The Atlanta Falcons’ defense, already depleted by injury, suffered another significant blow.
Starting safety Ricardo Allen suffered a torn Achilles that will end his season, multiple media outlets reported Monday.
Allen sustained the injury during Sunday’s overtime loss to the New Orleans Saints. He has started 48 of the 49 games he has played for the Falcons, and that includes starts in the first three games this season. He had 17 total tackles and one interception this year, and he has seven interceptions for his career.
Falcons linebacker Deion Jones and safety Keanu Neal are already on injured reserve with knee injuries, and now the Falcons will be without Allen, who signed a three-year contract extension during the offseason.
The loss of both safeties leaves the Falcons with Damontae Kazee, Jordan Richards and Keith Tandy as safeties on the active 53-player roster.
The Falcons ranked ninth in total defense last season, and Neal and Allen were major contributors. Neal finished second on the team in tackles behind Jones, and Allen finished sixth.
Defensive end Takk McKinley also missed Sunday’s game with an injury.
Head coach Dan Quinn said after Sunday’s game that he and general manager Thomas Dimitroff discussed adding a player to the roster.
“Yes, Thomas and I discussed that, and we’ll continue to discuss that afterward,” Quinn said, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We have some other guys with some versatility that we’ll try to plug around. We’ll see what the length of the injuries are. That would certainly make a difference if we went outside to look for somebody else. If it’s shorter term, then likely we’d stay inside.”
