Atlanta Falcons DL Ready to Take Over as Leader with Bigger Role in 2026

Atlanta Falcons defensive lineman Brandon Dorlus led all NFC interior linemen with 8.5 sacks in 2025, but he's still being slept on around the NFL.

Despite looking down at the rest of the NFL in such a key metric, Dorlus didn't get a single vote for top 10 on ESPN's poll of NFL personnel for his position. 19 players received votes, including former teammate David Onyemata.

Worse, on Madden 27, Dorlus comes in as the 74th-ranked player at his position.

That said, rankings don't win football games, and Dorlus is eager to be an even bigger part of an improved Falcons' defense this year.

"I feel like I have a bigger role coming into this year three now, and I feel like I got to put it on tape every day. Just make sure I'm accountable to get some sacks," Dorlus said at Falcons training camp on Tuesday.

Dorlus admitted this year is a bit different for him after impressing last season. His place in the defensive line rotation is well established, and he's eager to take on a bigger role.

"Of course, last year I felt like I had to make sure that they know I could go out there and play ball," Dorlus said with a grin.

"Now they see what I could do. Now I gotta do it two times better than I did last year. I wanna get more sacks. My goal this year is to win a lot of games, get to that, play that Super Bowl game, and be a Pro Bowler."

Familiarity with the defense will help Dorlus acclimate to a bigger leadership role on the team and improve on a standout 2025 campaign.

"We got the same guys on defense," Dorlus said. "You know, we got Nate (DL coach Nate Ollie), Brick (DC Jeff Ulbrich). Those are my guys that I work with.

"You got some kinks here and there that's some changes to make the defense better, but at the end of the day it's the same thing that we learned from the first time he was here last year. I'm excited. It's a great, great defense, and can't wait to get out there."

One of the strengths of Ulbrich's defense is keeping it simple for his player to know their jobs on every snap. Ollie makes it even easier for his defensive linemen.

"Coach Nate Ollie makes it really simple for me," said Dorlus. "He said, 'BD, you're out there to go get sacks.' So, my job is out there to make sure I'm out there getting the quarterback on the ground"

The Falcons turned in a franchise-record 57 sacks in 2025, and Dorlus was a big part of that. If he's an even bigger part of an improved defense and team, he won't be slept on next year.

Sign up for our free Atlanta Falcons newsletter and follow us and 30,000 Falcons fans on Facebook and X for the latest news!

Add us as a preferred source on Google