When the Atlanta Falcons made linebacker Divine Deablo their first free-agent signing of the offseason, it likely came as a surprise to many, given that Deablo was and is a relative unknown at the time. Even now, with the 2025 NFL season upon us, little information has been gleaned in the months since about why Deablo was the Falcons’ priority signing.
I hope to shed more light on that today. However, to look forward, we must first look back to last summer, when I wrote about the importance of Deablo’s
predecessor, Troy Andersen, to the Falcons’ defensive potential.
Andersen’s value centered around his coverage abilities, which could allow more pass-rushing opportunities for fellow linebacker Kaden Elliss. Deablo has the potential to impact in the same way, because Deablo is essentially an Andersen reskin.
Like Andersen, Deablo didn’t begin his college career as a linebacker. He spent four years at Virginia Tech playing safety before the Las Vegas Raiders converted him to linebacker in the NFL. The Falcons expect those former safety chops to translate into “plus” coverage ability. However, Deablo didn’t necessarily shine there during his four seasons with the Raiders, as they primarily played zone coverage. But Deablo’s speed and athleticism mean there’s a lot of untapped potential there that the Falcons hope to exploit.
That same speed could serve as an asset in the Falcons’ “attacking” front, which will ask its linebackers to be more aggressive by playing downhill, shooting gaps, and generating tackles for loss. Deablo has the potential to excel in that area, coming off a season where he ranked sixth in the NFL with a run-stop rate of 73 percent according to FTN Fantasy. That run-stop rate is comparable to the 77 percent former Falcon Nate Landman produced in 2023 as one of the league’s top run-defending linebackers.
The Falcons hope that Deablo is a blend of Andersen’s coverage abilities coupled with Landman’s run-stopping skills. And that doesn’t factor in another area where Deablo can impact the Falcons: the pass rush.
That has been the exclusive province of Elliss in recent years. While Deablos’ 2024 pass-rush win rate (according to PFF) of 11.5 pales in comparison to Elliss’s 20.4, the former number still ranked among the top 15 linebackers. That would mark it as a significant improvement over Deablo’s predecessors in Andersen and Landman.
Deablo represents the ideal linebacker for the Falcons’ defense, which is why the Falcons felt their offseason revamp of the defense should begin with a player of his skillset. But that’s only the theory behind Deablo’s addition. Ultimately, the reality will be determined on the field. After all, there was plenty of theory behind why the Falcons fell in love with Andersen’s potential in the past, yet it was never fully realized on the field, thanks to his unavailability due to injuries that continue to plague him in 2025.
Deablo had this same unrealized potential in Las Vegas, yet didn’t perform up to that level. But the Falcons’ coaching staff has firmly shown confidence in their ability to cultivate more out of this collection of defenders, and Deablo is included in that group. With Deablo entering his fifth NFL season, normal expectations are that a player has reached their ceiling by this point in their career.
However, Deablo’s move to a brand-new position in the pros leaves doubt on whether he is experiencing the typical development curve. The Falcons are betting that they’ve struck at the perfect opportunity to get Deablo’s best play moving forward in the months and years to come.
We’ll all be watching to see and hoping that bet pays off. And it starts this Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
