Derrick Coleman, 26, appears to be the leading candidate to replace Patrick DiMarco at fullback for the Falcons.
Coleman, who's deaf, lost most of his hearing before turning 3 years old. He's a master lip-reader and plays with hearing aids. He gets hand signals from his teammates, primarily the quarterback.
“With Derrick, first of all I commend him for getting this far in life as he’s gotten and for being as successful as he’s been with the disability,” offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian said. “You’d never once know that would be something that would hold him back.”
Coleman played at UCLA and was undrafted. He signed with Minnesota in 2012. He played with Seattle from 2012 through 2014. He was the Super Bowl XLVIII title team.
The Falcons used the fullback on 31 percent of their plays last season.
"We did a lot with our fullback, with (DiMarco) a year ago," Sarkisian said. "We'll continue to do that with Derrick. We motion him. We move him all over the field. We align him and we ask him to do a lot of different things in the run game."
The Falcons also have Tyler Renew on the roster.
Listen to Coleman narrate an inspirational commercial about the obstacles he’s had to overcome.
