Falcons cornerback Desmond Trufant, who suffered a torn pectoral and shoulder injury against Tampa Bay on Nov. 3, is likely to have season-ending shoulder surgery late next week, according to the Falcons.
“Trufant has another appointment (mid-week) and could have season-ending surgery this week,” a team spokesman wrote in a text to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sunday.
Trufant practiced in a limited role all week and was listed as questionable for the game. He has been declared out of Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals.
Although he practiced, Trufant was pretty sure that he wouldn’t be able to play.
“I feel good,” Trufant said on Monday. “Been a long three weeks just trying to get back to this point. I’m just improving every day, so I’m happy I’m going to get an opportunity to maybe come back.”
After the Tampa Bay game, he missed the contest the following week against Philadelphia (5-5), which the Falcons dropped 24-15. Second-year cornerback Jalen Collins took over most of Trufant’s role against the Eagles.
The Falcons also promoted cornerback Deji Olatoye from the practice squad and released running back Stevan Ridley
Falcons Promote CB Deji Olatoye and Release RB Stevan Ridley on Tuesday.
Trufant said he felt comfortable with his range of motion, but being such a “twitchy player” who moves his arms a lot could be a factor.
“It’s just a mental thing at this point, I think I felt the worst of it when it happened,” Trufant said. “It just comes down to how much (pain) can I take.”
Trufant is pretty sure now that he’ll have the surgery.
He added that the decision to try and return this season was not simple and that he needs to be “smart” going forward no matter how much he may want to play.
Trufant said his decision to play will come down to whether or not he feels like himself.
“I’m not going to go out there and be 20 percent, I got too much pride to put that on film,” Trufant said.
The Falcons were hoping that Collins, a second-round pick in 2015 out of LSU, would compete for the starting right cornerback spot, but he was suspended for the first four games this season for using performance enhancing drugs.
Collins was inactive for three of his first four games back and was relegated to special teams duties. He was pressed into service when Trufant went down against Tampa Bay.
Collins performed well in his third NFL start against the Eagles.
“For Tru to be out and for him to step into that spot, we thought he had a real solid game,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. “He made some plays on the ball. I thought he was tackling physically.”
Collins finished with six tackles and one tackle for a loss against the Eagles.
“So for us, he kind of performed the way we expected him to,” Quinn said. “He used his length. He used his speed. As far as his performance after playing the whole game, we were pleased with him.”
Collins was a bit tougher on himself.
“I gave up two passes in the first quarter,” Collins said. “After that, I settled in. I felt like I did pretty good coming up to make tackles when they needed me. I felt it went pretty good, minus the loss.”
Collins is ready to play more in the final six games.
“It’s just football,” he said. “It was just like practice out there. I was just trying to communicate with the guys and make sure everybody was on the same page. It wasn’t weird or anything like that. There were no nervous feelings out there for me. It was just (football).”
About the Author
