Can Two Late-Round Linebackers Be Impactful for the 2026 Falcons Defense?
The Falcons made huge strides with their defensive performance during the 2025 season. We saw improvements with the secondary and especially the pass rush. However, there was one glaring weakness the Falcons had on their defense: their linebackers. It was made evident as the year went on that the position was one of the reasons the defense faltered during Atlanta’s mid-season slump. With the conclusion of the 2026 NFL Draft, the Falcons hope that their two late-round linebacker selections can become contributors for their budding defense to help win a division they’re seemingly falling behind in.
Problems began to arise when ex-Las Vegas Raider, Divine Deablo, missed most of the season with a fractured forearm. He was excellent for the team in pass pro, as he was rated one of the highest-rated coverage linebackers in the limited snaps that he played. Losing him and the fact that Troy Andersen didn’t play a snap for Atlanta all season left a big hole in the middle of their defense. The intermediate coverage dropped off significantly without Diablo, and to make matters worse for Atlanta, both Diablo and Anderson are now entering the last year of their contracts.
The Falcons looked deep in the 2026 NFL Draft and may have found their future successors at the linebacker position, Kendal Daniels and Harold Perkins Jr. The picks on paper complement each other quite nicely. Daniels started as a hybrid safety/linebacker during his time in Oklahoma State, but switched to full-time linebacker duties when he transferred to Oklahoma. His skills from being a defensive back are still intact, as Daniels thrives in pass pro. He had great ball tracking and ball skills along with a massive six-foot-five frame, which also makes him one of the better tacklers in his class. His awareness can be off sometimes, and although he’s a sure tackler, his pursuit angles could use work- potentially making him a liability against shiftier players. Perkins, the LSU product, more than makes up for Daniel’s lack of athleticism and speed. He has elite speed at the position, closing pursuit angles quickly with his excellent footwork on running downs. His pass pro is very inconsistent and needs work, as Perkins often caught flat-footed when manned against running backs. Though his speed is elite, his ACL tear from 2024 has made his truly elite athleticism take a step back.
Daniels and Perkins are going to be joining a Falcons defense coached by Jeff Ulbrich and his staff. The same staff that took the Falcons' bottom-five-ranked defense in 2024 and turned it into a top-15 defensive unit in 2025. Safe to say, they’re in good hands, but if they want to make an impact for the Falcons in the upcoming season, they’ll need to iron out their issues on both running and passing downs. They’ll more than likely see the field at some point during the 2026 season, and they’ll have to make the plays that the backups from the season prior simply couldn’t. It’s still up in the air what the future holds for Anderson and Diablo’s time in Atlanta. However, if the Falcons hit on even one of their day-three linebackers, the middle of the field may be a concern for offenses when playing against that dirty south defense.
