Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett is done in the 2023 season. But he’s not done with his football career.
The veteran defensive tackle made that abundantly clear with a social media message on November 1.
“Ready for whatever, However,” Jarrett wrote on Instagram. “Warrior. Mindset. Strength, No weakness … The Best is always yet to come.
“Gonna be back, and better than ever. Let’s get it.”
The Falcons reposted Jarrett’s picture and caption on the team’s official X (formerly Twitter) account.
Jarrett suffered a torn ACL in Week 8 against the Tennessee Titans. Falcons head coach Arthur Smith told reporters on Monday that the star defensive tackle will miss the remainder of the season.
The Falcons acquired defensive tackle Kentavius Street for a 2024 conditional sixth-round pick to help replace Jarrett. Atlanta also recently signed defensive tackle LaCale London to the active roster.
Still, the Falcons will badly miss Jarrett for the rest of 2023. He had 23 combined tackles, including 2 tackles for loss, 8 quarterback hits and 1.5 sacks in eight games this season.
Last year, he had 6 of the team’s 21 sacks.
But if Jarrett returned in 2024 to be as good as he was or even better, that would be excellent news for the Falcons.
Jarrett, who has two more seasons remaining on his current contract, will turn 31 in April. He has posted 34 sacks, 68 tackles for loss, 114 quarterback hits and 5 forced fumbles in 135 career NFL games.
He has spent his entire nine-year career in Atlanta. During the 2019 and 2020 seasons, Jarrett earned Pro Bowl nominations. He also made second-team All-Pro in 2019.
During that season, he had a career-high 7.5 sacks and 69 combined tackles. He also posted 12 tackles for loss and 16 quarterback hits.
In addition to 2019 and 2022, Jarrett also reached the six-sack mark in 2018.
