{"id":148812,"date":"2025-06-22T01:26:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T01:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/148812\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T01:26:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T01:26:13","slug":"pff-identifies-one-area-for-falcons-to-target-in-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/148812\/","title":{"rendered":"PFF identifies one area for Falcons to target in 2026 NFL draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

After years After years of ignoring the edge rusher position, the Atlanta Falcons<\/a> finally got serious about improving it during the 2025 NFL draft. The team doubled down at outside linebacker in the first round, taking Georgia’s Jalon Walker<\/a> and Tennessee’s James Pearce Jr<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Falcons<\/a> even gave up a future first-round pick to ensure they landed Pearce at pick No. 26. Walker split time playing on the edge and as an off-ball linebacker<\/a> last season, and while we wouldn’t be surprised if he plays a similar hybrid role in Atlanta, both rookies are expected to play on the edge.<\/p>\n

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The team’s pass rush should undoubtedly be better in 2025, but there are a few other areas<\/a> Atlanta may need to address down the line. The Falcons are set to lose some big names at season’s end, and NFL teams always need to be focused on the future.<\/p>\n

Pro Football Focus identified one area for each team to address in the 2026 NFL draft<\/a>. Trevor Sikkema warned the Falcons not to overlook the inside linebacker position.<\/p>\n

PFF’s advice for Falcons: Address ILB in 2026 NFL draft<\/p>\n

“Kaden Ellis was the Falcons\u2019 highest-graded off-ball linebacker (71.5) in 2024, but he is entering the final year of his deal,” wrote Sikkema<\/a>. “If rookie first-rounder Jalon Walker is more of an edge player than an off-ball linebacker, Atlanta will need to invest some resources into that position. The good news is that the 2026 linebacker class looks deep.”<\/p>\n

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Elliss headlines a pretty significant group of Falcons players set to enter free agency<\/a> when the season is over. The team could lose two potential starting inside linebackers.<\/p>\n

Troy Andersen<\/a>, who’s expected to battle Divine Deablo for a starting job this season, will also see his contract expire in 2026. Nate Landman<\/a>, another former starter, signed with the Los Angeles Rams<\/a> in free agency.<\/p>\n

The coaching staff can also look to second-year linebacker JD Bertrand. The former Notre Dame standout appeared in 12 games last season, recording 23 tackles (16 solo). Another option could simply be to re-sign Elliss, although the team may not have the money if he plays as well as he did in 2024.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: 2026 NFL Draft: Atlanta Falcons urged to target LB position by PFF<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After years After years of ignoring the edge rusher position, the Atlanta Falcons finally got serious about improving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4955,254,9592,7,1486,1497,11418,58,8802,6,15,526,2661,9096,11417],"class_list":{"0":"post-148812","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-atlanta-falcons","10":"tag-divine-deablo","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-jalon-walker","13":"tag-james-pearce","14":"tag-jd-bertrand","15":"tag-los-angeles-rams","16":"tag-nate-landman","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-nfl-draft","19":"tag-tennessee","20":"tag-the-falcons","21":"tag-trevor-sikkema","22":"tag-troy-andersen"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114724417378214227","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}