{"id":651714,"date":"2026-01-03T22:12:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/651714\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T22:12:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:12:18","slug":"falcons-update-week-18-game-status-for-5-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/651714\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcons update Week 18 game status for 5 players"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. \u2014 The Atlanta Falcons updated the game status of multiple players Saturday in advance of their regular-season finale against the New Orleans Saints.<\/p>\n<p>First, punter Trenton Gill was chosen as the Falcons&#8217; Week 18 standard practice squad elevation. Gill was <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.atlantafalcons.com\/news\/falcons-mike-hughes-injured-reserve-sign-khalid-kareem\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">signed to the practice squad<\/a> Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Since he was drafted by the Chicago Bears in 2022 with a seventh-round pick, Gill has punted in 42 games. He was the Bears&#8217; full-time punter during his first two seasons in the league, averaging 46.1 yards per boot and pinning 28.6% of them within the 20-yard line. He then spent last season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, appearing in eight games with a 43.3-yard punt average and 33.3% success rate inside the 20. Gill has yet to punt in the 2025 season.<\/p>\n<p>Then, the Falcons added cornerback A.J. Terrell Jr., defensive lineman Ruke Orhorhoro and long snapper Liam McCullough to Sunday&#8217;s game status report as questionable with an illness. All three had otherwise fully participated in practice all week.<\/p>\n<p>And finally, the Falcons downgraded safety DeMarcco Hellams and defensive lineman Sam Roberts from questionable to out on the game status report. Both are within their 21-day window, having recently been designated to return from injured reserve. Hellams was <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.atlantafalcons.com\/news\/demarcco-hellams-designated-to-return-injured-reserve-week-18\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">designated earlier this week<\/a>, attempting to come back from a hamstring injury. Roberts was <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TerrinWaack\/status\/2004653928571646372?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">designated last week<\/a>, trying to return from knee and ankle injuries.<\/p>\n<p>The Falcons&#8217; game status report now looks as such:<\/p>\n<p>\n  Questionable<\/p>\n<p>WR Darnell Mooney (knee)<br \/>\nWR Drake London (knee)<br \/>\nTE Kyle Pitts Sr. (knee)<br \/>\nCB A.J. Terrell Jr. (illness)<br \/>\nDL Ruke Orhorhoro (illness)<br \/>\nLS Liam McCullough (illness)<\/p>\n<p>\n  Doubtful<\/p>\n<p>\n  Out<\/p>\n<p>CB Clark Phillips III (triceps \/ illness)<br \/>\nDL Brandon Dorlus (hamstring)<br \/>\nS DeMarcco Hellams (hamstring)<br \/>\nDL Sam Roberts (knee \/ ankle)<\/p>\n<p>The Falcons-Saints game is scheduled to kick off Sunday at 1 p.m. ET inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. FOX will carry live-game coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. \u2014 The Atlanta Falcons updated the game status of multiple players Saturday in advance of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076],"tags":[18939,2666,7,11422,896,55,93338,2572,2571,88,6,62545,6708,397,22669,1024,3571,68852],"class_list":["post-651714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-orleans-saints","tag-a-j-terrell","tag-demarcco-hellams","tag-football","tag-liam-mccullough","tag-new-orleans","tag-new-orleans-saints","tag-new-orleans-saints-at-atlanta-falcons-2025-reg-18","tag-neworleans","tag-neworleanssaints","tag-news","tag-nfl","tag-practice-squad-elevation","tag-ruke-orhorhoro","tag-saints","tag-sam-roberts","tag-terrin-waack","tag-transactions","tag-trenton-gill"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115833467505544549","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}