Atlanta Falcons Send LB to Injured Reserve, Sign Possible Replacement

The Atlanta Falcons (3-3) face off against the Miami Dolphins (1-6) in Week 8 on Sunday. Ahead of the matchup, the team announced a series of roster moves on Saturday.

The biggest move of the day was Atlanta signing inside linebacker Ronnie Harrison to the active roster. The move was made after starting linebacker Divine Deablo was placed on injured reserve. Deablo left the Falcons' Week 7 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers early in the first quarter with a “forearm” injury.

He didn’t return to the game, and it was announced earlier this week that the linebacker was dealing with a forearm fracture. With Deablo’s movement to the IR, he will now be out for a minimum of four games, starting with Sunday’s matchup with the Dolphins.

Harrison broke into the league as a safety before being moved inside, matching the skillset of Deablo, who was a safety at Virginia Tech before making the transition to inside linebacker in the NFL.

The Falcons Podcast: Spotify | Apple Pods | WATCH

Although Atlanta did sign Harrison to their active roster, he will not be the only player called upon to fill in the role of Deablo. Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich revealed this week that the Falcons would look to replace the versatile linebacker through a committee approach.

“It’s going to be a kind of replace-him-by-committee a little bit, because as we all know, he's very unique in the fact that he is, from an athletic profile standpoint, he's very DB-ish. From a size standpoint, he's very linebacker-ish," Ulbrich said on Wednesday.

The players Ulbrich said would be called upon in lieu of Deablo’s absence were Josh Woods, JD Bertrand, Jordan Fuller, and DeMarcco Hellams. With the addition of Harrison, he’s expected to join that rotation as well.

On the note of players filling in for Deablo, Jordan Fuller was activated from the IR. Fuller was placed on IR after suffering a knee injury in Week 2. This season, he has played just one snap on defense for the Falcons, although he has gotten some run with special teams.

Although the veteran safety did not play last week against the 49ers, he has been a full participant in practice since his 21-day practice period opened up.

In other Falcons roster news, wide receiver Dyland Drummond and quarterback Easton Stick were elevated from the practice squad. With the release of Ray-Ray McCloud earlier this week and Drake London’s status becoming questionable, the Falcons have seemingly elevated Drummond as a precaution.

Stick will likely be the backup quarterback if Michael Penix Jr. is ruled out as expected with a bone bruise to his knee, with Kirk Cousins being elevated to the starting role.

Despite the injuries, the Falcons remain a 7.5-point favorite over the reeling Dolphins heading into Sunday’s game.