Falcons place Kaleb McGary, Matt Gono on PUP list as training camp begins

That’s two key offensive linemen who won’t be joining the team on the practice field for the start of training camp.

Minutes ago, we shared the news that Dante Fowler became the fifth Falcon to hit the reserve/COVID-19 list, and all five of those players will miss at least some of training camp. Unfortunately, there are three other players who will also miss time, as Kaleb McGary, Matt Gono and Deadrin Senat have all been placed on the physically unable to perform list ahead of the start of training camp practices tomorrow.

As AtlantaFalcons.com’s John Deighton notes, the trio can be activated at any time, so we’re not certain how big of a deal this truly is. I can confidently say that when you have to place two crucial offensive linemen and a defensive linemen hoping to make a big impression on a new coaching staff on a list that indicates they can’t practice, it’s not a great.

The team has been pretty tight-lipped about player status thus far under the new regime, and this is no exception. There’s no indication of what’s going on with any of the three, though we already knew Matt Gono was injured, had offseason surgery and was wearing a neck brace when he reported to camp yesterday thanks to reporters at Flowery Branch. McGary and Senat’s conditions are less clear, as we had no indication that I know of that either was injured.

We’ll see if the Falcons provide updates on the trio’s status in the days ahead, but the team’s tackle depth is beyond strained at the moment with their projected starting right tackle and swing tackle on the shelf. Rookie Jalen Mayfield might slide over to tackle in training camp, some of the undrafted free agents are definitely going to get a longer look than they might have otherwise, and new free agent signing Jason Spriggs is going to slot in to a major role in the early going until McGary and/or Gono return. We’ll get an indication tomorrow when practice begins of what the team’s plan is in the interim.

Let’s hope none of these players are going to miss significant time. I really wish we weren’t starting off training camp with so many unknowns and so much injury-related anxiety, either way.