The Falcoholic
The Falcons are relying on youth supplemented by veterans to try to forge something better up front, but growth is a must.
The Atlanta Falcons made the kind of moves in 2024 that indicated a youth movement was on the way for their defensive line. It just didn’t actually happen that way in 2024.
In 2025, though? Three of the team’s most vital defenders up front will be young guys in their second or third NFL season, while one older starter and a pair of older rotational options will mix in. They’ve lost living legend Grady Jarrett and haven’t made meaningful investments—their biggest signing on the defensive line was Morgan Fox, a mighty useful player but not a high-end starter—meaning those young players will be counted on to grow, provide meaningful snaps all season long, and lift a line that wasn’t impressive last year.
Falcons defensive line coach Nate Ollie has talked about sending waves of pass rushers, and I expect every player on the roster who is listed at defensive line to have a genuine gameday role most weeks as a result. All we can do is try to tease out who will have a larger role in that inevitable rotation, and here’s how I’d line things up before training camp kicks off.
David Onyemata, Ruke Orhorhoro, Zach Harrison
Onyemata’s role is a bit speculative right now, but he’s by far the most established player in this group and had a few very strong games last year. If he’s healthy and the wheels don’t come off, Onyemata figures to play more than anybody else in this group. It’s just fair to suggest that’s not a given considering that he’ll turn 33 this season and wasn’t the game-wrecking force consistently in 2024 that he was in 2023, though a more aggressive front under Jeff Ulbrich and Nate Ollie can’t hurt his chances of contributing.
Ruke is a player I’m genuinely excited about. In limited opportunities to prove his worth a year ago, he showed us moments where his power and savvy made him tough to defend as a pass rusher and more moments where he looked very difficult to stop against the run. The trick will be displaying more consistency and building on that 2024 glimpse, but I fully expect Orhorhoro to get a shot to be a quote-unquote starter in this group, and he should be mighty useful against the run at minimum. The question is whether he’ll build the kind of pass rushing toolkit necessary to be a three down force.
Harrison has been asked to play multiple roles already in his short career, which should pay off this year when the team asks him to play all along the line, including potentially coming off the edge on early downs. Everything I’ve seen from Harrison to this point suggests he’s a talented, relentless defender who can excel against the run and make tackles and guards alike miserable trying to keep him away from...
