Report: Falcons G Jamon Brown in concussion protocol

Jamon Brown was one of the two reasonably splashy guard signings the Falcons made a year ago. Neither one really worked out, given that James Carpenter was awful and then injured and Brown was injured and struggled a bit with penalty issues.

Heading into 2020, Brown and Carpenter figured to once again duke it out for starting left guard duties, with rookie Matt Hennessy and offseason hype hero Matt Gono also mixing in. The problem is that Brown hasn’t been out there recently while Carpenter and Gono dominate the first team snaps, with Hennessy reportedly looking good and potentially gaining some ground. It’s fair to say Brown already felt like an afterthought in this competition, deserved or not, and this isn’t going to help.

What gives? According to D. Orlando Ledbetter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Brown is in the league’s concussion protocol. He’s got to be feeling pretty star-crossed at the moment, because he had already missed multiple practices due to an undisclosed, non COVID-19 illness and apparently was injured yesterday in practice to the degree that he’s now got to go through the concussion protocol. I feel extremely bad for the guy, given both that I thought he should’ve gotten a better bite at the apple in 2019 and because he seems like a great dude off the field.

Brown’s continued absence means the race for left guard is probably between Carpenter, Gono and Hennessy, with Justin McCray reportedly getting some snaps as the backup center in case Hennessy wins the gig outright. That’s a pretty good group, but I’ll feel better about the depth at the position once Brown is back and healthy.