FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Kaden Elliss.
If you have listened to any of the Falcons Final Whistle podcasts at any point from — let's say — July 2024 to January 2025, you know I could not stop talking about Elliss. My reasoning for it was because I felt like I could read the tea leaves. I felt like this could be a big year for Elliss if he was used in the way I thought best suited him — a mix of traditional linebacker play with a primary role in pass rush, which disguises his intentions from time to time.
At the season's end, the tea leaves were pretty spot on. Elliss was the only player in the NFL to finish the 2024 regular season with more than 150 tackles and five sacks. The way he was used after the bye week allowed him to generate pressure at a clip no other off-ball linebacker could match. To put it simply: What the Falcons were able to do with Elliss in 2024 was pretty special.
The questions that remain, however, involve those around him. Let's dive into the facts of the 2024 season that shape how we view the inside linebacker position in 2025.
OFFENSIVE POSITION REVIEWS:
DEFENSIVE POSITION REVIEWS:
Notable returners: Kaden Elliss, Troy Andersen, JD Bertrand
Free agents: Nate Landman (RFA)
2024 production:
- Kaden Elliss: 17 starts, 17 appearances | 151 tackles (eight for a loss), 85 solo | 5 sacks | 16 quarterback hits | 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery | 1 interception
- Nate Landman: 9 starts, 13 appearances | 81 tackles (0 for a loss), 39 solo | 0 sacks | 0 quarterback hits | 3 forced fumbles
- Troy Andersen: 4 starts, 7 appearances | 47 tackles (1 for a loss), 28 solo | 0 sacks | 1 quarterback hit | 0 forced fumbles | 1 pick-six
- JD Bertrand: 0 starts, 12 appearances | 23 tackles (1 for a loss), 16 solo | 1 sack | 1 quarterback hit | 0 forced fumbles
Biggest question facing the position group in 2025: What do the Falcons do around Elliss?
There were high expectations for the inside linebacker position group and what it could be in 2024. In training camp, it was a group where depth felt plentiful. To the point of believing the Falcons could run out any combination of Elliss, Andersen and Landman and feel pretty good about the product that followed. The players had skill sets that worked well off of one another. There was reason to be excited about each of them: Elliss could infuse creativity in the defensive design; Landman had nearly a year's worth of starts under his belt; Andersen was finally healthy and poised to show off his physical gifts. The Falcons drafted Bertrand for good measure, and the rookie had a good group to learn from.
Things quickly changed about a month into the season. Landman worked through a soft tissue injury early on that kept his role limited. But the bigger issue had to do with Andersen, who was at 100% for only a few games.
Andersen missed a vast majority of his second season in 2023 due to a pectoral injury. He saw action in just two games that year. After suffering a knee injury in Week 4 after being named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week, the Falcons never got Andersen back to full strength. He went on injured reserve because of the injury towards the season's end.
Andersen is a special athlete, who's traits we have seen flashes of since he was draft by the Falcons three offseasons ago. But here we are, with Andersen entering into his fourth year in the league, and injuries have plagued him to the point where his ceiling and floor as a player in this league is a bit unknown. He's not a bust as some talking heads would like you to believe. When he's on the field, he is impactful and allowed the Falcons to have success particularly in 2024 when he was lined up alongside Elliss. The Falcons missed his sideline-to-sideline speed when he wasn't there. But that's the thing about Andersen: He just hasn't been on the field much.
This next season feels like it could be one more shot for this specific core of inside linebackers, particularly Andersen, to show what they've got. We saw what Elliss could do in 2024. He'll be back on the last year of his contract in 2025. Bertrand and Andersen are still on their rookie deals, and the Falcons could — and likely will — bring Landman back in 2025 seeing as he is a restricted free agent who they can sign for the minimum. So, if this whole group returns, what do the Falcons do with them? How can they get the most out of them when they were pigeon held because of injuries last year? How does Jeff Ulbrich's infusion into the unit evolve the inside linebacker position, considering he knows the position all too well? These are all questions we'll be monitoring in 2025.
Join us as we take a look back on our favorite photos from the Atlanta Falcons' 2024-2025 season.
