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.
Leads in the rotation
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 quarterbacks. A little more consistency and a lot more playing time will do wonders for him in 2025.
Significant roles
Brandon Dorlus, Morgan Fox
The coaching staff has talked up Dorlus and I believe them, but we need to see what his role looks like after he was essentially mothballed in year one. A potent pass rusher in college, Dorlus is likely to get some work as a big EDGE in certain packages and on early downs, but time will tell if he can carve out consistent work on the interior on third downs. If he can, Dorlus might become a de facto starter in this group. Again, we’ll give it time.
Fox is a consistently below average run defender who finds a way to knife into the backfield, meaning that while he doesn’t deliver consistent results, he comes up with tackles for a loss and can be really disruptive as a pass rusher. His run defense should make his role on early downs fairly small if everyone else is healthy, but Fox will asked to rotate in on obvious passing downs where he can make his mark.
Reserves and roster hopefuls
Kentavius Street, Ta’Quon Graham, LaCale London, Simeon Barrow Jr.
You have three holdovers and one new face here.
Street is a decent rotational piece who probably shouldn’t be playing more than a dozen snaps a game, but offers competent run defense and (very) occasional pressure. For the price he’s signed at, Street offers experience and a level of play the coaching staff is comfortable with and is thus likely to make the roster, even if it’s as the last man in the rotation.
Graham may be competing with him for that spot. A really solid player who offers plenty as a run defender but little as a pass rusher, Graham is coming off a significant injury but belongs on a roster without a lot of proven run stopping options. So long as he’s healthy, he’s likely to latch on unless the team really winnows down their defensive line group. The consistent solid play when he’s healthy means he should, ideally, have a larger role than Street on early downs.
London might be the odd man out here, which is a shame given that he looked like a plus run defender in his own right in the limited glimpses we got of him in 2023. Last year, London was a practice squad fixture, and his experience with this team and strength against the run should have him returning to a spot there until/unless he is needed.
Barrow is a roster longshot but seems worth keeping around on the practice squad, as he has the kind of quickness and disruptive ability to be a useful interior pass rusher down the line. A good summer should help him make the case to stick around.