Falcons Need Arnold Ebiketie to Turn Flashes into Consistency

Nearly 45 minutes after the Atlanta Falcons' 34-7 victory over the New York Giants in Week 16, which proved to be Atlanta's final win of the season, the team's locker room was understandably loose and jubilant.

The Falcons regained the lead of the NFC South, and rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr. impressed in his first NFL start. There were plenty of questions, and plenty of reporters to ask them.

Then, another joined the mix: a 6-foot-2, 250-pound Cameroonian sporting a powder blue varsity jacket and blue-and-white baseball hat -- outside linebacker Arnold Ebiketie.

Lifting his pointer and middle fingers to his chin and smiling from ear-to-ear, Ebiketie asked outside linebacker Matthew Judon about his pick-six, the first defensive touchdown of his career.

"I've really got hands, though," Judon said. "I was thinking the other day: I should have been a wide receiver, but God blessed me with some sacks."

Ebiketie laughed and eventually walked away. It was a light-hearted moment, one offering a glimpse at the relationship Ebiketie formed with Judon, a four-time Pro Bowler who tallied the seventh-most sacks in the NFL from 2017-22 en route to becoming one of the league's best pass rushers.

Judon is set to enter free agency this spring, and his return to Atlanta is uncertain, if not improbable. Yet while the 32-year-old Judon finished his first Falcons season with the dissatisfaction of missing the postseason, he'll carry with him a greater appreciation for Ebiketie's skill set.

"I think his attention to detail and kind of willing to sacrifice," Judon told Atlanta Falcons on SI on Jan. 3. "People think he's just a pass rusher, and he kind of did more than that. So that's good when you get a pass rusher to play the drop, to play the run, and then kind of just abandon his first instinct for the better of the team."

But for the first 11 games, Ebiketie's season left lots to be desired.

He entered the Falcons' Week 12 bye with 24 tackles, one sack, three tackles for loss and seven quarterback hits -- far from the marks most expected from the Penn State product entering his third season.

But after the Falcons' bye week, Ebiketie flipped the switch. His self-scout not only benefitted himself but also Atlanta's entire pass rush, which tallied 21 sacks over the final six games, the third-most in the NFL.

During that span, Ebiketie recorded five sacks, which ranked sixth best in the league, and three tackles for loss to go along with 14 tackles.

Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot cited Ebiketie's late-season surge as a reason for optimism moving forward within the team's pass rush while noting Atlanta has pressure players.

The question mark following Ebiketie is consistency.

His rapid statistical ascent at the end of the season mirrored a similar stretch the year prior. In 2023, he totaled six sacks -- 5.5 of which came across seven games in the middle of the year. In Atlanta's other 10 games, he made just half a sack, no tackles for loss and six quarterback hits.

Where does the inconsistency stem from? It's not practice habits.

Former Falcons defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake often told his players that practice execution becomes game reality; if they do it in practice, they'll do it in the game.

Even before Ebiketie's strong close to the campaign, Lake said he pieced together quality reps in practice. The challenge became translating those reps to the game, which Ebiketie ultimately did. And once he saw it translate, his practice reps grew better, as well.

Confidence is an important factor. Lake believed finding success in practice helped Ebiketie become more confident, and when he finally broke down the barrier between himself and opposing quarterbacks, his confidence skyrocketed.

"Confidence is cash," Lake said. "You have the confidence -- you know you can do it. You know this rush move is going to work. You know your counter is going to work. You know the intent of the call. When you can play run, when you can play pass.

"And I think he's just getting more confidence in himself."

As the Falcons move forward this offseason, pass rush is often labeled as their biggest area of need. Despite their feverish finish, they finished second-to-last in the NFL with 31 sacks.

Fontenot, head coach Raheem Morris and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich have each expressed interest in adding and upgrading the unit -- both for 2025 and beyond.

Ebiketie, entering the final year of his rookie contract, will be playing under his fourth defensive coordinator in as many seasons. He's played in both 3-4 and 4-3 defenses, though he was drafted to play in a 3-4. Ulbrich historically plays more 4-3 but wants Atlanta's defense to be multiple.

There's still plenty to figure out with the Falcons' pass rush. The unit's personnel will change, as will its ways of generating pressure.

Ebiketie has shown flashes he can be part of the solution. But the Falcons need more than flashes -- and whether Ebiketie finds consistency may ultimately dictate his future in Atlanta.