Once upon a time, Jalen Mayfield seemed like the likely starter at left guard for the Falcons. Instead, Elijah Wilkinson ran away with the job, Mayfield dealt with an injury and fell behind, and then he hit injured reserve heading into the season. Through 10 weeks, we hadn’t seen or heard anything about how his recovery was going.
Now that the situation at left guard has gotten dire, Mayfield appears to be on the cusp of returning, which is excellent timing for him and the team. Wilkinson is also on injured reserve and won’t be eligible to return until after the Week 12 matchup against the Commanders, and his replacement Matt Hennessy is on the shelf until at least after the Week 14 bye.