Kendall Sheffield, Charles Harris out against Seahawks

The good news first: A.J. Terrell appears on track to play against the Seahawks, meaning the starting cornerback trio of Terrell, Isaiah Oliver, and Darqueze Dennard will all suit up. The bad news: Kendall Sheffield and Charles Harris will not.

Per the team’s official injury report, Matt Hennessy is back to full practices and may be paving his road to the starting left guard job on Sunday, while Terrell participated in another limited practice and will hopefully be out there. Marlon Davidson is the only other questionable player, and we expected him to be limited at minimum in Week 1. The Seahawks could be playing without starting tackle Duane Brown or starting tight end Will Dissly, so they’re not immune to injury concerns themselves.

All that said, the loss of Sheffield will be felt Sunday. The second-year cornerback likely would’ve picked up at least 15-20 snaps in a reserve role and that many or more on special teams, and the team will have to fill those snaps with Blidi Wreh-Wilson on defense and someone else on teams. The speedy corner is expected to be a key reserve at minimum in 2020, and without him the team might call up corner Josh Hawkins from the practice squad.

Harris is less of a loss but still one that will likely matter, given that he was expected to be part of the defensive end rotation for this Falcons team. Jacob Tuioti-Mariner will likely be active and have a larger role with Harris on the shelf, and if they need additional help the Falcons could consider bringing up practice squad defensive end and rookie Austin Edwards.

We’ll hope Sheffield and Harris will be able to suit up next weekend, and that they’ll be able to do so for a 1-0 Falcons team.