Austin Hooper out, Julio Jones questionable for Thanksgiving tilt against Saints

When the Atlanta Falcons take on the New Orleans Saints at home tomorrow night, they’ll have to do so without Austin Hooper once more.

Hooper’s the only player who is confirmed to be out on Thanksgiving, but he’ll be joined on the injury report by a concerning list of players. Julio Jones is also questionable, putting the team’s top receiver in doubt for the last vaguely important matchup of the season, and key blocking tight end Luke Stocker and core special teamer Sharrod Neasman are also questionable. The Falcons’ tight end depth chart is thus pretty depleted, which we’ll discuss more in a separate article shortly.

The good news? Devonta Freeman is back in action, giving the Falcons back their starting running back for this matchup. Free was doing a solid job against the Saints before he exited the game and figures to get all the work he can handle Thursday, with Qadree Ollison and Brian Hill mixing in on short yardage situations.

Obviously being shorthanded at all is a problem against the Saints, but we’ll have to hope the Falcons can overcome that.