There is a possibility that Atlanta Falcons linebacker Divine Deablo could return for the team’s Week 12 matchup against the New Orleans Saints, according to head coach Raheem Morris. On Monday, Morris stated that Deablo will be designated to return from injured reserve.
“Assuming everything goes well,” Morris said, “he should be back playing.”
The official transaction has not yet been processed. Once it is, the Falcons will have a 21-day window to activate Deablo or move him to season-ending injured reserve.
Deablo was placed on injured reserve in Week 8 after fracturing his left forearm during the second quarter of Atlanta’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 7. The Falcons signed Deablo in the offseason, and he quickly became an important part of their defense. In his first six games with Atlanta, he recorded a sack assist, recovered a fumble, broke up four passes, and made 24 tackles.
After Deablo’s injury, defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich commented on how difficult it would be to replace him: “It’s going to be a kind of replace him by committee a little bit,” Ulbrich said. “Because as we all know, he’s very unique in the fact that from an athletic profile standpoint, he’s very DB-ish; from a size standpoint, he’s very linebacker-ish. So we’re going to replace him with that, with some DBs at times, and we’ll replace him with some linebacker at times.”
Since then, JD Bertrand and Ronnie Harrison have mainly filled Deablo’s role on defense. Bertrand initially received more playing time before Harrison started seeing increased reps.
“We played some really good ball with JD,” Morris said. “But Ronnie has really earned more reps and more role, and it’s kind of been increased since he’s been here. A lot of credit to Ronnie, a man that’s come here with us from training camp and really increased his role from a practice squad player to a special teams player to now being out there with that first-team defense in some situations. The way he’s playing, it’s going to do nothing else but increase.”
With Deablo potentially returning soon, this could change how those roles are distributed or reduce pressure on other players filling in for him.
This update comes amid other injury news for Atlanta: quarterback Michael Penix Jr. has been moved to injured reserve while wide receiver Drake London is listed as week-to-week due to injury concerns.
Morris highlighted Deablo’s value earlier this season: “I don’t know if he gets enough credit,” Morris said in Week 6, “for being as good a linebacker as he’s been in this National Football League.”
The Falcons have struggled without Deablo on the field; they are winless (0-4) during his absence.
