Falcons' Arnold Ebiketie Poised for Breakout After 'Up & Down' Rookie Year
When the Atlanta Falcons selected outside linebacker Arnold Ebiketie with the No. 38 overall pick in last April's draft, they did so with the hopes that he'd grow into an impact pass rusher sooner rather than later.
Following a stellar senior season at Penn State in which he earned first-team All-Big Ten honors, Ebiketie was tipped to play a key role in improving a defense that ranked last in the NFL in sacks with just 18.
But now, with Ebiketie's rookie season in the books, questions remain, as Atlanta only slightly improved its sack total to 21 while ranking second-to-last league-wide.
And yet - that feeling isn't really shared within the walls of Falcons headquarters, thanks in part to having measured expectations and an understanding of what truly quantifies success in a rookie season.
"Yeah, you'd love to have a guy go out as a rookie and have 15 sacks, but that usually doesn't happen," Smith said. "We feel good about (his) development but we have to continue to improve and it's all across the board."
During the season, Smith said that Ebiketie was "getting better each week" and particularly impressed with his ability to do subtle things in the coordinated games Atlanta played up front.
By year's end, Ebiketie finished with two and a half sacks, three tackles for loss, 11 quarterback hits (third most on the team), two forced fumbles and a pair of pass deflections.
There were highs - such as earning Atlanta's "player of the game" award after logging a sack and two tackles for loss against the Chicago Bears in Week 11 - and lows - like battling through a forearm injury that caused him to miss most of one game and all of another as he was finding his stride.
But how would Ebiketie summarize his rookie season? Here's what he said ...
"I'd say it was definitely a lot of ups and downs," Ebiketie stated. "It was a lot of positives that comes out of it, and just trying to build from it."
Ebiketie's opting to focus particularly on the "ups," as he realized that he belonged in the league and established a solid platform to "build from" moving forward.
"The positive is just having the ability to get better throughout the season," Ebiketie said. "I feel like where I'm at now (is) definitely not where I was at the beginning of the season, and leading into the offseason, I feel you can only get better from it."
As such, Ebiketie appears to be in line for a breakout second campaign.
Smith and general manager Terry Fontenot have said they're planning on prioritizing the pass rush this offseason, but there's also a need to allow young players like Ebiketie and 2022 third-round pick DeAngelo Malone time to develop.
Regardless of what moves Smith and Fontenot make, Ebiketie's likely to be at the forefront of their plans moving forward; part of that is due to the strides he made throughout his rookie season and a sense of confidence that it can be parlayed into a big year two.
Following his injury, Ebiketie had a quiet closing stretch to his rookie season ... but both he and the staff remain adamant that positive steps were taken.
The biggest area of improvement was learning "how to be a pro," per Ebiketie, who cited the leadership of former All-Pro defensive tackle Grady Jarrett.
But wait - there's more.
That's merely the off-field element of Ebiketie's growth; the ever-important on-field product was also full of progress in several categories.
"I'd say understanding the game as a whole," Ebiketie claimed. "At first, everything was kind of going fast, and later in the season, just understanding how to beat tackles different ways, understanding the offense's scheme as a whole and just being able to process things faster than I did early on."
Now, the challenge becomes building on this greater understanding of the sport's intricacies and becoming a more consistent force in year two.
As Smith said, the expectation was never for Ebiketie to be highly productive; it was certainly a hope, but the staff was well aware of the difficulties that come with adjusting to professional lines of scrimmage.
Equipped with 16 games of experience and the resulting invaluable lessons, Ebiketie's laser focused on taking his games to new heights - a process that begins this offseason.
"My goal is to be as complete a player as possible," said Ebiketie. "So just work on different things. I don't just want to be known as a pass rusher, I want to be an all three downs player. So, that's some of the things I need to work to be as complete a player as I possibly can."
Smith and staff have often discussed the significance of being able to pressure the quarterback and stop the run with four players up front; if Ebiketie can delve into a player who does both, it'll help take Atlanta's defense to another level.
And if the 24-year-old's week-to-week progression is any indication, that idea could turn into reality as soon as this September.
You can follow Daniel Flick on Twitter @DFlickDraft
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