The Falcons may have set their 53 man roster, but the lone unresolved starting job on the team still hasn’t formally concluded. Atlanta will likely announce a starter at right guard in the very near future, but as of midnight today as I’m writing this, they haven’t done so.
While I have thought Wes Schweitzer was the choice all summer long, Ben Garland was frequently terrific, and the battle was tight right up until the end. It looks like Garland may have ultimately stolen it away, which means the extremely versatile guard/defensive tackle/center could be out there next to Alex Mack and Ryan Schraeder against the Bears.
What are we basing this on? The Falcons’ current depth chart lists Ben Garland as the starter ahead of Schweitzer, but it should also be noted that the Falcons’ depth chart lists Courtney Upshaw and Brooks Reed as the team’s starting defensive ends, which means we should probably regard it with some suspicion. Given that it’s all we have to go on at the moment—and it’s almost certainly not an accident that he’s listed there—we’ll roll with that assumption until Dan Quinn confirms or corrects it.
Either way, the Falcons will have a starter who clawed his way to victory, and a capable backup to shore up the interior. After Chris Chester’s retirement, that’s not a half bad place to be.