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Well, another Falcons player will be limited by a strain and held out of a preseason game.
Jason Butt of The Athletic says OL Ben Garland will be out for Saturday’s matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Injury update for coming week: Ben Garland has a “strain” of some sort and will be out for this week against Jacksonville.
— Jason Butt (@JasonHButt) August 19, 2018
Garland is one of the main reserves in Falconland, and his absence will likely come to no help to Matt Schaub and the second-team offense. Though, it’ll give guys like Jamil Douglas and J.C. Hassenauer more run at center, and a guy like Salesi Uhatafe more time at guard.
We’ll see how those roster bubble names respond to Garland’s open Saturday spot, with Jacksonville hosting one of the deeper defensive lines in the league. There will be ample opportunity for guys to impress there, should they so seize it.
Also, a brief scan of ESPN reporter Vaughn McClure’s Twitter feed shows that Deion Jones isn’t practicing and that Austin Hooper is without a helmet. Butt reports that Quinn says Jones and K Matt Bryant are “day-to-day” and that Desmond Trufant joined Hooper in the no-helmet club.
But, this nugget does come with some raised eyebrows.
FB Ricky Ortiz with the black non contact jersey. Wonder if any injury would affect competition with Luke McNitt pic.twitter.com/JyeyC7ccxB
— vaughn mcclure (@vxmcclure23) August 19, 2018
Ricky Ortiz is the favorite for the fullback job, but should he miss any time, it could give Luke McNitt a chance to show his stuff with the first-team offense.
It’s still Ortiz’s job to lose, so we’ll see how the week progresses with his health.
Here’s hoping all these guys are healed up for when it counts.