Sean Weatherspoon to miss entire 2014 season for Atlanta Falcons

Remember that ESPN.com article that ranked the Atlanta Falcons roster as the 30th out of 32 teams? Well, this news wont help much. Starting linebacker Sean Weatherspoon is expected to miss all of the 2014 season after rupturing his Achilles tendon.

Falcons’ head coach Mike Smith said this today about the injury:

"“During Sean’s run today with our medical staff, he suffered an injury. We sent Sean to the doctor for some additional testing and evaluation and unfortunately the results showed that he ruptured his Achilles tendon. Sean had been working extremely hard to get back on the field, but regrettably he will miss the entire 2014 season. He will have a procedure done in the near future and we expect him to make a full recovery.”"

Weatherspoon played in only seven games last season, where he snagged a 71-yard interception for a touchdown, and recorded 26 tackles and assisted on 12 more in a season that was plagued with injury. The 2010 first round pick of the Falcons has recorded 216 tackles in his four-year career, in addition to 8 sacks, and he set a career high in his sophomore season with both 4.0 sacks and 86 tackles.

The Falcons have been attempting to install more 3-4 packages on defense, and as if that wasn’t a challenge in and of itself, trying to find someone to replace the team’s best linebacker just adds more difficulty to the process. Many of the Atlanta’s struggles from the 2013 season stemmed from injury issues, and this is certainly unwelcome news for a team who is looking to improve at stopping the run in order to have a bounce-back season.