Atlanta Falcons Sign Former First-Round CB

FLOWERY BRANCH, GA – The Atlanta Falcons have been slapped with another injury on Thursday after the team officially announced that special teams ace DeAngelo Malone was being moved to the injured reserve. 

“Yeah, he'll be out,” Morris said Monday about Malone. “I don't have the exact on what it is, because I didn't have my medical meeting yet with the guys, but I do know he'll be out. He'll miss some significant time. I don't know exactly how much.”

In 2025, Malone has taken 200 total snaps, but just 19 of those came on defense. One of those defensive snaps produced one of the Falcons’ biggest moments this season when he had the game-clinching interception in Week 6 against the Buffalo Bills. 

Malone will miss a minimum of four games, meaning the earliest he could return is in Week 15 for their road trip to Tampa Bay. Based on a report from the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s D. Orlando Ledbetter, it could end up being longer than that. 

In a pair of corresponding moves, the Falcons signed edge rusher Khalid Kareem to the 53-man roster from the team’s practice squad and signed former practice squad member C.J. Henderson back to the same role. 

Kareem has appeared in 29 games since being selected in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft. In that time, the defender has recorded 33 tackles (17 solo), two tackles for loss, seven quarterback hits, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, and one sack. He has made stops with the Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts, Chicago Bears, and Falcons over his five NFL seasons. 

He last appeared for the Falcons in 2024, where he played in two games and picked up four tackles. 

Henderson, 26, was a late addition to the Falcons’ training camp roster over the summer, with his signing coming just one day before the team’s second preseason game against the Tennessee Titans. He made a strong early impression on the coaching staff, though, and they retained him as a member of the practice squad. 

They later moved on from him on September 22nd to open up the practice squad slot for the team’s second kicking competition of the season. 

The former No. 9 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft has struggled to find a consistent home in the NFL. 

He was quickly traded in just his second season to the Carolina Panthers, who then declined his fifth-year option. He later signed contracts with the Houston Texans and Pittsburgh Steelers, but was unable to make their active rosters. 

The last time Henderson appeared on the field for the regular season came with the Panthers in 2023. The corner posted 39 combined tackles, including three tackles for loss with two pass defenses in 12 games. He had six pass defenses and two interceptions for Carolina in 2022, which is arguably his best NFL season.