Deadlifts are a great exercise, and I personally feel that EVERYONE should be performing some variation of the deadlift in their workouts. However, many people either perform them with bad form, or are not feeling it in the muscles that they should, the posterior chain (hamstring, glutes, errector spinae).
A great exercise to do before your deadlifts to help prime the muscles in your posterior chain and get you mentally ready for the heavier deadlift movement are hamstring sliders!
Check out this article for more information on the hamstring slider exercise and a sample video.