The Atlanta Falcons may have lost one of their critical offensive linemen during Wednesday’s practice, as starting right tackle Kaleb McGary appeared to suffer a left leg injury. McGary was carted off the practice field—which always sounds bad, but is standard procedure for most lower body injuries during training camp. The team huddled around McGary and the music was cut, per multiple reports.
Atlanta is currently without swing tackle Storm Norton, who has been dealing with an injury of his own over the past few weeks. Without McGary or Norton, the tackle position opposite Jake Matthews is in a grim state. The current options to step in for McGary would be veteran Brandon Parker or rookie Jack Nelson. Both have been inconsistent at best throughout the preseason and training camp.
McGary had been nursing a few injuries throughout the summer, but seemed to return to health for training camp. He recently signed a two-year, $30M extension to keep him around through the 2027 season. While the early years of McGary’s career featured very inconsistent pass blocking, he’s since improved significantly in that area. Combined with his elite run blocking, McGary has been one of the better right tackles in the NFL over the past two years.
We’ll hope that the cart was simply precautionary in this case and that McGary can be ready to return in time for the season opener. If not, it’s likely that the Falcons will need to make additional moves to improve the offensive tackle depth.
We’ll update this story as further updates come in.
