The Atlanta Falcons have placed Lorenzo Carter on injured reserve, marking a rapid succession from “Carter seems to be playing fewer snaps in Week 6” to “Carter didn’t practice, odd” to “Carter has a concussion, per the team” to “Carter’s on IR.”

We can only guess what happened over the past week to get us to this point, but the upshot is that Carter will be on the shelf for at least four weeks, which opens up a huge hole in the team’s outside linebacker group. Carter had not played well by his standards to this point in the season, struggling in run defense and coverage to a surprising degree for a reliable player in those two facets, but until last week he had played at least half the defensive snaps every single game. The team was clearly hoping he would bounce back to the reliable, well-rounded defender he had been for the Falcons in 2022 and 2023, but that won’t happen for at least a month at this point.

With Carter on injured reserve, the Falcons freed up a roster space by bringing back Kevin King, who will most likely feature significantly on special teams against the Seahawks Sunday. King will most likely replace the fourth safety position and special teams need that Micah Abernathy had until he went on injured reserve, while also providing emergency depth at cornerback. Natrone Means will also play defensive backfield on Sunday if injuries arise, but whatever playing time he gets while everyone is healthy will be on special teams.

Carter’s loss also means the Falcons have to shuffle the deck at outside linebacker. Arnold Ebiketie is likely to take on the majority of snaps in Carter’s stead, something he did last Sunday, and will hopefully show continued improvement as a run defender and pass rusher to give this defense a lift. DeAngelo Malone may shift from his all-special teams role to take a handful of snaps, as well, with the team’s elevation of Demone Harris giving them another option in the form of a pass rusher who fared pretty well the past couple of summers. Carter’s shaky season to this point means Ebiketie and company have a real chance to be upgrades on Sunday; the track record is not there in the same way it has been for Carter to assume that until we see it, however.

That’s a lot of shuffling and two players this past week who have hit injured reserve between Carter and Abernathy, and the Falcons now have real holes to fill on defense and special teams. The hope is that they’ll do so in a way that doesn’t significantly impacts special teams and leads to at least some modest improvement defensively, especially with the Seahawks offering a real challenge.

We wish Carter a speedy recovery, and we’ll see what Ebiketie and possibly Harris can do in his stead tomorrow.