With Jalon Walker out for season, where do Falcons turn?

“We’re going to ask him to do a lot,” Ulbrich said. “What we asked Kaden to do, I’d never been around anything like that before in the past. There was days where he was an outside ‘backer, days he was a defensive end, days he was an inside ‘backer, days he was really in some ways a nickel.

“That’s hard to replace. Jalon’s up to the task, and Jalon’s going to bring his own flavor to it, too. Jalon’s got some superpowers that are really unique.”

The Falcons no longer need just an Elliss replacement. They need a Walker replacement, too. One was hard enough. Two may be insurmountable.

So, where do the Falcons go from here? Let’s take a look.

Walker’s role

The Falcons hadn’t reached the point in training camp where Walker’s alignment expanded beyond his traditional outside linebacker position. Any experimentations with moving Walker around the defense hadn’t taken place.

So, the Falcons didn’t waste any time with unnecessary installations. Their replacement for Walker will only be asked to handle usual responsibilities like edge-setting and pass-rushing, which simplifies the process.

The Pearce dilemma

One of the biggest compounding issues attached to Walker’s injury is the onus it places on James Pearce Jr. to replicate his pass rush production from last season — and the depth of the pain a potential Pearce suspension causes.

The NFL’s investigation remains open on Pearce, who was arrested Feb. 7 for an alleged altercation with his ex-girlfriend Rickea Jackson. The expectation, however, is Pearce will face punishment from the league and may miss at minimum the season’s first month.

So, between Walker’s injury and Pearce’s off-field trouble, the Falcons’ 2025 first-round pass-rushing tandem won’t be much help when Week 1 rolls around.

Who steps up? Meet the in-house candidates

Throughout OTAs and minicamp, Samson Ebukam worked with the first team defense opposite Walker on the line of scrimmage in their 3-4 base packages.

Perhaps the Falcons shift away from 3-4 looks and go heavier upfront without Walker, or maybe they run more nickel as their base concept and lean heavily on Ebukam as their primary edge presence.

Regardless, Ebukam now ascends into a key role for the Falcons. The 31-year-old tallied only two sacks and five tackles for loss in 14 games with the Colts last season, which came after he missed the 2024 campaign with a torn Achilles.

The Falcons need Ebukam to rediscover his 2023 form, when he paced the Colts with 9½ sacks. He feels he’s capable of delivering.

“Everyone’s always told me that it’s the second year you really get going after an Achilles because now it’s just not in your mind anymore, and that’s where I’m at right now,” Ebukam said during minicamp. “I’m getting off the rock just like I used to. I’m actually a little bit faster, in my opinion, and I got that strength in there, so I’m not worried about the Achilles at all this year.”

There are other options, too, though none are necessarily safer.

A pleasant development this summer for the Falcons, and perhaps a cruel twist of irony that his chance to shine comes from a knee injury, is third-year outside linebacker Bralen Trice.

The 2024 third-round pick missed each of his first two seasons because of a knee injury — he tore his ACL in the preseason in 2024 and reaggravated it in 2025 — but has seen extensive action during training camp.

Trice took Ebukam’s place in a few 11-on-11 reps with the first-team defense, and he primarily worked with the first two units through the opening week of camp. He’s flashed as a run stopper in team drills and was a productive pass rusher at Washington, collecting 18 sacks in 40 games with the Huskies.

The Falcons believe Trice is in a good head space, and the 25-year-old feels his best football is still ahead.

“I’ll be the same, if not better,” Trice said of his present skill set compared to his pre-injury form. “Just because I’ve had this time to really figure out how I want to be on the field, how I want to take care of my body, how I want to prep myself before games, take care of myself after games.”

Azeez Ojulari is the wildcard.

The former Georgia standout burst onto the scene with eight sacks in 2021, setting the Giants’ rookie record, and followed with 5½ sacks in 2022. He had a down year in 2023, posting just 2½ sacks, but rebounded with six sacks in 2024.

Ojulari spent 2025 with the Eagles and found minimal success. He was a healthy scratch for the first month of the season, then started two of the next three games before a hamstring injury prematurely ended his campaign.

The Falcons bought low on Ojulari, who signed a one-year, $1.4 million contract this spring with hopes of rediscovering his previous success. The 6-foot-3, 240-pound Ojulari has spent considerable time with the second-team defense and hasn’t received much action with the starters.

Falcons outside linebackers coach John Timu believes Ojulari can get back to the heights he reached early in his career, but the process is easier said than done.

“We just got to make sure we get that out of him, because I think what he brings to the table is phenomenal,” Timu said during OTAs. “Some of the things he’s done in the past, we’re trying to poke and prod and see what we can get it done. And so, his experience, got to get it out of him.

“He’s kind of quiet by nature, but I think he has a lot in him to share, and guys are willing to listen. So, got to bring it out of him.”

Another name to monitor, especially if the Falcons opt to go heavier in their replacement for Walker, is veteran defensive end Cameron Thomas, who played under coach Kevin Stefanski the past two years with the Browns.

Thomas has seen extensive run with the starting defense throughout this summer, and he’s delivered more splash plays along the defensive line than many of his colleagues. He’s created pressure, he’s made run stops and he’s done enough to inspire confidence he can be part of the rotation this fall.

The 6-foot-4, 265-pound Thomas played in 22 games with the Stefanski-led Browns and collected 39 tackles, 3½ sacks, five tackles for loss and eight quarterback hits.

Are outside candidates an option?

Surely. According to Over The Cap, the Falcons have $38.6 million in salary cap space, which gives them plenty of freedom to pursue free agents.

Leonard Floyd, who started 15 games for the Falcons last season, is still on the market. So are defensive ends Tyquan Smith and Derek Barnett, each of whom have ties to defensive line coach Nate Ollie. Bigger names such as Joey Bosa, Von Miller and Denico Autry are available, too.

The Falcons have options, and they will certainly look externally. There’s no surefire answer in the pool of candidates presented above, but Walker’s injury may force general manager Ian Cunningham to take a swing — a somber, ill-desired one at that.