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The Atlanta Falcons will look at their current roster to replace Keanu Neal http://www.49erslockerroom.com/authentic-garrett-celek-jersey , the safety who will miss the remainder of the season after tearing a ligament in his left knee Thursday night in an 18-12 opening loss at Philadelphia .Coach Dan Quinn said Friday he and general manager Thomas Dimitroff discussed outside options that could include free agent Pro Bowl safety Eric Reid."We have talked about that," Quinn said when asked specifically about Reid.Quinn didn't rule out looking to acquire help in the future, but he said the first option would be a combination of Damontae Kazee, who replaced Neal in the game, and Jordan Richards, a safety who was acquired from the New England Patriots on Aug. 31."We'd like to go in-house first," Quinn said. "The reason is the presence of Jordan and the emergence of Kazee. We'll go down that road first. Then they'll definitely be, when you put a player down for the year on IR, there will be some opportunities that we could look at as well. But from a starting standpoint look in-house first."The loss of Neal, a leader on the defense who was selected to his first Pro Bowl in 2017, is a major blow to the Atlanta defense."It's very disappointing," defensive end Takkarist McKinley said following a team meeting on Friday. "He is a leader on this team, our best player. Losing him, someone else has got to step up. We've all got to step up."Friday's news was especially devastating because the initial diagnosis of the Falcons medical staff, which Quinn relayed to reporters following the game, was the injury wasn't believed to be serious. The team learned Friday Neal had torn his anterior cruciate ligament."You can imagine he was certainly heartbroken," said Quinn of Neal. "... It was a tough, emotional day."Neal used his Twitter account to pass along a message of faith. "TRUST in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. He has a plan Fred Warner Jersey ," Neal wrote.The injury news added more shock to a Falcons locker room reeling from another close loss to the Eagles. After being stopped on the goal line in a playoff loss in Philadelphia last season, the Falcons again were denied on five plays in the red zone to end the game.Then came Friday's news that Neal was lost for the season."You can't replace a guy like that," said cornerback Desmond Trufant. "We've just got to pray for him and pick up the slack."Neal hurt his knee in the first half, returned in the second half and then left the game for good.Quinn said he didn't think Neal aggravated the injury by returning to the game.Reid, 26, knelt beside San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick on the sideline during national anthems in the 2016 season to protest social injustice. Reid continued his protest in 2017. He filed a collusion grievance against the NFL in May after he was not signed as a free agent last offseason.The NFLPA has filed a grievance on Reid's behalf.Reid started 69 of 70 games with 10 career interceptions and remained unsigned despite attracting interest from Cincinnati and Tennessee.Neal was a 2016 first-round draft pick from Florida and one of the key building blocks on Quinn's defense. Neal had 113 tackles with one interception, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries while starting every game last season.Neal also has set the pace for the defense with his physical style."His physical nature is one that he plays like a linebacker, but is fast enough to play in the middle part of the field and play outside," Quinn said. "We'll certainly miss him because of the physical nature he plays with." RENTON, Wash. (AP) — Pete Carroll looked to a Seahawks staffer with a bemused expression as he continued to field questions about a player who is no longer part of Seattle’s locker room.“Pretty good love-fest for Sherm,” Carroll quipped.Richard Sherman’s impending return to Seattle this week has dominated the conversation and will dominate the attention leading into Sunday’s game between the Seahawks and Sherman’s new team in San Francisco. For good reason, too. Sherman remains one of the central figures in Seattle’s success during Carroll’s tenure that included the franchise’s only Super Bowl title.Yet, his time in Seattle ended with a messy separation this past offseason. It was a business decision that ultimately led to Sherman finding a new home in San Francisco. And while the relationship between Sherman and the Seahawks was at times contentious, there was respect for what he helped the franchise accomplish.“We had tremendous conversations all the way through the stages of what happened at the end,” Carroll said. “Sherm and I were sitting in my office eye-to-eye talking through everything and it was really straightforward and clear and he was handling his own business and he had to be really on top of it, which he was, and did a fantastic job for himself, too. But our communication was great.”Sherman was a three-time All-Pro during his seven seasons in Seattle. He developed from a lightly regarded fifth-round pick into one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL Dante Pettis Jersey White , an anchor for Seattle’s “Legion of Boom” secondary that’s now been completely taken apart due to departures and injuries. Sherman seemed to always find his way into the center of attention, whether it was talking smack to Tom Brady after beating the Patriots in a 2012 regular-season game, antics directed toward Michael Crabtree after the 2013 NFC championship game, or barking at coaches on the sideline.It was clearly time for a change and it included some critical comments Sherman had for Carroll on his way out. Carroll said he wasn’t bothered.“I know who Sherm is. I know him way differently than you guys probably think I do. I think the world of him,” Carroll said. “There was times (when) he was here where he might have said something that I didn’t agree with and had to work through it and all that. He is his own man. He was a stud of a guy when he was here and whatever came out in the transition came out. I could care less about that.”Cornerback Shaquill Griffin thinks of Sherman as a mentor. When Griffin arrived last year as a rookie, Sherman became a guide to Griffin on how to be a pro.“I didn’t expect him to take me under his wing the way he did. That was all a surprise to me but I’m grateful that he did,” Griffin said. “I came in, he had open arms for me and whatever it took. I remember he told me, ‘I won’t give you so much you can’t handle unless I know you can.’ I remember after the first couple of games he was like, ‘You know what, I see you’re ready. I’m going to give you everything I know and we’re going to go from there.’ It’s not like he got paid to do stuff like that. He doesn’t. So you can tell he’s really a genuine guy.”Bobby Wagner joked there will likely be a lot of trash talking and that he won’t let Sherman get an interception even if that means coming off the sideline to make sure it doesn’t happen. Wagner became serious when asked about what kind of reception Sherman should receive. Sports radio has been filled with questions about whether Sherman should be lauded or booed upon his return.“He should be received with the loudest cheer they could possibly cheer and the warmest of welcomes. It’s not like he said, ‘I hate this team, I want to leave.’ There is a business side of everything,” Wagner said. “I would be surprised if anybody booed. If they did boo him they weren’t a Richard Sherman fan in the first place. I think he deserves the applause. He was part of the team that helped bring the city the first football championship. I wouldn’t expect anything other than respect.”NOTES: LB K.J. Wright is “away from the team” this week doing rehab on his troublesome knee that has caused him to miss the past two games, Carroll said. Wright will not play this week. … Seattle activated RB J.D. McKissic to the 53-man roster. McKissic had been out all season after suffering a foot injury in the preseason and was placed on injured reserve. He returned to practice last week.