Falcons-Buccaneers injury report: Plethora of Tampa defenders ruled out

Falcons and Buccaneers health reports for Friday, Jan. 6.

Well, here we are. This will be the final injury report for the Atlanta Falcons for the 2022-2023 season, as we have their final game coming up in a few days. It’s been a long season, and the Falcons were relatively healthy for most of it, with the exception of a few players who have since gone on injured reserve.

On Friday, we received designations for this Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have a couple of key starters ruled out for the contest.

You can expect to see the injury reports here every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

FULL PARTICIPATION

• RB Avery Williams (foot)
• TE Feleipe Franks (concussion)

LIMITED PARTICIPATION

• N/A

NO PARTICIPATION

• OL Elijah Wilkinson (calf) OUT

FULL PARTICIPATION

• CB Jamal Dean (toe) QUESTIONABLE
• OL Tristan Wirfs (ankle)

LIMITED PARTICIPATION

• S Mike Edwards (hamstring, hip) QUESTIONABLE
• LB Carl Nassib (pectoral) OUT
• WR Julio Jones (knee, illness) QUESTIONABLE

NO PARTICIPATION

• CB Carlton Davis (shoulder) OUT
• S Logan Ryan (knee) OUT
• OL Donovan Smith (foot) OUT
• DL Vita Vea (calf) OUT
• LB Lavonte David (rest)
• DL Akiem Hicks (rest)

The Falcons only had one player ruled out for their season finale. The rotation at left guard continues, as Elijah Wilkinson has officially been ruled out due to a calf injury. The position overall needs to be addressed this offseason, as the Falcons don’t seem to have found their long-term solution yet. For now, it’s likely Matt Hennessy will start for the second straight week and make his case to hold down the job in 2023.

For Tampa, this game is meaningless as they have already wrapped up the division and have a playoff game next week. Even so, they seem to be going into Sunday with starters expected to play, I’m assuming to help build momentum heading into whatever their first playoff game is. It’s a bold strategy, we’ll see if it works out for them better than it did for the Falcons in 2012, who rolled out their starters in the season finale against Tampa Bay and saw John Abraham and Dunta Robinson get hurt.

Tampa Bay will be without a few defensive starters, however, which shows they may pull starters a few drives into the game to prevent injury. At least, that would be the wise thing to do. Lastly, Julio Jones is questionable to make his first appearance in Atlanta since being traded to the Tennessee Titans and eventually landing in Tampa.