It appears the Falcons may have both back relatively soon.
Injuries are a fact of life in the NFL, but major injuries to key players can still wreck a season in a way that feels profoundly unfair. That’s why we were all holding our breath after the Atlanta Falcons ruled both Drake London and Grady Jarrett out yesterday against the Cowboys.
The good news is that at first blush, both players seem to have avoided significant injuries. The bad news is that we don’t yet know what that means for their availability in Week 10, but avoiding long-term ailments is a huge deal for both London and Jarrett.
These two injuries, if relatively mild, may only mean the Falcons go without London for a week or two. We can’t completely rule out London playing through it on Sunday, but I assume the Falcons will be cautious with the bye week approaching and a shaky Saints team on deck and keep him out. If that’s the case, expect KhaDarel Hodge to step into a full-time role and Casey Washington to get some run while Darnell Mooney and Ray-Ray McCloud dominate targets.
For Jarrett, meanwhile, it’s an Achilles strain. The Falcons took Jarrett out of the game to avoid worsening the injury, judging by this report, but that also means we should expect them to be cautious with a 30-plus-year-old player who is coming off a major injury suffered last year. The Falcons’ thinned out defensive line needs Jarrett, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him brought along slowly over the next couple of weeks with the bye looming.
We’ll get updates this week on both players, but suffice to say these appear to be short-term injuries instead of long-term ones, and that’s the positive note we needed to hear.
