Falcons Pass Rusher Arnold Ebiketie and the Elusive Pursuit of Consistency

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Sacks are often the most discussed number when evaluating pass rushers. But for Atlanta Falcons outside linebacker Arnold Ebiketie, two others offer an explanation for, at least partially, why his 14.5-career sack count isn't higher.

Entering his fourth NFL season, Ebiketie has played under four defensive coordinators and three position coaches. He'll experience a professional first this season: having the same outside linebackers coach as he did the year prior.

The 26-year-old Ebiketie has battled inconsistency throughout his pro career. Falcons defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake said during the 2024 season it didn't stem from practice habits, but confidence. Ebiketie struggled translating his performance in practice to gamedays.

But the deeper reason? Adjusting to a new system with different verbiage and responsibilities -- again.

"I think just coming in last year, consistent messaging," Falcons outside linebackers coach Jacquies Smith told Atlanta Falcons on SI before OTAs. "I think he caught on towards the end. Coming from a scheme change and things of that nature, I think something clicked for him as far as him being able to catch on."

The results showed.

Ebiketie 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 weeks, 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. He finished his first year under Smith's guidance with 26 tackles, six sacks, six tackles for loss and 12 quarterback hits.

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.

But Ebiketie also didn't have a designated position coach in 2023. The Falcons used a combination of defensive front specialist Lanier Goethie, senior defensive assistant Dave Huxtable and defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen to coach their pass rushers.

The year prior, Ebiketie learned from outside linebackers coach Ted Monachino, who wasn't retained in Nielsen's defense, which required a schematic change from a 4-3 to a 3-4 base.

Ebiketie will again have to learn a new defense in 2025. Former New York Jets defensive coordinator and interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich has taken over for Lake, who was fired in January.

Falcons head coach Raheem Morris has spoken optimistically about Ebiketie's progress this season -- but Morris acknowledged the constant flux of coaches in Ebiketie's ear has "definitely hurt" his development.

"You wouldn't be all the way wrong by saying that when you have so much change with those guys in those periods that they had, that's definitely going to set them back a little bit and make them play a little catch up," Morris said at April's league meetings.

"The changing of the guard when you get there with your original evaluator -- when you draft the guy, you pour into him. Full blown pouring into him. And that's just what coaches do, the full-blown buy in. And then once you get a new guy, you don't know how that thing was rated."

But Morris, who's entering his second year as Atlanta's head coach, and his staff plan on pouring into Ebiketie and the rest of the 2022 draft class entering the final year of their rookie contracts.

Veteran outside linebacker Matthew Judon, a four-time Pro Bowl nod who spent last season in Atlanta, developed a particularly playful bond with Ebiketie -- and Judon feels Ebiketie has a well-rounded skill set that's perhaps gone underrated outside Atlanta's building.

"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."

The Falcons anticipate having a better pass rush this year than last, when they finished second-to-last in the NFL with 31 sacks. Amid additions such as free agent signee Leonard Floyd and first-round draft picks Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr., Ebiketie has flown under the radar as a potential driving force behind the improvement.

But as Atlanta's pass rush surged over the final month and a half last season, it was Ebiketie who spearheaded the charge. For better or worse, as the Falcons' pass rush went, so did Ebiketie.

Atlanta hasn't finished inside the top 10 in sacks in two decades. For the Falcons to reach such heights with a new-look, new-schemed unit, Ebiketie needs to produce. And for the first time in his NFL career, he has the same voice in his ear each day helping prepare him for the moment.

"For AK, it's just mastering the consistency part," Smith said. "It's good that he'll be able to hear the same message. And obviously we're going to do a few things a little bit different, but being able to put him in spots where I feel like he'll be able to excel will be the key and then just developing that consistency with him."