FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons placed kicker Younghoe Koo on injured reserve, the team announced Wednesday.
In turn, the Falcons signed kicker Riley Patterson to the active roster. They also released kicker Tanner Brown from the practice squad.
This news comes less than 24 hours after Falcons head coach Raheem Morris told reporters in his weekly day-after-game press conference that Koo came to the coaching staff following Monday's win against the Las Vegas Raiders, saying he "kind of hurt himself a little bit." Koo wasn't on the Falcons' injury report in the lead-up to the Week 15 game, but he had been in Week 13 due to an issue with his right hip.
"Our guys have always put ourselves in position to get people in here," Morris said. "We've had a couple kickers over the last couple of weeks since he was on the injury report a couple of weeks ago. So, we've always been pretty precautionary when it comes to Younghoe Koo, when it comes to those things."
Patterson had previously been signed to the Falcons' practice squad on Nov. 29, elevated for the Week 13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers and then released on Dec. 3. Koo had been questionable to play against the Chargers but was ultimately active, so Patterson did not play. Koo made two of his three field goal attempts in that game, missing from 35 yards but hitting from 26 and 41 yards out.
Because the Falcons only have three regular-season games remaining, and NFL rules state a player on injured reserve is required to miss at least four, Koo's 2024 season is over.
Through 14 games, Koo made 25 of his 34 field goal attempts. That's a 73.5% success rate, his lowest since joining the Falcons in 2019. His season-end percentage with Atlanta had never dropped below 86.5% before.
This year featured career-high and -low moments for Koo, whose contract is up in 2027. He made a personal-best 58-yard field goal to force overtime in the Falcons' Week 5 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He also missed three field goal attempts in the Falcons' Week 10 loss to the New Orleans Saints, the most he's missed in a single game in his career.
"He's hitting the ball well," Falcons special teams coordinator Marquice Williams said on Dec. 5. "I'm not going to – we're not going to – make excuses about injuries or anything like that. If he's out there, that's his job."
Now, it will be Patterson's job.
Since 2021, Patterson has appeared in 41 games for four different teams – the Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets. He has made 59 of his 67 field goal attempts for an 88.1% success rate over the course of his career. Patterson's longest make checks in at 53 yards from a 2022 Week 17 win with the Jaguars, against the Houston Texans.
This season, Patterson has appeared in two games for two different teams but has not attempted a field goal. He has, however, at least connected on all four of his point-after kicks.
The Falcons (7-7) host the New York Giants (2-12) on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET (FOX) inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
