The Atlanta Falcons' first day of training camp of the Kevin Stefanski era has been a day from hell. We are quite literally living in the darkest timeline, because nothing has gone according to plan. Hopefully what we've witnessed this morning isn't a sign of how things will play out with Stefanski at the helm.
First, we found out that Tua Tagovailoa is dealing with a minor injury, and then the worst possible update about Michael Penix Jr.'s health followed, which effectively decided the QB battle. But after learning Bijan Robinson wouldn't practice to hold in for a new contract, another nightmare happened.
With Bijan vying for a new deal, free agent pickup Brian Robinson Jr. was set to take snaps with Atlanta's first-team offense, but as it has all day, it didn't take long for disaster to strike. During a play in 11-on-11s, Robinson Jr. came up a bit gingerly during a pass route and did not return to practice.
Brian Robinson Jr.'s injury added to to the Falcons' nightmare opener to training camp
The good news here is that the 27-year-old got up relatively quickly and they didn't have to bring the cart out, but of course him remaining off to the side is not ideal. The Falcons aren't exactly blessed with the luxury of running back depth, so not having either B-Rob. is far from the most ideal scenario.
ESPN's Marc Raimondi reported that when Robinson went down, fellow free agent pickup Tyler Goodson and second-year back Nate Carter took most of the snaps at RB. However, undrafted RB-turned-WR Cash Jones also logged a carry with the running back room in incredibly dire straits.
I imagine that if the injury was severe in any manner, the Dirty Birds would sign a veteran running back to operate as their new RB2, since both Goodson and Carter are better suited as third-stringers who will make an impact on special teams. After all, Stefanski's old friend Nick Chubb is still available.
The scary part is that we don't know the extent of the injury, and with Bijan still waiting for a new deal, we need his backup to step in in the interim. This is a run-heavy offense and the Alabama product is set to take on the Tyler Allgeier role, and of course the latter is thriving while Robinson is banged up.
The Falcons had enough bad news go down on their opening day of training camp, so the last thing they need is Brian Robinson Jr.'s injury becoming anything serious.
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