LaCale London went from practice squad long shot to one of the Falcons’ most useful defensive linemen in a hurry, and that kind of rise can reshape a room fast.
Atlanta’s interior defensive line still looks like a work in progress, even with Brandon Dorlus and Zach Harrison drawing the most attention up front. The Falcons also made moves to steady things, bringing in Da'Shawn Hand to fill the void left by David Onyemata and trading Ruke Orhorhoro to land a true nose tackle in 2024 second-round pick Maason Smith. But the player with the best chance to tilt the whole conversation is London.
That’s what makes his 2025 breakout so important. The Falcons gave him a real opportunity after Harrison landed on season-ending IR, and London made the most of it.
In 13 appearances and five starts, he finished with 30 combined tackles, 17 solo tackles, seven tackles for loss, four QB hits and five sacks. For a player who had barely been able to stay on an NFL roster, that’s a major jump.
The path here wasn’t exactly smooth. Before last season, London hadn’t played at all in 2022 or 2024, and he appeared in only seven games for Atlanta in 2023.
He had just eight games of NFL experience entering 2025, which is what makes the production stand out even more. When the chance finally came, he seized it.
Now the question is how much further he can go in 2026. London probably isn’t jumping ahead of Dorlus, Harrison, or Hand and Smith on the depth chart, but he looks locked in as a key rotational tackle. And with Harrison in a contract year, that role could get even bigger if injuries or roster movement open the door.
The competition behind him doesn’t look especially threatening either. Devonnsha Maxwell spent last season in the UFL, Ross Blacklock hasn’t played in an NFL game in three years, and Chris Williams brings less proven production. That leaves London in a strong spot to keep his grip on snaps.
He may not be an All-Pro waiting to happen, but the Western Illinois product has already become a real contributor. With the Falcons’ defensive line depth thinner than it was a year ago, they need that breakout to stick.
In Other News...
Falcons Rookie James Pearce Jr. Now Faces A Troubling New Layer
A troubling new layer has emerged for James Pearce Jr., the Falcons rookie whose off-field situation has already drawn plenty of attention. Newly released body camera video has added more context to the incident, showing the traffic stop, Pearce getting back into the car and the chase that followed in Doral, Florida, after he fled officers.
The case stems from a domestic dispute involving his ex-girlfriend, Rickea Jackson, and it carries multiple felony and misdemeanor charges. For Atlanta, the concern now goes beyond the legal headlines and into the uncertainty around a young player trying to settle into the NFL while his situation remains unresolved. [Read more 🡒]
Falcons Camp Has An Undrafted Quarterback Worth Watching Closely
With OTAs in the rearview mirror and training camp set to open later this month, the Falcons are turning the page toward the real competition phase of the summer. Veterans are due in on July 28, rookies two days earlier, and among the 13 undrafted free agents Atlanta brought in, one name stands out as worth following closely: quarterback Jack Strand out of MSU-Moorhead. For a roster still sorting out depth behind the starter, any young passer who can make an early impression is going to get attention.
Strand arrives with the kind of backstory that tends to earn a longer look once camp pads go on. He put together a standout college run at the Division II level and now gets a shot to translate that production into an NFL opportunity, with his arm talent and fit in a pro system likely to be part of the evaluation. The challenge for Atlanta is straightforward enough: sort through the undrafted group, find which players can survive the jump in speed, and see whether Strand can stay in the conversation once the competition really starts. [Read more 🡒]
Falcons Fans Have Every Reason To Enjoy Tampa Bays New Risk
The Falcons offensive overhaul this offseason left no shortage of fingerprints, and Zac Robinsons one-year run was among the biggest. Hired in 2024 to run Atlantas offense, Robinson never found the kind of adaptability the job demanded, and his struggles helped set off the broader coaching-staff shakeup that followed. For a fan base still sorting through what went wrong, seeing Robinson land quickly in Tampa Bay is the sort of twist that invites a second look.
There is at least some risk in the Buccaneers betting on him, even if theyre doing so from a different setting with different personnel. Atlantas offense never consistently matched the talent around it, and Michael Penix Jr. was deployed almost exclusively from shotgun and pistol before now beginning to work under center, a reminder of how much the system itself had to evolve. Falcons fans do not need to root against the move to understand the appeal of watching how it plays out, because if Robinsons next stop goes sideways too, the comparison back to Atlanta will be hard to ignore. [Read more 🡒]