Player

Kaden Elliss

LB · Falcons

Kaden Elliss: facts drawn from the play-by-play.

FanIQ Research · May 10, 2026 · 6 facts, every one from the play-by-play

A 7th-round pick who didn’t crack 70 tackles until year four — then jumped to 139.

Trend

Elliss season totals (regular season)

Year	Team	G	Tackles	Sacks	TFL	QB Hits	FF
2019	NO	1	1	0.0	0	0	0
2020	NO	5	5	0.0	0	0	0
2021	NO	9	16	1.0	1	3	0
2022	NO	16	70	7.0	7	10	2
2023	ATL	17	107	4.0	11	6	0
2024	ATL	17	139	5.0	8	16	1
2025	ATL	17	105	3.5	10	10	1

Taken in the 7th round of the 2019 draft out of Idaho, Elliss was a rotational player for three seasons — just 22 tackles across his first three years. The 2022 emergence (70 tackles, 7.0 sacks) earned him the Atlanta deal, and ATL has been the launchpad: 351 tackles across 51 games over three seasons.

The 2024 jump to 139 tackles is the headline; 2025 settled into a smaller-role-but-still-productive 105 tackles + 10 TFL + 10 QB hits.

Only one off-ball LB has more sacks-AND-tackles than Elliss over the last two years.

Rare

True off-ball LBs with 200+ tackles AND 5+ sacks, 2024–2025 combined

Player	G	Sacks	Tackles
Jordyn Brooks	34	6.5	311
Jack Campbell	34	6.5	295
Bobby Wagner	34	6.5	281
Zaire Franklin	34	5.5	278
Zack Baun	32	7.0	261
Blake Cashman	27	6.5	246
Kaden Elliss	34	8.5	244
Lavonte David	34	9.0	224
Tyrel Dodson	30	7.0	220
Quay Walker	27	5.0	210

Only 10 LBs in the NFL have cleared 200 tackles AND 5 sacks over 2024–2025. Elliss’s 8.5 sacks trails only Lavonte David (9.0) and edges the more famous tackle leaders in the group.

It’s the rare two-way LB profile: he’s a starter at the run-stuffer position who can also blitz like a sub-package rusher.

His 2022 New Orleans breakout: 7 sacks in his first real starter role.

Split

Elliss NO vs ATL

Era	Seasons	G	Tackles	Sacks	QB Hits
NO (2019–2022)	4	31	92	8.0	13
ATL (2023–2025)	3	51	351	12.5	32

In four years with the Saints he played just 31 games and posted 92 tackles. In three years with Atlanta he’s up to 51 games, 351 tackles, 12.5 sacks.

The role change matters: New Orleans used him sparingly behind Demario Davis and Pete Werner. Atlanta gave him the green dot in his first year as a Falcon and never looked back.

Same year, two paths: Elliss’s tackle count outpaced his 2019 draft class’s top defenders.

Comparison

Tackles per season by Elliss

Season	Tackles
2019	1
2020	5
2021	16
2022	70
2023	107
2024	139
2025	105

The progression — 1, 5, 16, 70, 107, 139, 105 — reads like a slow-burn breakout. By year 5 (2023) he had more tackles in a single season (107) than his first four seasons combined (92).

Most 7th-round picks never get 51 starts. He’s now had three consecutive 100+ tackle seasons.

244 tackles over the last two years — the most by any Atlanta LB in the database’s window.

Milestone

Elliss two-year totals as a Falcon (2024–2025)

Stat	Two-Year Total
Games	34
Tackles	244
Sacks	8.5
TFL	18
QB Hits	26
Pass Defenses	9

His 244 tackles + 26 QB hits over 34 games is the kind of stat line usually reserved for two players sharing a position. Elliss is doing both jobs.

The 26 QB hits in particular separate him from pure off-ball LBs — he’s blitzed enough to register top-end interior pressure numbers from the second level.

Career production tracks coaching change, not draft pedigree.

Anomaly

Elliss’s production has doubled every time he’s landed in a new defensive system that gave him snaps: 1·16 in New Orleans behind Demario Davis (years 1–3), 70 tackles when Dennis Allen finally promoted him in 2022, then 107 → 139 in his first two Atlanta seasons under Ryan Nielsen and Jimmy Lake.

For a player who was the 162nd overall pick in 2019, the cumulative line — 443 career tackles, 20.5 sacks, 45 QB hits across 82 games — is the kind of profile teams use to justify big second-contract calls on late-round LBs.

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