A deep breakdown of the Atlanta Falcons 53-man roster
Defensive Line
- Takkarist McKinley
- Adrian Clayborn
- Grady Jarrett
- Jack Crawford
- Tyeler Davison
- Allen Bailey
- Deadrin Senat
- Vic Beasley Jr
- John Cominsky
Grady Jarrett has resigned a long term deal to stay in Atlanta for four more years and is the anchor on the defensive line. Newly acquired free agent Tyeler Davison comes over from division rival the New Orleans Saints to pair with Jarrett.
Then the interesting part comes on the defensive end position where they’ve added veterans Allen Bailey and Adrian Clayborn both of whom will rotate on the line with starters Takk McKinley and Vic Beasley. Allen Bailey signed a one year deal in the offseason who came over from the Kansas City Chiefs and has 19.5 career sacks and can play defensive end or tackle. Currently, the Falcons have him fourth on the depth chart for defensive tackles with veteran Jack Crawford listed as third.
As for Clayborn, he comes back to Atlanta after a one-year hiatus in New England. Clayborn has 32.5 career sacks and had one of his best seasons in 2017 with Atlanta when he posted 9.5 sacks, including a game against Dallas where he had six.
John Cominsky who was drafted in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL draft looked really good in preseason and has potential to be a starter one day behind Vic Beasley which could potentially be his last season with the team. Beasley has been solid but hasn’t had his numbers near where he was his rookie season and the Falcons may look to save some cap space after the season if he does continue on the downward slide.
Deadrin Senat is the last defensive tackle listed on the depth chart and likely won’t see much playing time and when Ra’Shede Hageman comes back from suspension in week three the Falcons will have to make a decision between keeping one or both Senat and Hageman.
Linebackers
- De’Vondre Campbell
- Deion Jones
- Foye Oluokun
- Jermaine Grace
- Duke Riley
The middle linebacker position and weakside linebacker position are no brainers with Deion Jones and De’Vondre Campbell leading the way. A healthy Deion Jones on the field makes the Falcons defense so much better and he should be on his way to a Pro Bowl season if he plays a full season.
De’Vondre Campbell has had back to back solid seasons for the Atlanta Falcons and he’s going into his fourth year as the starter. Richie Brown was Campbell’s backup before heading to injured reserve and expect Duke Riley to play on the strong side as well as the weak side as the backup.
Foye Oluokun won the strong side linebacker spot last season over Duke Riley after Riley started 2018 as the lead man. A rookie last season, Oluokun has outplayed Riley and hasn’t looked back since taking the top spot and I look for him to have a productive season.
After spending the 2018 season on the practice squad Jermaine Grace beats out veteran Bruce Carter to become Deion Jones’ backup at middle linebacker.