Falcons Free Agent Addition a Top Player on Defense in Debut

The Atlanta Falcons lost their season opener to division rivals the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23-20 on Sunday. While the offense did not look overly impressive, Falcons linebacker Divine Deablo had himself a solid Atlanta debut. 

On Sunday, Deablo was all over the field. He finished the game with six total tackles, one tackle for loss, one quarterback hit, one pass defended, 0.5 sacks and three pressures. On the pass that he broke up, Deablo had great coverage on Pro Bowl wide receiver Mike Evans and nearly intercepted the ball. 

Morris spoke about the dropped interception, but overall, he was happy with the play he saw out of the defender. 

“He [Divine Deablo] did such a nice job in those things, whether it be run fits or in the passing game. He definitely affected the pass when he had a chance to rush in there and did some really good things as well. So he’s as advertised, and he did a nice job for us today.” Morris said after the game.

The Falcons signed Deablo to a two-year, $14 million contract, including a $6 million signing bonus and $7.6 million guaranteed. The linebacker spent his first three seasons in the NFL with the Las Vegas Raiders.

So far, the man who was nicknamed Avatar by Falcons linebacker Kaden Ellis has been “as advertised.” 

“That’s a great way of describing him...He has significant range; he plays with great length… His vision and key diagnosed in the box has looked absolutely outstanding in practice,” Morris said. “We’ve been able to watch him in coverage, he does it easy, he moves easily, he is an elite mover… He’s shown me some things is his ability to be able to pressure the passer… And he’s been really impressive what he’s been able to do both in the run game and in coverage.”

According to the PFF postgame defensive grades, Deablo had the best performance in the game behind linebacker Arnold Ebiketie. 

He finished with a grade of 76.0 and was among just three Falcons defenders to have a grade above 70. Rookie safety Xavier Watts was the third behind Ebiketie and Deablo with a grade of 72.8. 

Between Deablo and Watts, strong debuts for the Falcons were aplenty on the defensive side of the ball.

That experience can be carried into next week when the Falcons head to Minnesota to take on the Vikings.

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