I feel like a broken record since Kaleb McGary landed on injured reserve. Yes, it worries me. While I don’t put as much stock in the concept of blindside protection as a lot of other folks (defensive coordinators have been scheming their best pass rushers against right tackles for years to try to exploit a perceived weakness), it’s still extremely disruptive to lose McGary’s experience and his run-blocking prowess.
I’ll cop to being one of the folks who wasn’t particularly high on Elijah Wilkerson.
I would have felt more settled about it if Storm Norton hadn’t also landed on IR with a designation to return. Wilkerson got quite a bit of run during the preseason and it was a mixed bag of mediocre-at-best run blocking — a downgrade from McGary’s strength in that area, which was always going to be a challenge with McGary’s replacement — and OK pass blocking. But I’ll also cop to the fact that Bijan Robinson knows a lot more about football than I do, and he’s a true Elijah Wilkerson believer.
“I think a lot of people are sleeping on Elijah,” Robinson said after Thursday’s practice. “Elijah’s a dawg.”
It goes without saying, they’d rather have McGary, the 2019 first-rounder, healthy and available.
“Obviously he’s one of our guys,” Robinson said. “He’s one of our guys that we’ve been with a long time.”
But that doesn’t mean Robinson isn’t ready to roll this Sunday with Wilkinson in that spot.
“He’s been in the league for some time now. He’s started at tackle in Chicago. So, like, you know, he has a chip on his shoulder,” Robinson said about Wilkinson. “There’s a lot of people saying that he can’t do it and that he’s not fit enough to do it, but he told me, ‘Bro, like, that’s just all words, it’s all noise that people say.‘ But I think he’s really prepared for what’s to come. And I just told him, I was like, ‘Bro, take this over. This is your spot now, man. And God will take care of everything else.’ So he’s ready to go. He’s super excited.”
Wilkinson has played in 79 games at both the guard and tackle positions for the Denver Broncos, Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, and of course the Atlanta Falcons, starting nine games for Atlanta in both the 2022 and 2023 seasons. The Falcons coaches and Wilkinson’s teammates have all praised that versatility to play guard and tackle.
Robinson’s takes on Wilkinson haven’t eradicated my concerns about the right tackle position, but I feel much better going into Sunday knowing that Atlanta’s star running back is on board with the right tackle who will be helping pave the way for him this season.
