In Atlanta’s preseason opener last season, safety DeMarcco Hellams got hurt on the Falcons’ second defensive snap against the Miami Dolphins. The former Alabama defensive back went to the locker room with an ankle injury that caused him to miss the 2024 NFL season.
One day short of one year later, Hellams returned to the field in Atlanta’s 2025 preseason opener against the Detroit Lions on Friday night. He started in the Falcons secondary, played 18 defensive snaps and eight special-teams plays and made two tackles on defense and one on special teams.
“I feel like I put my best foot forward out there today,” Hellams said after the game. “And I was off for a whole year, so that’s all I could think about from the moment of the injury is getting back out there again and just playing out there today. You know, making a few plays, just being out there with my brothers and just finishing the game healthy.
“I know I didn’t make it through Preseason 1 last year, so just making it through the Preseason 1 Game this year, I just thank God and I thank my teammates and I thank my coaches and training staff for getting me prepared to be out there today.”
The start of the preseason gave Hellams the opportunity to do what he’s noted for on the football field.
“We call him, ‘Bamm-Bamm,’” Falcons safety Jessie Bates III said at training camp. “He’s not a happy guy right now. He’s always moving with bad intentions of wanting to go hit somebody, and you need that on the football team.”
A 2023 Pro Bowler, Bates had 10 interceptions and 234 tackles in the past two seasons for Atlanta. Hellams is seeking to rejoin him in the starting secondary, with third-round rookie Xavier Watts and free-agent acquisition Jordan Fuller also vying for the other safety spot.
Hellams led Alabama in tackles in the 2022 season, but he didn’t get picked in the 2023 NFL Draft until the 224th selection.
After Hellams made the Falcons’ regular-season roster, he got on the field for 64 defensive snaps and 144 special-teams plays in the first 10 games of the 2023 campaign. After the Falcons’ Week 11 bye, Hellams played 305 defensive snaps and started four times at safety in Atlanta’s next six games. He missed the final contest of a season with a concussion.
But Hellams couldn’t build on that season because he fractured his left ankle in the 2024 preseason opener.
“I put my faith in God as far as having the attitude that this did happen to me,” Hellams said. “Like, it’s something that I can’t take back, so I tried to rewire my brain from feeling bad for me to kind of starting to feel like it was for me.
“That’s hard. That’s hard to do, for sure, to feel like a setback is a part of your process because I felt like I had big things going for me last year leading up to my injury.”
The Falcons play the second of their three preseason games at 6 p.m. CDT Friday, when the Tennessee Titans come to Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Atlanta lost to the Lions 17-10, but the game did not last the full four quarters. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Detroit safety Morice Norris sustained an injury that caused him to be transported directly from the field to a hospital by ambulance.
When play resumed, the Falcons snapped the football but made no attempt to advance it, and the Detroit defense stayed on its side of the line of scrimmage. Eventually, the players formed a prayer circle and, after more than eight minutes had run off the clock, the game was suspended.
“Like I said, I’m a faith-based person,” Hellams said after the game, “so first thing I did was learn his name, say a prayer for him. I know everybody on the sideline continued to say prayers for him.
“We heard some good news about him and just, hopefully, that he makes a full recovery from what happened.”
On Saturday, Norris posted on social media: “I’m all good, man. Don’t stress it. Appreciate all the check-ins and love.” And The Associated Press reported the safety returned to the Lions’ training facility on Sunday.
Atlanta Falcons safety DeMarcco Hellams tackles Detroit Lions running back Craig Reynolds during an NFL preseason game on Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.(AP Photo/Danny Karnik)
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.
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