It’s not like the Atlanta Falcons were playing great over the first two weeks of the season already, but their defenders are going to have to pick up even more of the slack moving forward. On Tuesday, the Falcons announced that they were shutting down cornerback A.J. Terrell, a former All-Pro who has been the team’s top cornerback for more than a half-decade.
Terrell is going on the injured reserve for a minimum of four weeks, meaning he won’t be playing on Thursday Night Football against the Green
Bay Packers. Terrell was listed on the Falcons’ injury report with a groin injury yesterday.
Without Terrell, the starting outside cornerbacks for Atlanta are likely to be Mike Hughes (preferred starter) and C.J. Henderson (replacement starter). Henderson did not look good against the Carolina Panthers last week, as he allowed two touchdowns once Terrell went down.
Henderson is a former 2020 first-round pick who is already with his fifth NFL club in his career. He is currently playing on a two-year, $2.4 million contract. Hughes is on his fourth team, and the 29-year-old is being paid $6 million per year, in the ballpark of Packers cornerback #4 and special teams ace Benjamin St-Juste ($4.8 million per year). To say the least, it’s not like Atlanta will be rolling out two studs out there on Thursday.
