One moment, you’re a cornerstone, a 330-pound pillar of stability fresh off a $30 million vote of confidence. The next, you’re staring up from the turf, the entire weight of a city’s hopes resting on a single, injured limb. For Kaleb McGary and Raheem Morris’ Atlanta Falcons, that moment arrived not under the bright lights of a Sunday but on a practice field, in the quiet grind of a Wednesday.

The news, delivered by head coach Raheem Morris after a humiliating 13-31 preseason finale loss to the Dallas Cowboys, was as blunt as a blindside hit. McGary, the Falcons’ ironman right tackle, is expected to miss “significant time” with a left leg injury, with an injured reserve designation looming.

The timing is a cruel twist of fate; just over two weeks after inking his new deal, the 30-year-old’s 2025 campaign is in sudden, serious jeopardy. Morris confirmed the grim outlook, a painful official verdict that casts a long shadow over the season before it even begins.

This isn’t just about one man’s misfortune. It’s a compounding crisis. The Falcons’ depth chart at tackle was already teetering after backup Storm Norton underwent ankle surgery earlier in the week, sidelining him for 6-8 weeks. As former NFL O-lineman Ross Tucker pointed out, this moves the team from contingency plans to pure desperation.

“The reality is, most teams, the next guy up is a guy you can win with,” Tucker said, explaining the delicate balance of roster construction. “You start to get to the eighth and ninth guy, those guys usually haven’t played very much. Those guys can be the reason why you lose the game, so it’s a major, major concern. There’s no doubt about it.” The preseason loss to Dallas only amplified the alarm.

Raheem Morris faces a crucial test as the Falcons’ offensive line crumbles

With McGary and Norton out, the offensive line looked exactly like a unit missing its key cogs. The Cowboys’ defense feasted, turning the game into a messy preview of a worst-case scenario. The performance was a stark reminder that in the NFL, your strength can become your glaring weakness in the blink of an eye.

Where do the Falcons go from here? The internal options—Elijah Wilkinson, Brandon Parker, rookie Jack Nelson—inspired little confidence against Dallas. The free-agent market is a barren wasteland of question marks, with names like Jedrick Wills and Isaiah Wynn available but carrying their own significant health concerns. The path forward is murky, a difficult puzzle for Morris and his staff to solve with the season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just two weeks away.

For McGary, a player whose career is a testament to resilience, this new obstacle is profoundly unfair. This is a guy who lived in an RV with his family after they lost their farm, who battled heart arrhythmias that threatened his very career. He’s fought for every inch of his 92-game starting streak. To see it potentially halted by a non-contact practice injury is a gut-punch narrative nobody saw coming.

The Falcons’ culture, one Morris has painstakingly built on a next-man-up mentality, is now facing its first true test of 2025. The euphoria of a renewed offensive line has been replaced by the anxious murmur of uncertainty. The painful news for Kaleb McGary is more than a medical update; it’s a seismic shift that threatens to derail Atlanta’s ambitions before they’ve even left the station. The team’s identity, much like McGary’s leg, is now waiting on the results of an MRI.