The Falcons shuffle the roster ahead of a road tilt with the Denver Broncos.
The Atlanta Falcons had eight players declared out for Sunday against the Denver Broncos, so you likely expected there to be a few moves between Friday afternoon’s injury report and kickoff tomorrow morning. Here they are.
In short, the Falcons:
- Placed defensive linemen Ta’Quon Graham and James Smith Williams on injured reserve;
- Activated center Drew Dalman and outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter from IR;
- Signed cornerback Natrone Brooks to the active roster;
- Elevated outside linebacker Khalid Kareem and safety Dane Cruikshank from the practice squad;
- Signed center Matt Hennessy to the practice squad and released receiver and returner Jakeem Grant.
That’s a pretty dizzying set of moves, and each bit of news deserves a quick blurb of its own.
We’ll start with Graham and JSW. Graham was a useful rotational piece for the Falcons, playing solid run defense for Atlanta while handling between a quarter to a third of defensive snaps most weeks, and will likely be replaced with Brandon Dorlus, Kentavius Street, and others on Sunday. JSW was a solid run defender and coverage option who had one sack on the season and will be replaced more or less 1:1 by Carter.
Dalman’s return means he should be back as the starting center. Ryan Neuzil filled in admirably while he was gone, holding his own at center for many weeks while the Falcons offense kept humming, but the hope is that Dalman will provide similar-to-better pass protection chops and his customarily fantastic run blocking. The Falcons will need that tomorrow.
Carter had been one of the team’s most reliable pieces on defense even if he wasn’t a high-end pass rusher, but he got off to a brutal start to this year before hitting injured reserve. The hope is that he returns healthy and can provide the extremely solid run defense and coverage ability that defined his 2022 and 2023 seasons in Atlanta, instead of the lackluster all-around game we had seen in 2024.
Brooks is just a deserved elevation. One of the standouts of the summer, his limited action in the regular season has been defined by quality play, and he’s going to be pressed into action Sunday with the Falcons declaring three cornerbacks out. The team will lean on him heavily on special teams and may ask him to step in at corner if they’re not enamored with the idea of starting Kevin King.
With Carter back, the Falcons will still likely need some snaps from Kareem, who looked tough and talented in a very limited look against the Saints. He’ll slot in to a small role but should get playing time if he looks sharp again and Carter is knocking rust off. Cruikshank will likely stick to special teams snaps, but may be needed if the Falcons plan to trot out more three safety sets with Richie Grant given their injuries at cornerback.
Finally, Hennessy was released off the 53 man roster recently but will stick around as an emergency option on the interior of the offensive line. Grant may be back at some point, but didn’t get a chance to show what he could do as a returner for Atlanta in a very short stint.
That’s everything. We’ll see how this all plays out tomorrow when the Falcons take on the Broncos.
