After ‘making life hell’ in practice, Atlanta Falcons rookie earns bigger role

While Atlanta Falcons rookie defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro expects a bigger role, perhaps no other teammate understands his feelings better than the quarterback Kirk Cousins.

When Cousins ​​was a freshman at Michigan State in 2007, Spartans offensive coordinator Don Treadwell gave him a challenge: Play so well on the scout team that when the coaching staff rewatches the film, they’ll think : “I can’t wait to go back.” Look what this guy can do someday in the game.”

And that is exactly what Orhorhoro, the Falcons’ second-round pick in April’s draftdid.

“He was making life hell on our starting offensive line,” Falcons defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake said Thursday. “That’s what I was doing. He was in the backfield. He was blocking the shock, sending the offensive line back into the backfield.

“And so, he didn’t do it every play, but it showed up enough that if you do it against our starting offensive line, that’s probably going to translate to our opponent in a real game. And it certainly has.”

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After being a healthy scratch through the first four games of the season, Orhorhoro made his NFL debut on October 3 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday Night Football. He has played in each of the three games since then, collecting four tackles and a quarterback hit.

Orhorhoro, 23, played 12 snaps (23% of total defense) in his first start before playing 22 snaps (33%) against the Carolina Panthers in Week 6 and 17 snaps (28%) against Seattle Seahawks in the Week. 7.

Part of the reason for the delay in Orhorhoro’s action is due to the depth of the defensive line. Falcons head coach Raheem Morris routinely praises the team’s six proven products up front: Grady Jarrett, David Onyemata, Ta’Quon Graham, Eddie Goldman, Zach Harrison and Kentavius ​​Street.

In addition to Atlanta’s natural tendency toward experience, Morris feels that rookie linemen, both offensive and defensive, are similar to quarterbacks, and points to the need to adapt to the speed and strength of the professional game.

Therefore, the trusted group of veterans gave Morris and the staff the “luxury” of keeping Orhorhoro on the sidelines from the beginning. Atlanta’s pass rush ranks last in the NFL with six sacks, but the Falcons are playing the long game with Orhorhoro.

However, his play on the field is forcing the Falcons to take action.

“Ruke’s progression earned him the right to go out and play some plays,” Lake said. “And now you’ve seen him get more snaps each week, and you’ll see him get even more snaps as we move forward.”

Lake chose to avoid comparisons to the 6-foot-4, 295-pound Orhorhoro, citing the uniqueness of his size, strength and athleticism, while noting that he will wait until more plays are made and more numbers are produced to name other NFL defensive backs. linemen.

But Morris took a different approach.

As the Los Angeles Rams’ defensive coordinator in 2023, Morris watched another rookie defensive tackle, third-round pick Kobie Turner, rise to one of the game’s top young pass rushers. Earlier in the year, Turner played heavily on broadcasts, but took on a larger role as the season progressed.

While they didn’t have as veteran a defensive front, the Rams relied on Aaron Donald and Bobby Brown before turning Turner loose. He finished the season with nine sacks, the most among all rookies.

Morris is not comparing Orhorhoro to Turner. However, he finds similarities in their development path.

“He got a little more comfortable. He was able to do some career things. He did some really impressive things, getting rid of blocks. So now his role has increased,” Morris said. “It has improved. He started in that role, then moved on to simply playing in a rotation.

“It’s really moving forward, taking some right directions, doing some really good things, doing some things that are correctable, that our coach can correct as you continue with your process. Really excited where he is.”

Not overlooked in Orhorhoro’s development is his relative newness to football. The 23-year-old played in 53 games with 30 starts in five seasons at Clemson, but didn’t start playing the sport until he was a junior in high school.

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Orhorhoro moved to the United States when he was nine years old. He starred on the court, averaging a double-double as a sophomore in 2016 at River Rouge High School, about 10 miles southwest of Detroit.

Now, seven years after playing its first organized soccer match, Orhorhoro finds itself at the highest level of the sport. His late start may factor into his long learning curve, but it also gives him potential that Lake is excited to help tap into.

“For him, from above the neck, so smart, so committed, so into it, so into football,” Lake said. “And when you have players like that, who are so into this, and you know they can reach new heights, new heights, new heights every day and from week to week, he just has to continue with that fire in his belly to It just keeps getting better, and I know it will.”

Orhorhoro’s rookie season begins at 1 pm on Sunday, when the The Falcons (4-3) face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-3) at Raymond James Stadium. It is the first time in Orhorhoro’s young career that he will see the opponent before.

That is, aside from his routine attacks on the Falcons’ offensive line, plays that made Cousins’ head spin and helped generate accurate feel in the pocket during practice.

Now, Orhorhoro has the opportunity to wreak havoc on opposing lines. His opportunity may have come later than expected considering his high draft pick, but it has come nonetheless.

And the Falcons won’t take advantage of it anytime soon.

“A lot of us want things to happen so fast, but we understand that it’s a marathon, not a sprint,” Cousins ​​said. “I think good players will eventually come to the surface, and I think that’s true in Ruke’s case.”

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