[4][5][6] On November 16, 2016, it was reported that Riley had accepted an invitation to play in the Reese's Senior Bowl, joining LSU teammates Tre'Davious White, Ethan Pocic, Travin Dural, and Kendell Beckwith.

[8] He had an impressive week of practices at the Senior Bowl under Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson, showing athleticism, quick instincts, and range.

[11] On April 5, 2017, Riley participated at LSU's pro day, but opted to stand on his combine numbers and only perform positional drills.

At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Riley was projected to be a second to fourth round pick by the majority of NFL draft experts and scouts.

[18] Throughout training camp, Riley competed with De'Vondre Campbell, Josh Keyes, J'Terius Jones, and Jermaine Grace for the starting weakside linebacker position.

[19] Head coach Dan Quinn named him the backup weakside linebacker to veteran De'Vondre Campbell to begin the season.

Duke Riley, De'Vondre Campbell, and Deion Jones were the starting linebacker corp in the Atlanta Falcons' big base package.

[20] On October 22, 2017, Riley recorded a solo tackle in a 23–7 loss to the New England Patriots, but left the game after tearing his meniscus.

On January 6, 2018, Riley appeared in his first career playoff game and made two combined tackles during a 26–13 victory at the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Wild Card Round.

[22] Head coach Dan Quinn named Riley the starting weakside linebacker to begin the regular season.

[27] In Week 5 of the 2020 season against the Steelers, Riley led the team with 13 tackles (7 solo) and injured himself when forcing a fumble on tight end Eric Ebron and he had to be carted off the field.