Star cornerback A.J. Terrell Jr. lands on injured reserve, leaving the Atlanta Falcons struggling defense vulnerable against Green Bay Packers' Jordan Love.
The Green Bay Packers were already foaming at the mouth knowing they got to take on this Atlanta Falcons defense in Week 3, but recent news just set Atlanta back even further.
Their secondary is far from the best in the league, and the team recently confirmed that cornerback A.J. Terrell Jr. is heading to the injured reserve list.
With Terrell going on IR, that is a huge loss for a struggling 0-2 team that's forced to play the Packers in their 2026 home opener.
Sure, all of that is already riding against them, and then they have to go into a short week against a Packers team that is slowly starting to build momentum after an overtime victory in Week 2.
Falcons former first round pick goes on IR
Terrell, 27, was the team's No. 16 pick back in 2020. After a dominant three-year career at Clemson, he went on to have an extremely successful campaign in his rookie contract before earning a massive four-year, $81 million extension.
There isn't a lot of talent on the Falcons that is worth that number, so for this team to lose him for at least four weeks is a huge blow.
Obviously, it bodes well for quarterback Jordan Love and this Packers offense. Remember, this is a team that had fewer than 200 yards of offense against the New York Jets, so they're desperately looking to get Love back on track.
After throwing for nearly 400 yards in Week 1, it seemed like this truly could've been the year Love was in the MVP consideration. A game like this against the Falcons is going to prove just how good he truly is, and it would be a massive step in the wrong direction to see this Packers receiving core struggle against a depleted Falcons secondary.
Terrell has been banged up all year
This is absolutely the correct decision for the Falcons to make as they look to preserve Terrell in the long-term, it's just unfortunate timing so early into the year.
Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is on his way back, so they have a reinforcement in that regard, but now there are going to be even more question marks attached to this defense.
Officially, Terrell was dealing with a shoulder injury in Week 1, but then suffered a groin injury in Week 2.
In his limited game-time this season, Terrell has six total tackles and two pass deflections.
