The only thing better than having one quality rookie linebacker is having two, and between Kendal Daniels and Harold Perkins Jr., this is the scenario the Atlanta Falcons are facing. They've both played meaningful roles for this Falcons defense, and have gotten some starting reps next to Divine Deablo.
The issue here is both rookies have both played well, and Daniels and Perkins each making an early impact makes it a lot tougher for Jeff Ulbrich to determine who deserves more snaps. And clearly he hasn't decided yet, as the usage between them across the first three weeks hasn't given any answers.
In the first two weeks of the season, Daniels got the majority of the first-team reps, yet in Week 3 against the Packers, Perkins got nearly twice as many defensive snaps (43 to 25). And given the 66-33 split was the inverse in the first two weeks of the season, it begs the question of what changed.
Will Harold Perkins Jr. or Kendal Daniels be the Falcons' LB2 going forward?
Admittedly speaking, it was odd to see Ulbrich up and change his tune like that. Daniels started each of the first two games and showed some nice flashes, but Perk had his moments too. It feels like there could be something going on we don't know about unless this was merely a precaution.
The only way this would make sense is if he was taking his injury history into account entering a short week (with 11 days of rest between the Packers and Saints games), since the 23-year-old missed most of OTAs due to a lingering case of calf tendonitis. But he was also briefly on the injury report before the Week 2 matchup due to an Achilles issue.
The weirder part is that Harold Perkins looked good in coverage, His 83.8 coverage grade from PFF led the team and was fifth among linebackers in Week 3, while his 82.8 defensive grade was third among all rookies LBs--only behind top-10 picks and DROY favorites Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles. Although it's been disappointing to not see the Falcons take advantage of his versatility.
Meanwhile, just like Perkins, his competition made a couple of nice run stops but has also been a little more volatile. Daniels recorded his third missed tackle in as many games against the Packers, so that's something he has to clean up if he wants to return to dominating the snap share at linebacker.
Daniels has the advantage of being drafted before him, but they're both Day 3 draft picks. A fourth-rounder versus a sixth-rounder really doesn't mean that much when they've both proven they can play, so the Falcons are going to evaluate them in a sense of allowing them both to display their upside and compete for the LB2 job.
Yeah, it's nice to know Jeff Ulbrich has succeeded in developing both of them thus far, but their success has them facing an interesting dilemma. As long as Deablo is still here, the Dirty Birds are going to have to decide between starting Kendal Daniels and Harold Perkins Jr.--and given how good they've been thus far, actually making that decision will be easier said than done.
Add us as a preferred source on Google