Offensive lineman Kaleb McGary was activated from the physically unable to perform list and offensive lineman Willie Wright was activated from the reserve/COVID-19 list Monday.
Since being drafted in 2019, McGary has started 29 of 30 games played. He hadn’t participated in any of the Falcons’ training camp practices until Monday.
“We’re not going to ask a guy to go zero to 100 right away,” Falcons coach Arthur Smith said of McGary. “It’s not fair to the player, not fair to the team.”
Smith said that McGary, though participating and moving well in Monday’s practice, probably won’t play in Friday night’s preseason opener against Tennessee.
“That’s not the plan right now,” Smith said. “We’ll make that determination Thursday, but our plan right now with him, there’s no strategic advantage.”
In addition to the return of the linemen, the Falcons signed running back D’Onta Foreman and waived defensive tackle Deadrin Senat and released cornerback Tyler Hall.
Foreman, 25, was drafted from Texas in 2017 by the Houston Texans and also has spent time with the Indianapolis Colts and most recently the Titans. Last season in five games with the Titans, he recorded 95 rushing yards on 22 attempts and caught a five-yard touchdown pass.
“We wanted to make sure we were good to go in the preseason and have added competition,” Smith said of Foreman. “Obviously I worked with him last year in Tennessee. There were some things that I liked and just wanted to see where he’s at. He worked out for us. The way things happened, some guys are nicked up so he has some opportunity this weekend to carry the football.”
In Foreman’s junior year at Texas, he rushed for 2,028 yards and 15 touchdowns to earn the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top running back.
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