Dan Quinn says Falcons will look to add defensive line help with injuries mounting

Sometime today or tomorrow, I expect we’ll hear that Jack Crawford has suffered a significant injury to his bicep and will be shelved either multiple weeks or the entire season. It’s a blow to this team’s line depth, especially after Crawford had quietly played well in the early going, but it’s also just one in a series of injuries suffered by Atlanta thus far this year. The Falcons may have to take action.

There is no guarantee that the team is getting Vic Beasley or Courtney Upshaw back for their Week 6 tilt against the Dolphins, and if that’s the case, they’ll be down three members of their rotation. The Falcons called Joe Vellano up from the practice squad with Beasley and Upshaw gone, but it’s fairly obvious that they can’t just keep rolling with who they’ve got as the losses mount.

That’s why it was good (and frankly inevitable) to hear Dan Quinn talking about a roster move Monday in comments to the press.

Chances are good that with Beasley coming back soon, the player added will be someone capable of playing on the interior, as Upshaw and Crawford were two of the more reliable reserves there. That could be a veteran like Jared Odrick, or the Falcons could go the very cheap, in-house route and bring up Taniela Tupou from the practice squad. I don’t think the latter would be a great route to go unless Tupou is far better and more comfortable in this defense than I’d be inclined to think.

Look for a longer list of defensive tackles the team could be in the running for tomorrow morning here at The Falcoholic. Suffice to say they’ll probably sign someone if they get the expected bad news on Crawford.