Flowery Branch — Falcons cornerback Von Hutchins, one of the team's major offseason free agent signees, has been diagnosed with a foot sprain and will see a specialist on Monday.

Hutchins, who signed a four-year, $9-million contract after playing for Houston last season, suffered the injury on Saturday when his left foot got stepped on.

Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

Chevis Jackson snares a deflected pass during the second day of practice. The third-round pick from LSU is expected to see more action with the injury to cornerback Von Hutchins.

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"We just want to know the severity of his foot injury," Falcons coach Mike Smith said Sunday.

While it's early in training camp, the loss of Hutchins is key because he's the most experienced cornerback on the roster. He's played in 38 NFL games with 16 starts. He started 15 of 16 games last season for the Texans.

Hutchins started nine games at free safety before being moved to right cornerback for the Texans in 2007. For the Falcons, he was lining up at the nickel cornerback.

With Hutchins out, rookie cornerback Chevis Jackson, a third-round pick from LSU, will get more action. Second-year men Chris Houston and Brent Grimes have been lining up as the No. 1 corners.

Also, defensive end Jamaal Anderson missed practice with a hamstring injury.

"It's a mild hamstring pull and we don't want to put him in a situation where he's not going to be ready to go," Smith said. "So it's more precautionary with him."

Abraham and Babineaux excused

Defensive end John Abraham and defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux were excused from the afternoon practice because of deaths in their families.

Abraham's grandfather passed Sunday morning. Smith wasn't sure about the death in the Babineaux family but thought it was on his wife's side.

"We feel for John Abraham and his family," Smith said. "As an organization, we send out condolences."

The Falcons plan to let Abraham stay away as long as he needs.

"It's his call," Smith said. "Everybody grieves differently. It's a tough situation any time you lose a family member."

Babineaux is expected back Tuesday morning.

Offensive flow

Under new offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey, that Falcons offense has a more conventional design. Gone are those four- and five-receiver formations and empty backfield sets that Bobby Petrino loved.

"We're definitely a different offense," quarterback Chris Redman said. "We are in the learning process."

Linebacker shuffle

Second-year, outside linebacker Stephen Nicholas is being worked at strongside linebacker, behind starter Michael Boley, according to Smith.

Nicholas played weakside linebacker as a rookie and was penciled in to start there this season after the free-agent departure of Demorrio Williams (Kansas City).

The coaching staff decided to move five-time Pro Bowler Keith Brooking from middle linebacker to weakside linebacker (non-tight end side), which put Nicholas in a backup role. Nicholas eventually was moved to the strongside after Atlanta drafted weakside Robert James from Arizona State.

Reynolds on mend

Secondary coach Alvin Reynolds joined the ranks of Falcons on the mend as he started doing light running last week after months recovering from Achilles' tendon surgery. Reynolds ruptured his Achilles last winter when he was working for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

— Staff writer Steve Wyche contributed to this story.