Across the last two weeks, the Atlanta Falcons' defensive line has been stripped to bare bones. The Falcons lost Jalon Walker for the season after he tore his ACL in training camp, and James Pearce Jr. will be suspended for the first eight games of the 2026 season after his arrest earlier this offseason.
Losing both 2025 first-round picks for an extended period of time is a devastating blow, especially considering how they aren't exactly blessed with the luxury of edge depth. The Falcons are now relying on Samson Ebukam, Cameron Thomas, Azeez Ojulari, Bralen Trice, and the newly-signed Za'Darius Smith to pick up the slack.
It's safe to say the franchise-record 57 sacks this team recorded last year won't be one-upped in 2026.
You can easily say name one of several people the biggest losers of the depleted pass-rush. The secondary, Jeff Ulbrich himself, but this honor has to go to Brandon Dorlus, who was the biggest beneficiary of the improved defensive line last season, as it helped spark a Year 2 breakout for him.
Brandon Dorlus is the biggest loser of the Atlanta Falcons' new pass-rush
After hardly seeing the field as a rookie, Dorlus recorded an impressive 8.5 sacks in 2025. The only player on the team who had more was Pearce. Having a capable pass-rush made it easier for the defensive tackles to wreak havoc, as opposing offensive lines were more focused on him and Walker.
But here's the other thing. The 25-year-old did his best work in clean-up when Walker and Pearce would generate pressure, as that's how he recorded the majority of his sacks. Unforunately, that's not a luxury he'll get to have again in 2026, so his sack numbers are likely to take a bit of a nosedive.
If the Dirty Birds want to see Brandon Dorlus replicate his sack total, they're going to have to get creative with his usage. Ever since Walker went down, the Falcons have started to experiment with lining the third-year man up off the edge--the same position he played in college before putting on weight to move inside in the NFL.
He was listed as an edge rusher on Atlanta's first unofficial depth chart, but is better suited to play inside if helped by a strong pass-rush. That's how you know this team is desperate for contributors off the edge. And if they don't find a solution soon, it'll have an adverse effect on the Oregon product.
Brandon Dorlus was a breakout star last season and was once looked at as one of the new faces of this Atlanta Falcons' defense, but unless one of the current core four take a step up, it seems likely he won't be able to clean up and replicate his 2025 production.
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