The remaking of the Falcons’ 90-man roster is complete. The team has started its offseason program, held the rookie minicamp and are steaming toward their organized team activities before wrapping up with their mandatory minicamp in June.
Fixing the defense, which ended last season ranked 23rd in the league, was the team’s major offseason project.
It started with the hiring of Jeff Ulbrich as the defensive coordinator and was followed by adding outside linebacker Leonard Floyd and defensive tackle Morgan Fox in free agency, and outside linebackers Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. in the draft.
They also added defensive backs Xavier Watts and Billy Bowman Jr. in the draft.
Floyd, a former top 10 draft pick, has hit his stride late in his career. The Falcons are hoping he can lead the charge in the pass rush and have a impact on the younger players.
“Maybe it’s the ex-player in me, (but) I think there’s nothing more powerful than just seeing it modeled right in front of you,” Ulbrich said recently. “There’s something extremely powerful for a young player to be around that. So, having Leonard Floyd here will be huge as far as the development of these young guys.”
Floyd, a former Georgia standout who’ll turn 33 on Sept. 8, has 48 of his 66.5 career sacks over the past five seasons.
“An amazing resource, tons of experience,” Ulbrich said. “Obviously, he’s had tons of production. I mean, it’s rare that you get a player like that (who) just has consistently produced as far as pass rush is concerned for so long.”
The Falcons are also high on the addition of Fox, who has 27.5 sacks in mostly reserve roles with the Rams (2016-20), Panthers (2021) and Chargers (2022-24).
“The … players that find great process equals greatness,” Ulbrich said. “It’s not a magic formula. It’s real. So, having guys like Morgan and Flo will help those guys’ development tremendously.”
The Falcons were ecstatic when Walker fell to them with the 15th overall pick. They traded back into the first round to get Pearce, whom they had targeted at the 15th spot.
“They’ll both start as edge elements, so they’re going to work as outside linebacker/edge/defensive end,” Ulbrich said. “We’re going to be versatile. We’re going to be multiple, but that’s where they’re going to start.”
On first and second down, Ulbrich wants Walker to master playing on the edge.
“I think that there’s something there that’s really special,” he said. “Give him an opportunity just to have one home initially and become as good as he can at that.”
On third down, Ulbrich has a plan for Walker, too.
“We can get creative with him, and that’ll be part of his superpower,” Ulbrich said.
Pearce will be edge only.
“We’ll go from there,” he said.
Pearce’s combination of height (6-5) and speed (4.47 in the 40-yard dash) made him intriguing for the Falcons.
“If you looked at the best rushers in this draft, you could have made a case that he was the best one from a pure edge element,” Ulbrich said. “So, we had conviction in that. We did a lot of work with him on the field and off the field and felt great about the man that he is and the player that he is.”
Ulbrich said he couldn’t believe Pearce didn’t get quickly snapped up after they took Walker. The Falcons traded back in at 26th with the Rams to get him.
“I was pounding the table, and I know our entire staff was,” he said. “I know (general manager) Terry (Fontenot) was on the same page with that. So, it just made too much sense.”
The Falcons pass rushing woes have been well-documented: no double-digit sacker since Vic Beasley in 2016 with 15.5 and the perennial spot near the bottom of the league in sacks.
“We have high hopes,” Ulbrich said. “I have high hopes for this team.”
Watts, who was taken in the third round (96th overall), will get a chance to play early. The Falcons were not expecting him to be available.
“I had him as a second-round guy,” Ulbrich said. “I thought he was going to be long gone.”
The Falcons were impressed with Watts’ instincts.
“He understands defense from a conceptual level, where he knows … everything that’s going on,” Ulbrich said. “You can feel it. You can sense it, even if you don’t know football, you can feel it because he’s got anticipatory stuff that is elite.”
Watts finished his career tied for third in Notre Dame history with 13 career interceptions.
“A really cool player, and a very similar player I would have said to when I evaluated Jessie (Bates III) coming out, guys that play the neck up elitely,” Ulbrich said. “He’s an exciting one.”
Bowman is going to have a shot to earn the nickel back position.
“So, I think that’s a little bit more conducive to his skill set, a little bit shorter limbs, a little bit smaller stature,” Ulbrich said.
Bowman measured at just under 5-foot-10 and 192 pounds at the scouting combine.
“I think nickels, they need short-space quickness; they need the ability to match guys in the slot,” Ulbrich said. “Obviously, they’re going against typically the quickest receiver, so he matches that profile perfectly.”
The Falcons signed 11 players after the draft. Former Kansas cornerback Cobee Bryant was a three-time first-team All-Big 12 player. He had 13 career interceptions.
Coach Raheem Morris was with the Falcons when Brian Poole made the team as a rookie nickel back and ended up starting in Super Bowl 51.
“A crazy stat is that 11% of the starters in the National Football League are undrafted free agents,” Morris said. “So, I thought that was a pretty cool stat to give those guys (before the rookie minicamp started), to let those guys know that everybody’s got a chance.”
Here’s what the Falcons’ depth chart look like heading in to the OTAs:
OFFENSE
QB: Michael Penix Jr., Kirk Cousins, Easton Stick, Emory Jones
RB: Bijan Robinson, Tyler Allgeier, Jase McClellan, Carlos Washington Jr., Nathan Carter, Elijah Dotson
WR: Drake London, Chris Blair, Jesse Matthews, Quincy Skinner Jr., Makai Polk
WR: Darnell Mooney, Casey Washington, David Sills V, Nick Nash, Dylan Drummond
SWR: Ray-Ray McCloud, KhaDarel Hodge, Jamal Agnew
TE: Kyle Pitts Sr., Feleipe Franks, Teagan Quitoriano, Joshua Simon
TE: Charlie Woerner, Ross Dwelley, Nikola Kalinic
LT: Jake Matthews, Brandon Parker, Tyrone Wheatley Jr., Jordan Williams, Joshua Gray
LG: Matthew Bergeron, Elijah Wilkinson
C: Ryan Neuzil, Jovaugh Gwyn
RG: Chris Lindstrom, Kyle Hinton, Matthew Cindric
RT: Kaleb McGary, Storm Norton, Jack Neolson, Joey Fisher, Kilian Zierer
DEFENSE (4-2-5 Nickel)
DE: Leonard Floyd, James Pearce Jr., DeAngelo Malone,
DT: Ruke Orhorhoro, Brandon Dorlus, Ta’Quon Graham, Simeon Barrow Jr.
DT: David Onyemata, Morgan Fox, Kentavious Street, LaCale London, Khalid Kareem
DE: Jalon Walker, Arnold Ebiketie, Bralen Trice, Zach Harrison
ILB: Kaden Elliss, JD Bertrand, Josh Woods, Caleb Johnson
ILB: Divine Deablo, Troy Andersen, Malik Verdon, Nick Kubitz
LCB: A.J. Terrell, Kevin King, Natrone Brooks, Dontae Manning
RCB: Mike Hughes, Cobee Bryant, Lamar Jackson, Keith Taylor
NCB: Billy Bowman Jr., Clark Phillips III, Dee Alford
SS: Jordan Fuller, Xavier Watts, Benny Sapp III
FS: Jessie Bates III, DeMarcco Hellams
Special teams
K: Younghoe Koo, Lenny Kreig
P: Bradley Pinion
LS: Liam McCullough
KR: Jamal Agnew, Ray-Ray McCloud
PR: Jamal Agnew, Mike Hughes
AJC staff writer Gabriel Burns contributed to this story.
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