FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons are deep into the process of deciding upon their initial 53-man roster for 2025.
They have to be. The NFL's deadline is 4 p.m. ET Tuesday.
In the lead-up to that tentpole moment, signifying the start of the regular season, there have been predictions across all media platforms of which players will make the cut, including from the Falcons' own editorial team. Tori McElhaney, Will McFadden and yours truly each put out one at different points during training camp.
This story is not another guess for the future. Rather, it's a look back to get a general idea of what may come. Specifically, how the offense and defense will be split. Because, what's curious, a lot of the predictions did favor the defense over the offense when it came down to pure numbers.
For example, I ended up with 28 defensive players and 22 offensive players. So did McElhaney. And McFadden was close with 27 and 23, respectively.
Is that normal?
Simply put: Kind of. It is more common for a team to be defense-heavy vs. offense-heavy. It is, however, just as likely to be split even between the two units.
| NFL | ARI | ATL | BAL | BUF | CAR | CHI | CIN | CLE | DAL | DEN | DET | GRB | HOU | IND | JAX | KAN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OFF | 25 | 24 | 25 | 23 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 24 | 26 | 25 | 23 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 24 | 26 |
| DEF | 25 | 26 | 25 | 27 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 26 | 23 | 25 | 26 | 26 | 24 | 24 | 26 | 24 |
| SPT | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| NFL | LVR | LAC | LAR | MIA | MIN | NWE | NOR | NYG | NYJ | PHI | PIT | SFO | SEA | TAM | TEN | WAS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OFF | 24 | 25 | 23 | 25 | 24 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 22 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 23 | 25 | 25 |
| DEF | 26 | 25 | 27 | 26 | 26 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 28 | 26 | 25 | 24 | 27 | 24 | 25 |
| SPT | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Last year, 13 of the 32 teams had more defensive players than offensive players on their initial 53-man rosters. The Falcons were one of those, with 26 from defense and 24 from offense. The Philadelphia Eagles were the most skewed, with 28 from defense and 22 from offense.
At the same time, 13 teams split their offense and defense evenly with 25 players apiece.
Meanwhile, only six teams had more offensive players than defensive players. None went above 26, though, so still keeping it closer than vice versa.
Falcons' history follows a similar trend, too. In the past 10 years, there have been five equally split rosters, four defense-heavy rosters and one offense-heavy roster.
| ATL | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OFF | 24 | 25 | 25 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 24 | 25 | 25 | 24 |
| DEF | 26 | 25 | 25 | 26 | 25 | 24 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 26 |
| SPT | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
It would make sense if 2025 balances that scale between the two heavier parties, considering Atlanta's biggest offseason task was to improve its defense, and it brought in the bodies to do so.
That began with the coaching staff, when the Falcons hired defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, defensive pass-game coordinator Mike Rutenberg and defensive line coach Nate Ollie.
Then, during the heat of free agency, six of the Falcons' 10 external signings were defensive players and four of their 11 internal re-signings were defensive players.
And then, when the draft rolled around, the Falcons selected not just one but two defensive players in the first round. It marked the first time general manager Terry Fontenot used a first-round pick on a defensive player since joining the organization in 2021. Atlanta brought in two more after the fact, too, ultimately putting four of their five draft picks on defense's side of the ball.
All of that has led to a lot of depth on the unit, which will feature a fair amount of rotation as a result.
So, if the Falcons do place more defensive players than offensive players on their initial 53-man roster Tuesday, it wouldn't come as a surprise – statistically or logistically.
