Kendal Daniels Fits Falcons’ ‘Attack-Style’ Defensive Vision

FLOWERY BRANCH – The Atlanta Falcons addressed their linebacker depth in the fourth round of the NFL with their selection of Kendal Daniels. After trading back from No. 122, they were still able to lock in on an interesting prospect at No. 134, while picking up an extra sixth in the process.

Daniels offers some outstanding size (6-foot-5, 242 pounds) and versatility to the Falcons’ second level, a calling card for defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. He played in the ‘attack-style’ defense under Brent Venables at Oklahoma last season, an eerily similar system to the one run in Atlanta.

Those two met at the NFL Combine in February, and the Falcons were the first team to meet with Daniels there. He said it made their conversation feel seamless.

“We joked about the linebacker position and everything, and we went back and forth,” Daniels said. “He gave me some feedback on how he thinks I played, and I gave him feedback on what I knew about their defense. But it was a great conversation.”

His match in Atlanta is quite clear.

He played safety at Oklahoma State for the first three years of his collegiate career, transitioning to linebacker as a senior in 2024. By 2025, he had transferred to Oklahoma to play a hybrid linebacker-safety-rusher role in Brent Venables’ attack-style system. He was all over the field, finishing with 53 tackles, nine tackles for loss, and three passes defended.

“Extravagant, versatile, just a lot of different things,” Daniels said about the role he played with the Sooners last season. “It's hard to place one thing on it, because I played everywhere with Coach Venables.”

Daniels does it all. He cited linebackers Fred Warner and Tremaine Edmunds and safety Grant Delpit as players he models himself after.

“You just want different body types because I play a lot of positions,” he explained. “Just being able to put pieces together – and I don't want to say I play like one person and who I model my game after, but I want to be the best Kendal Daneils that I can be.”

In Atlanta, he will pair with a linebacker who followed a similar path. Divine Deablo transitioned from wide receiver to safety at Virginia Tech, and then from safety to linebacker in the NFL. His size is what stands out immediately, but his positional flexibility is what made him special.

He was a somewhat unheralded acquisition last offseason, but it was pivotal. In his first year with Ulbrich in Atlanta, Deablo’s versatility and athleticism became the linchpin of the Falcons’ defense.

Daniels is not familiar with Deablo, at least not yet, but that pair could be one of the more intimidating-looking duos.

Aside from Deablo, Daniels will slot in alongside an increasingly crowded linebacker corps in Atlanta. The Falcons will need to replace one of their leaders in Kaden Elliss, but will do so with a combination of bodies. Christian Harris was signed in free agency from Houston, Troy Andersen returns from a knee injury that cost him the last year and a half, and here comes one more. This trio will compete for that starting job this summer.

Ulbrich said that it would take two players to replace Elliss, and Ian Cunningham found him three.

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