A great deal is going to be asked of rookie pass rusher, Bralen Trice. Despite slipping to the third round in the NFL Draft, he is going to be tasked with rejuvenating a unit that has struggled for more than a decade at getting after opposing quarterbacks.
Despite showing a little bit of an improvement last season, the Falcons are dead last in team sacks going back to 2020 with 110.
Calais Campbell and Bud Dupree, Atlanta's leading sackers from 2023 with 6.5 each, are no longer under contract with the team. Arnold Ebikete, who finished with six sacks in 2023, has yet to take that next step as a threat off the edge while Zach Harrison showed flashes of potential with three sacks in his final three games last season.
Beau Morgan, executive producer of the Atlanta Falcons Radio Network and host of The Morning Shift, was filling in for Steak Shapiro on The Steakhouse on Thursday. In discussing the prospect with people inside the organization, he's heard one consistent message regarding the Falcons' rookie edge rusher.
Bralen Trice "is different."
From his sources inside the franchise, the team is thrilled with the prospect that's coming to Flowery Branch to help this group.
"[His source] hasn't seen a guy who lights up when you talk about the game, that look in his eye, it was John Abraham stuff," Morgan said. "The fire in his eyes -- this guy is it. They were lucky to grab him when they did, that he was there. A lot of teams are going to be upset that did not grab Bralen Trice."
According to draft scouts, the former team captain for the Washington Huskies plays a physical game with a constant sense of urgency. He has an elite motor that has largely been lacking off the edge for the Falcons.
Morgan continued, "I think that, of all the draft picks at the end of the day, Bralen Trice is going to be the one after this season that fans are going to be like, 'Whoa! That one worked!'"