Of the many philosophies the Atlanta Falcons have adopted since hiring Kevin Stefanski, stabilizing the offensive line is near the top of the list. Jake Matthews and Kaleb McGary are on the wrong side of 30 and McGary missed all of 2025 due to a season-ending knee injury suffered in training camp.
McGary's injury is what led to the chain of events that forced the Falcons to start Elijah Wilkinson at right tackle last season, so the anticipation to get him back is bubbling. When healthy he's one of the more underrated tackles in football, but he's only played in every game in a season twice in his career.
We haven't heard much about his return, but Stefanski finally broke his silence on the matter. While addressing the media during NFL league meetings, Stefanski gave an update on where McGary stands in his recovery process, admitting there is "hope" that he could be ready for training camp.
Kaleb McGary could be closer to making a return than we anticipated
Obviously, the Dirty Birds are looking forward to getting the 31-year-old back on the field. The OL suffered without him, but losing Storm Norton just days later was even worse since Atlanta was decimated by a lack of depth at tackle, which hopefully will be a thing of the past under Bill Callahan.
McGary will offer plenty of stability should he return to his pre-injury form, but it's unclear how guaranteed that is. Players are unable to even report to the facility for another week, so while this update is promising, it doesn't really seem like there is enough to go off of to make a real judgement.
Stefanski revealed that they'll learn more later in the spring or in the early summer when players are in the facility, but training camp won't even start until mid-to-late July. That's a lot of time for the Washington product to rehab and get right, but even so, it's no guarantee he'll be 100% for Week 1.
Even though he missed all of 2025, McGary posted strong numbers in 2024. According to Pro Football Focus, his 77.6 run blocking grade in 2024 ranked 17th among all tackles, while 78.1 run blocking grade in 2023 ranked 12th, so his return to the lineup should bode well for Bijan Robinson.
The other issue with McGary's absence is that since Atlanta has two left-handed quarterbacks, he is protecting the blind side regardless of whether Michael Penix Jr. or Tua Tagovailoa is starting. Since he has no experience in Callahan's scheme, the harder the learning curve gets the longer he's out.
McGary has always beena tough player, and the sooner he returns the better, so hopefully Stefanski's update comes true.