Another injured starter.
Falcons starting left guard Andy Levitre suffered a triceps injury and was placed on injured reserve for the season on Tuesday, the team announced.
“Andy worked extremely hard to get back on the field after a similar injury last year, and there is no doubt his leadership will continue to be felt this year,” Falcons Dan Quinn said. “We have a ton of respect for Andy and what he stands for, and what he means to our team.”
Levitre, 32, played 12 snaps in the 31-24 victory over Panthers on Sunday. Wes Schweitzer, who started 18 games last season at right guard, came on after Levitre was injured and played 51 of the 63 offensive snaps (81 percent).
Zach Klein of Channel 2 Action News was the first to report the news.
Levitre, who’s 6-foot-2 and 303 pounds, started 13 games in 2017 before undergoing elbow surgery. He started 143 games over his career, which included stops in Buffalo (2009-12) and Tennessee (2013-14).
The Falcons traded with the Titans to get Levitre on Sept. 4, 2015. The Falcons sent the Titans a sixth-round draft pick and a conditional pick.
He started 47 games for the Falcons, including all 19 games during the march to the Super Bowl LI in 2016-17.
The Falcons signed guard Zac Kerin to the 53-man roster. He started his career with Minnesota after going undrafted in 2014. He’s also spent time with the New York Giants and Detroit.
Kerin, 27, played at Toledo and is 6-foot-4 and 305 pounds. Overall, he’s played in 16 NFL games and made one start.
The signing on Kerin is interesting because the Falcons could have called up Sean Harlow from the practice squad. Harlow was a fourth-round pick in the 2017 draft. He was on the 53-man roster all last season, but was inactive for all 18 games. He was cut and re-signed to the practice squad before the start of this season.
Now, the Falcons must rely on Schweitzer, who lost his starting right guard spot to Brandon Fusco in training camp. Schweitzer was one of the lowest graded starting guards by profootballfocus.com last season, but played well against the Panthers.
“When Wes stepped in for Andy (Levitre) we certainly knew what to expect for a guy who had really put the time in,” Quinn said on Monday following the injury. “This summer, the battle that he had in him with Brandon to get going, we knew if he was going to go in the game he would be ready.”
It shouldn’t be much of an adjustment for Schweitzer to move full-time to the left side of the line, where he’ll line up next to left tackle Jake Matthews and center Alex Mack.
“Your targeting is the same, but you have to drill that way during the week,” Quinn said. “If you're playing on the left side, have a left stance; if you're playing on the right side, have a right stance, how your body moves to make different blocks. He's somebody that's out early, does extra to make sure he's really prepared and ready.”
Schweitzer was also serving as the backup center.
Ben Garland, who was the backup swing guard last season, has been inactive for the first two games with a calf injury.
On offense, the Falcons are already without starting running back Devonta Freeman, whom the team says is day-to-day, but likely to miss at least one more game and perhaps two with a knee contusion.
On defense, the Falcons are without starting safety Keanu Neal, who had knee surgery on Tuesday, and starting linebacker Deion Jones, who had foot surgery.
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