Rookie hybrid linebacker Kendal Daniels might be the perfect fit for Falcons

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Kendal Daniels didn’t feel like an NFL player during his first week on an NFL field. Living in the apartments behind the Atlanta Falcons’ practice facility and rooming with fellow linebacker Harold Perkins during rookie minicamp, he felt like a college freshman again.

“I talked to my wife and told her it reminded me of when I first went to college, being away from her and being in my own dorm room and going in there watching film by myself,” he said. “It’s been fun to go back to feeling like a kid again and being a student of the game.”

At the moment, Daniels is stuck between worlds, a 6-foot-5, 242-pound man with a wife and child but still wide-eyed at the idea that A.J. Terrell and Jalon Walker now follow him on Instagram.

“It’s just crazy that I’m in the NFL now and in the same locker room as those guys,” he said. “It’s been a lot, but I’m taking it in well.”

He’ll continue to do that, David Shannon predicts. Shannon is the head coach at Beggs High School in northeastern Oklahoma. He was the secondary coach when Daniels, the Falcons’ fourth-round draft pick last month, was a safety at the school.

“He was the type of player, type of athlete, type of young man you want as a coach,” Shannon, who was also Daniels’ science teacher, said. “Good student, did all his work, got everything turned in. Just extremely respectful. He was always extremely coachable: ‘Yes, sir. No, sir.’ And that had a lot to do with his parents.”

Daniels wasn’t always a football player, though.

“He was a little, scrawny, tall kid in junior high,” Shannon said. “As a freshman, he came out and went through spring ball with us, but he decided not to play football his freshman year. He thought he was going to be a basketball superstar like a lot of kids do, not understanding that even if you’re 6-5, those guys are a dime a dozen in basketball.”

Daniels gave it another shot as a sophomore but was projected to be a backup on a team that would play in the state championship game that year. Then the player in front of him missed a preseason scrimmage due to strep throat.

“The first play was a jet sweep that went away from him, and he ends up making the tackle for a 4-yard loss on the other side of the field,” Shannon said. “I was like, ‘OK, he might be my starter now.’ Then it just grew from there. He just gained a lot of confidence in himself. Obviously, his God-given physical attributes helped.”

Those physical attributes are what first drew the attention of Falcons scout Dante Fargnoli, who was watching tape of other Big 12 prospects when he spotted Daniels playing safety at Oklahoma State.

“You couldn’t help but notice him,” Fargnoli told the team’s website.

By the time the Falcons’ scouting staff turned its attention fully to Daniels later in his college career, he was nearly 50 pounds heavier.

“Now he’s 240 (pounds), playing linebacker with really the same range, skill set,” Fargnoli said. “He kept all that and put on the weight.”

The Falcons were intrigued enough to go to the next scouting phase, gathering all the information they could from Oklahoma, where Daniels finished his collegiate career.

“We already knew the athletic profile was really intriguing, going into the school, talking about the kid, we learned that he’s a great kid, great teammate, he’s about what we’re about,” Atlanta’s director of scouting Tokunbo Abanikanda told the team’s website. “He checked all the boxes.”

Daniels projects as a linebacker for the Falcons, where defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich prizes lanky athletes. Daniels’ 79 1/4-inch wingspan was the fourth-longest at the NFL Scouting Combine this year.

“He’s definitely a Brich guy,” Falcons general manager Ian Cunningham said. “Fits those measurables and what he looks for and what we look for. You see him play all over the field. He’s a rare athlete. When you watch the tape, the movement, the length, the fluidity, he can do a lot of things for you on defense. I know (linebackers coach Barrett Ruud) and Brich, the whole coaching staff, were all excited that we were able to get him where we did.”

Daniels had 10.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks and seven passes defended as a linebacker in his final year at Oklahoma State. Playing the “Cheetah” position at Oklahoma in 2025, he had another nine tackles for loss. He has tried to model some things in his game after 49ers linebacker Fred Warner, but he admits that sheepishly because he knows every linebacker says the same thing. He also watches film of Browns safety Grant Delpit. There may be no better model, though, than the player he’ll share a position room with this season. Falcons starter Divine Deablo is 6-3, 225 pounds and a converted safety — just like Daniels.

“I’ve watched a lot of Divine’s film, and to see how he transitioned and played in the defense really helped me,” Daniels said. “I’m just a rookie, so I don’t know what I’ll be best at. Wherever they want me to play this season, I’ll play it. If they want me to go hold the kick, I’ll go do it. Whatever they want me to do, I’ll do it to the best of my ability.”