Foye Oluokun wins NFC Defensive Player of the Week award

The Atlanta Falcons have not been great defensively in 2020, but that is not at all the fault of Foye Oluokun. The third-year linebacker has been doing a bit of everything in a breakout 2020, forcing huge fumbles, recovering onside kicks, and authoring plays both big and small on a weekly basis.

He’s rarely stuffed the stat sheet the way he did in Week 9 against the Broncos, where he piled up 10 tackles, got his first four quarterback hits of the season all in the same game, and managed a tackle for loss and pass deflection on 92% of the defensive snaps. For that stellar work, Oluokun has been named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week, becoming the first Falcon to receive that honor this year.

On the season, Oluokun has already exceeded his 2019 totals across the board, putting up 64 tackles, an interception, three pass deflections, three forced fumbles and a sack, and he’s done so while also being a key special teamer and quiet leader on the defense. It’s fair to say he’s exceeded my wildest expectations thus far, and he looks like he’ll be a building block on defense for the next regime.

Congratulations to Foye, and may this be the first of many such awards for the soaring linebacker.