Great name, hopefully great signing.
The Atlanta Falcons have made their first move of free agency, and it’s aimed at upgrading a linebacker group that was either injured or dismal last year outside of Kaden Elliss. They’ll reportedly sign former Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Divine Deablo to a two year deal.
The extremely athletic linebacker will join Elliss and potentially Troy Andersen—we don’t know if he’ll be fully healthy and what his role will be now—to give this group more athleticism and upside. Whether he can realize that upside in Atlanta after an uneven start to his career with the Raiders is the big question.
#Raiders LB Divine Deablo is signing a with the #Falcons on a 2-year, $14M deal with $8M in year one, source said.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 11, 2025
Here’s a breakdown of the deal, which functions as a one-year pact with what’s essentially a team option for the second year.
Strong deal for #Falcons Divine Deablo: 2 years/$14M $7.76M guaranteed
$6M signing bonus
$1.66M 2025 base salary, $660k of which is fully guaranteed
$5.66M 2026 base salary, $1M of which is guaranteed for injury at signing and converts to full guarantee on 5th day of 2026 NLY…— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) March 11, 2025
We’ll start with the good. Aside from last year’s 17.1% missed tackle rate per Pro Football Reference, Deablo has never ended a season with one higher than 6%, and that sure tackling and physicality does show up. Deablo is not stellar in coverage but is solid enough there to be an upgrade on Nate Landman, with the raw speed and instincts to offer more than he has in the past. When utilized as a blitzer, that speed also shows up and he can wreak some havoc, with 10 pressures on just 57 pass rushing snaps in 2024. Given that he’s only 26 years old and Jeff Ulbrich is all about linebacker play, it’s easy to see why the Falcons would be interested in a young player with plenty of starting experience who has real ability and athleticism.
Where Deablo has to improve is his run defense, where he’s not an outright liability but is prone to being out of position and needing to chase. If he’s effectively replacing Nate Landman—which is the case, though Deablo may well start instead of Andersen or at least split time with him—the downgrade from Landman’s steady work against the run is likely to be very noticeable. Deablo is also coming off a down year after a quietly strong 2023, and will have to clean up the missed tackles and continue to improve in coverage to be a genuine asset across the board. The general sentiment from Raiders fans seems to be a belief that a healthy Deablo might be able to thrive in a new spot, but his inconsistency was frustrating and the Falcons will now be tasked with getting more out of him. They have an uneven track record of doing so.
But at a reasonable price point for a player likely to pull down approximately starter’s snaps in a linebacker group that needed his speed, coverage chops, and history of sure tackling, this is a quality signing, and one that takes one major need off the team’s plate early in March. If the Falcons have a healthy Andersen they’ll have the good problem of trying to find time for both he and Deablo, and perhaps can find creative ways to deploy both while keeping Elliss on the field.
Welcome Deablo to Atlanta!