Falcons get tackle Austin Pasztor healthy in the nick of time

The Falcons have had weirdly great timing thus far in 2017. They traded for Ty Sambrailo just before the season and had to press him into action in Week 2 when Ryan Schraeder got hurt, and they got Takkarist McKinley up to speed in time to take over for Vic Beasley, who is going to miss at least a couple of weeks.

Now they’ll get injured tackle Austin Pasztor back just in time for Schraeder to miss the Detroit road game, giving them a legitimate backup for Jake Matthews and Ty Sambrailo. A silver lining for every cloud, no?

Pasztor is a young tackle with significant starting experience, and along with Sambrailo gives the Falcons’ by far their most talented backups at the tackle position in many moons. Atlanta clearly figured that they would not have the same terrific injury luck as they did in 2016 and took smart steps, and with Sambrailo at least not embarrassing himself against Green Bay, they look smart and prescient at the moment.

Of course, let’s hope Pasztor doesn’t have to play, given the obvious implications of that. With any luck, Schraeder will be back in action during Week 4’s home game against the Bills, and that will leave the Falcons mulling over whether to leave Pasztor as an inactive. That’s not a bad problem to have.