Projecting the Falcons 2026 starting lineup

Defense

DL: Zach Harrison, Maason Smith, Brandon Dorlus OLB/EDGE: Jalon Walker, James Pearce Jr. ILB: Divine Deablo, Kendal Daniels CB: A.J. Terrell, Avieon Terrell, Billy Bowman Jr. S: Jessie Bates, Xavier Watts This is a fun, pretty young defense. The rotation up front will be heavy enough that nominal starters are not all that important, but Harrison and Dorlus are impact talents and Smith is someone the Falcons clearly plan to make heavy use of. Da’Shawn Hand, LaCale London, and Chris Williams also should be heavily involved, while rookie Anterio Thompson will get his chances. Pearce seems very unlikely to play the entire season, so expect Samson Ebukam to be the de factor starter while he’s out. My only big swing on this side of the ball is at inside linebacker, where I’m expecting Daniels to win the starting job over Christian Harris in a battle that should go to the end of the summer. Otherwise, the only real question marks concern health; Billy Bowman Jr. may not be starting if he’s not recovered, for example. But we have a pretty good idea of who is going to be starting, and it’s largely young players with real upside, which makes this an intriguing year for the Falcons defense.

Special teams

K: Nick Folk P: Jake Bailey LS: Liam McCullough KR: Deven Thompkins PR: Zachariah Branch Don’t look now, but McCullough is now the seasoned old man of this special teams group, as the Falcons have a new kicker, punter, and potentially new returners. I expect Branch to handle punt return duties based on his success in college, but kick returner is really more of an open question. I’m penciling in Thompkins, who did solid work returning kicks last year, until someone else emerges or we get more clarity as to who will be competing. Essentially, you’re looking at three rookie starters if this holds up, and a lineup with considerable promise and real youth. It’s also a lineup with question marks aplenty—do the Falcons have enough size and potency up front? will they have Pearce for most of the season? is this quarterback room going to drag them down?—and we’ll want to see how things come together this summer before we project another middling season. But if you’re an optimistic sort, you can fall in love with the potential here. Now that you’ve seen these projections, are there any positions where you’d offer different candidates?