Throughout the 2025 NFL season, SB Nation’s Doug Farrar will write about the game’s Secret Superstars — those players whose performances might slip under the radar for whatever reasons. In this installment, it’s time to recognize the Atlanta Falcons’ No. 1 defense, and linebacker Divine Deablo’s place in it, because it’s a perfect mix of player, coach, and scheme.
In 1977, the Atlanta Falcons put together one of the greatest defenses in NFL history. And if you’re not an old-school fan or eminent historian,
you may not even know about it. The Grits Blitz, led by defensive coach Jerry Glanville, set the all-time pro football record by allowing just 129 points in a 14-game season, and while the Denver Broncos’ Orange Crush and Dallas Cowboys’ Doomsday defenses took those two teams to Super Bowl XII at the end of the season, what the Falcons had was the equal of any defense that year — or any other. Sadly, that great defense didn’t see the playoffs at 7-7, because it’s so hard to win consistently when your offense averages 12.9 points per game that it may not matter how awesome your defense is.
There may be a new Grits Blitz attack in Atlanta these days. The 2025 Falcons defense, designed by head coach Raheem Morris and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, just tamed the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football in a 24-14 win that took them to 3-2 on the season. This Falcons defense currently ranks first in the NFL in Defensive DVOA by a fairly wide margin — one season after ranking 29th under Morris and defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake.
Ulbrich, who coached Atlanta’s defense in 2020 when Dan Quinn was fired after an 0-5 start and Morris was elevated to head coach from his former DC position, had a bit of a rocky start in his return in 2025, but things have been sailing along quite nicely since then. Ulbrich picked up some ideas during his time with the New York Jets in the interim, and this led to the signing of former Las Vegas Raiders defensive back Divine Deablo — and Deablo’s subsequent switch to linebacker. Deablo was a decent box safety/linebacker hybrid and occasional blitzer in four years with the Raiders, but the changes of scenery and position have done wonders. Now, Deablo is the true epicenter of this underground, underrated defense. While fellow linebacker Kaden Elliss is raising all kinds of hell as more of a pass-rusher, Deablo holds things down in the middle.
This season, Deablo has 20 solo tackles, 13 stops, six quarterback hurries, and in coverage, he’s allowed four catches on seven targets for 40 yards, 26 yards after the catch, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 73.5. Against the Bills, he was equally devastating when blowing up run plays or dropping into coverage.
Ulbrich wanted Deablo on this defense to fill a role that has become more and more important in today’s NFL.
“It’s a profile,” Ulbrich said last Thursday of Deablo. “And I’m not saying he’s ‘this or that,’ but his profile’s been one that we’ve had a lot of success in this system with. The most recent being Jamien Sherwood in New York. He was a converted safety that came to us. He actually came out the same year as Divine. Two guys that we targeted at a high level for that particular draft. I did it with De’Vondre Campbell when I was here. Fred Warner was a nickel that converted to linebacker. In this day and age, the backers are put in so much space, and you’ve got to navigate so many open field tackles, and you’ve got to run with speed. Offensive coordinators become so creative. They’ll get the linebackers on wide receivers on a consistent basis, so you’ve got to have players that can run. He checks that box in every way.
“Then, my next big criteria is length. If you have speed and you have length, he’s got an opportunity to be very successful as a linebacker in the system. Now, what I didn’t know was the human being that he is, which has just blown me away. The character, the football character, just the character as a man, the teammate that he is, the worker that he is, the humility that he has. I mean, it’s almost like this guy, there’s no way he’s that good of a human being. But then he just keeps showing up as that same person. So, we’re so fortunate to get him. It’s so exciting just to see him flourish and really become the player we thought he’d be.”
Morris was on board from the beginning, especially as he saw the Deablo/Elliss combination coming together.
“His athleticism stands out, it’s been unique,” Morris said of Deablo back in June. “His length stands out, which has been unique. And really, him keying and being dialed behind the ball, probably a lot better than we thought. And I’m really fired up to see that. And really, again, man, once you get into training camp, you get a chance to see some of the physical tools that you loved on tape come to life. And he’s done such a nice job of putting his role, putting his stamp on it. Him and Kaden have developed a really nice, calm demeanor linebacker relationship, which is very important, those guys being the quarterbacks of the defense. Those guys both have shown they’re capable of, either one of them, being a green dot, which you don’t know about a person until you’re around them, because of their style of play.
“Some guys don’t like the green dot, because they like to just go ahead and talk a little trash across the ball, right? Some guys like to lead in that cerebral world, and these two guys are both in that cerebral type of world, that they play the game, again, from the neck up. But I’ve been really pleased with what he’s done, Divine. I’ve been really pleased with the character, really pleased in how he’s fitting to our football team. I’ve been really pleased how our locker room has accepted him and brought him in, and really embraced him. And it’s been fun to watch those guys.”
It should be even more fun to watch these guys as the season progresses, and the new Gritz Blitz crew keeps serving it up.
