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The Atlanta Falcons will be without their lead tackler Mykal Walker (groin) on Sunday when they face the San Francisco 49ers, per ESPN’s Michael Rothstein.
Rothstein also added that tight end Kyle Pitts is questionable for Week 6 as he deals with a hamstring injury.
Walker Exited Week 5’s Matchup Early
Last Sunday, Walker went down in the second half against Tampa Bay with a groin injury and did not return.
He managed to rack up 11 tackles (seven solo) before exiting early and Atlanta went on to lose 21-15 to the Buccaneers.
Walker seemed confident after that game that it was nothing too serious and had an MRI on Monday, which apparently said otherwise.
Rookie linebacker Troy Andersen entered the game in Walker’s place.
He did a nice job of filling the void with five stops (four solo).
Walker is also a big fan of Andersen.
“I’m high on him. Troy is freakishly athletic. We have to clean him up on the X’s and O’s a little bit, but the sky is the limit for that kid,” Walker said of Andersen after Week 2’s loss to the Rams per Josh Kendall of The Athletic.
Andersen currently has just 13 (eight solo) tackles on the season thus far, while Walker leads the team with 44 (24 solo) tackles.
Andersen Set for First NFL Start
Just six weeks into the season and Andersen is set for his first NFL start with Walker sidelined.
The Falcons’ 2022 second-round draft pick may have been one of the most intriguing players to come out of the 2022 NFL Draft class after playing both sides of the ball at MSU.
For starters, the 6-foot-4, 235-pound Bobcat product spent his freshman year in the backfield, where he rushed for a team-high 1,412 yards and 21 touchdowns. The following season he started 11 games at QB and added 300+ more yards and seven touchdowns while also logging 54 total tackles, an interception and 6.5 sacks on defense.
After covid-19 canceled his 2020 season, he returned in 2021 to focus solely on the linebacker position. Just last fall, Andersen racked up 147 tackles, a forced fumble, two interceptions and two sacks. His impressive season resulted in him being a finalist for the Buck Buchannan Award along with a list of other All-Big Sky and All-American awards.
Rashaan Evans Takes Over Leadership Role
Linebacker Rashaan Evans is on the rise again after the Tennesee Titans declined his fifth-year option ahead of the 2021 season.
The Alabama product was originally a first-round selection (22nd overall) by the Tennessee Titans in the 2018 NFL Draft.
With Dean Pees as Tennessee’s defensive coordinator, he entered Titans’ training camp competing against Will Compton and Jayon Brown for a starting job. However, he didn’t win the job and was listed as the third inside linebacker on the depth chart.
He officially became a full-time starter during his second season where he finished with 111 tackles, 2.5 sacks and a fumble recovery for a touchdown through 16 starts. But his production was inconsistent from there which led to Tennessee not picking up his option and then reuniting with Pees in Atlanta on a one-year deal.
And now, Evans is on the rise again as the Falcons’ second-leading tackler behind Walker with 40 tackles on the season so far.
Now only that, but he’s been stepping up as a leader, alongside Walker and after doing so well last week, Evans will take over Walker’s defensive play-calling duties again in Week 6.
He did great,” Walker said last Sunday. “We always talk. I’ve got my money on (Evans) all the time. As soon as I went down, I knew Rashaad was going to pick up the slack. We got a great kid, Troy Andersen, to run in there too and help take over. We have a really good linebacker room. I knew if I couldn’t go in there that those guys would be able to hold it down.”
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