Falcons to play both McGary, Sambrailo at right tackle
The Falcons will play Ty Sambrailo and Kaleb McGary at right tackle in the season opener against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
“Ty and Kaleb will both play at the right tackle spot,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said Friday. “We are fortunate in this time to have that kind of depth. Ty has starting experience. We’ll play them both.”
Tackle Matt Gono, who has a back injury, won’t be active.
“We will hold him out of the game and hopefully get him back for next week,” Quinn said. “We’ll go from there.”
Also, James Carpenter was declared the winner at left guard, edging out Jamon Brown for the start.
“James earned the right to do it,” Quinn said.
McGary, a first-round draft pick, had a cardiac ablation procedure July 31 and played only 41 snaps over the exhibition season.
“The thing about Kaleb is that he really worked his butt off to apply himself to come back,” Quinn said. “The physicality really showed. He worked really hard this week to get ready.”
With a lineup of left tackle Jake Matthews, Carpenter, center Alex Mack, right guard Chris Lindstrom and McGary, the Falcons could start five first-round picks. Sambrailo was a second-round pick.
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