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One big storyline for the Atlanta Falcons this training camp has been the health of rookie first round draft pick Jalon Walker. Walker was brought in from the University of Georgia to help alleviate the Falcons' pass rushing concerns but has been dealing with a groin injury over the last couple of weeks.
Recently, Tori McElhaney of the Falcons took to X, formerly Twitter, to provide the latest update in that department.
“Raheem Morris said the Falcons will move forward with ‘an abundance of caution' with Jalon Walker and his groin injury. He will not practice today, trying to ramp him back up later in the week, but it is about ‘really getting him ready for the season because we don't want it to linger,'” she reported.
Falcons fans certainly will be understanding of their team wanting to be cautious with their first round draft pick, a player who alongside Tennessee rookie James Pearce Jr. is expected to help bring the Falcons' pass rush unit out of the NFL gutter.
Can the Falcons compete?
One consistent aspect of the Falcons throughout their last several eras has been their lack of a consistent pass rushing attack, a problem that has somehow only gotten worse over the last couple of years.
Atlanta addressed this problem by drafting both Walker and Pearce in this year's first round, trading up with the Los Angeles Rams in order to select the latter, and they hope that those moves will be enough to at least make that unit average, if not good, this upcoming season.
On offense, the Falcons will be banking on continued ascension from quarterback Michael Penix Jr., along with continued development from skill positional players like Bijan Robinson and Drake London, to turn themselves into one of the more formidable units in the league.
The Falcons haven't made the playoffs since the 2017-18 season, watching the divisional rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers win the NFC South crown for the last several years, a streak they'll hope to end this year.
The Falcons will host the Buccaneers to open up their season on September 7 at 1:00 PM ET.
