ATLANTA -- It was a bit of good-news-bad-news for the Falcons ahead of their season finale against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
Good news first: Kyle Pitts is active.
Pitts suffered a hamstring injury against the Buffalo Bills last Sunday. It happened towards the end of the first half and he was unable to continue in the second half. He was limited throughout practice on Thursday and Friday with Arthur Smith saying throughout the week the Falcons would wait until the end of the week before making a decision on Pitts. Speaking to the media on Thursday, Pitts said the hamstring felt "good" and he thought he's be ready to go on Sunday.
This is a huge development for the Falcons as Pitts is just 59 receiving yards away from breaking Mike Ditka's single season rookie receiving record (which he did in 14 games in 1961). Pitts has already surpassed the 1,000 receiving yards mark, now in league with Ditka as the only rookie tight end to do so.
With Pitts, Hayden Hurst and Lee Smith active and healthy, the Falcons have their full compliment of tight ends back after having to rely heavily on Parker Hesse in Buffalo last Sunday.
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The bad news for the Falcons on Sunday, though, is they will be without another rookie starter: Jalen Mayfield. Mayfield has been working through a back injury in the week leading up to Sunday's final game. He did not participate in Thursday or Friday's practices. With Mayfield officially ruled out, the Falcons could look at a few options to replace him.
The team's official depth chart has Josh Andrews listed as the primary backup at left guard. Andrews has been inactive throughout the last few weeks' games. He is active on Sunday, potentially to slot in for Mayfield. Other options the Falcons have for the position are Colby Gossett and Drew Dalman. Both could slot in if need be.
In other inactive news, the Falcons chose to move Feleipe Franks back into the backup quarterback role. After Franks was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list last week, Josh Rosen was active over the former UDFA for the first time in weeks. Everything went back to normal this week with Franks back to 100 percent. Rosen was listed as inactive on Sunday.
Here's the full list of Falcons inactives:
QB Josh Rosen
DL John Cominskey
G Jalen Mayfield
WR Frank Darby
OLB James Vaughters
DL Tyeler Davison
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