Damontae Kazee out for the night with Achilles injury

The Falcons have suffered a string of safety injuries in recent years, with Keanu Neal missing most of 2018 and 2019, Ricardo Allen missing most of 2018, and last year’s expected third safety J.J. Wilcox missing the year. They are snakebitten at safety, in other words, and unfortunately their luck got even worse against the Packers.

That’s because Damontae Kazee suffered a serious-looking non-contact injury against the Packers in the second quarter, going down and staying down in very obvious pain. The cart came out swiftly and took him out the field, and we’re both expecting him to be out for the game and bracing for the worst.

Unfortunately, it’s an Achilles injury, which will cost Kazee the game and possibly the rest of the season.

Kazee hasn’t been off to the best start in 2020, but he’s a full-time starter with a history of big hits and big plays for Atlanta, and losing him would be absolutely devastating for the Falcons. It’d be even more devastating for Kazee, who is entering a contract year and figured to parlay a nice year into a big contract with someone, whether it was Atlanta or another team. We’ll have to hope and pray it’s not as serious as it looked.

The Falcons, meanwhile, must press on down their top three safeties. Jaylinn Hawkins, Kendall Sheffield, Jamal Carter, and perhaps Delrick Abrams Jr. are up at safety, and it’s fair to wonder how they’re going to hold up against a quarterback as good as Aaron Rodgers. Everything about this sucks a lot.