PHILADELPHIA — The Atlanta Falcons placed inside linebacker Nate Landman on injured reserve, the team announced Monday.
Landman was already ruled out of Week 2 action on Saturday when the Falcons released game designations for their Monday Night Football game against the Philadelphia Eagles. He has been dealing with a quad injury since mid-August. His calf was also included as an issue on the latest injury report.
Despite being listed as a backup on the depth chart, Landman is a vital part of the Falcons' defensive rotation. He took 54% of the Falcons' defensive snaps in the team's Week 1 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, totaling seven stops.
Landman joined the Falcons in 2022 as an undrafted free agent but truly made his name known in 2023 when he was tasked with filling in for Troy Andersen, who went on injured reserve in Week 4. In 14 starts and 16 game appearances overall, Landman made 110 tackles, seven of which were for a loss and two were sacks. He also had an interception, a trio of pass breakups and three forced fumbles.
Without Landman, the Falcons still have Kaden Elliss and Andersen as healthy inside linebacker options for Week 2 and beyond, along with fifth-round draft pick JD Bertrand.
Since that opened a spot on the active roster, the Falcons signed cornerback Kevin King off the practice squad. King was a Week 1 standard elevation. He took seven special teams snaps (28%). He recorded one tackle in the process.
The opener marked King's first live action since 2021 with the Green Bay Packers, who drafted him in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft. King took the 2022 season off due to personal reasons and then was injured before the 2023 season began. He had 42 starts and 51 game appearances prior to his time away, so King is no stranger to the gridiron.
In addition to the Landman and King news, the Falcons also announced safety Dane Cruikshank is their standard practice squad elevation for Week 2. Cruikshank spent training camp in Atlanta. He's a former fifth-round draft pick with four starts and 54 game appearances since 2018. He spent five seasons with the Tennessee Titans and one with the Chicago Bears before coming to Atlanta.
The Falcons-Eagles game will kick off at 8:15 p.m. ET. ESPN will carry live coverage from Lincoln Financial Field.
