During 11-on-11 drills at Falcons training camp Saturday, the lack of depth at safety was glaring.
During one first-team series, Sean Baker lined up at free safety. Beside him stood Kemal Ishmael. After Dwight Lowery sustained a head injury at the team’s Friday Night Lights practice the day prior, the list of injured safeties grew to three: Lowery, Zeke Motta (neck) and rookie Dezmen Southward (knee).
Lowery is going through concussion protocol, but Smith said he didn’t think the injury is very serious. Although Southward assured on Friday that his knee feels better with each day and he’d be back on the field “within a week,” the temporary lack of depth at his position will allow for cornerbacks to cross-train in the meantime.
“We’re going to start cross-training some of these guys actually earlier than we normally do,” head coach Mike Smith said.
That was evident during Saturday’s practice, as rookie Ricardo Allen and Robert McClain took some snaps at safety.
“We have some guys on our roster right now that we can cross-train (at the safety position),” Smith said. “When we start getting to our 53-man roster we’ve got to do that anyway.”
Although some corners will get work at the safety position and vice versa as part of the Falcons’ in-season contingency plans, the team has not counted out bringing a safety in should depth in the secondary become even more scarce. After all, the Falcons signed defensive tackle Theo Agnew one day after Peria Jerry retired to help alleviate the gap left on the defensive line.
“We would never discount making a roster move if there’s someone we feel can help us,” Smith said.
