit; he had played in 21 games with two starts for the Panthers in 2023 and 2024, but hasn’t appeared in a game in 2025. He hasn’t proven to be a high-end...
