The Falcoholic
A rotation stocked with plenty of useful players added up to a fairly so-so level of play on the season.
The defensive line was a relative strength for the Atlanta Falcons in 2023, with Grady Jarrett doing well pre-injury, David Onyemata pulling together some great stretches, and Calais Campbell delivering his ageless aptitude while being joined by quality efforts from the likes of LaCale London, Zach Harrison, and Kentavius Street. If it wasn’t a standout group, it was a group that helped the Falcons legitimately improve on defense under Ryan Nielsen.
The 2024 group unfortunately took a step back for a number of reasons, and defensive line coach Jay Rodgers got fired because of that. Jarrett had one of his quietest years, Onyemata took a step back, Harrison was infrequently featured, and injury and ineffectiveness ate away at most of the rotational options. That included promising rookies Ruke Orhorhoro and Brandon Dorlus, given that the former missed significant time and the latter barely got a chance to play.
It all added up to an underwhelming effort, and even if you assume quality second seasons are coming from Ruke and Dorlus, the need to shuffle this group is evident. Let’s review the results from 2024.
Age: 31 | Experience: 10 seasons
2024 Stats: 17 starts, 53 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 34 pressures, 28 run stops, 15.8% missed tackle rate, 3 penalties
Now 31 years old and coming off a major injury, Jarrett had arguably his worst NFL season in 2024. His worst season is still a good one, of course, because the long-underrated defensive lineman has been a wrecking ball for a decade. But it’s evident that the days of Jarrett playing 60-70% of the defensive snaps and causing headaches for opposing offenses on nearly all of them are over.
We’ll start with the good: Jarrett was still an impactful player against the run in long stretches, with the second-highest run stops number on the team behind Kaden Elliss. He was also third on the team in pressures, delivering his customary ability to impact the quarterback even if the sack total was low. For stints, Jarrett was very much himself, and he was still one of Atlanta’s more capable defenders.
The problem, again, is just that the Falcons were playing a 31-year-old fresh off a season-ending injury too often because they either had injured depth or young players they didn’t trust just yet. That meant that the lights flickered on and off a bit for Jarrett, who missed more tackles and was less consistently impactful than usual. It may well be the case that a year removed from his injury he looks very much like himself in 2025, but that’s not something I’d place a heavy bet on if I was the Falcons.
If Jarrett returns—and I hate even typing that, honestly—the Falcons need to have him playing under 50% of the defensive snaps to keep him fresh. Jarrett is still a damn good player and a franchise icon...
