[jwplayer 55f1rSAh-ThvAeFxT]
Will Marcus Davenport return to practice with the New Orleans Saints on Thursday?
That’s the question on the minds of many fans. Davenport has not appeared in a game through the first two weeks after suffering an elbow injury late in training camp, which followed repeated praise from coaches, teammates, and reporters on the ground after a strong summer of work.
It’s disappointing to be sure. The big defensive end was sidelined by foot injuries in each of his first two seasons (turf toe in 2017, a Lisfranc issue in 2018), so this elbow problem is something new and unrelated. Stamping him as an injury-prone player wouldn’t be accurate.
Calling him a draft bust wouldn’t be right, either. Davenport has been effective when healthy; he’s seven sacks away from ranking among the top-20 Saints players of all time. He’s a good player, but he hasn’t been available often enough (and blaming him for it is pointless. He’s not trying to get hurt).
We’ll see what Thursday’s injury report looks like. The Saints released an estimate from the training staff on Wednesday, having not held a practice session after traveling back from Las Vegas on a short week. And they played it conservative in listing Davenport as a DNP, which makes sense. Guessing that he may have practiced before downgrading him after the team actually gets to work would look much worse than the opposite.
Hopefully he returns on Thursday and can play on Sunday in some capacity. If not, the Saints have serious questions to answer about how they’ve handled this, at least internally. The only reason he shouldn’t have started the year on injured reserve was if he was expected back in a week or two (in 2020, players are allowed to return after three weeks on the list). If he misses this third game, it means the Saints misdiagnosed his injury and how long it would take him to recover.
Earlier this month, Saints coach Sean Payton preached patience with Davenport, describing it as an injury that would only get worse if he were rushed into action. But we’re approaching the limits of the initial recovery timeline, and drawing things out with Davenport has had a ripple effect on the rest of the depth chart.
The Saints choosing to keep him on the roster meant that veteran Margus Hunt had to be promoted twice from the practice squad in Davenport’s place on game days, which they will not be able to do again unless Hunt is signed to the roster full-time. Because Davenport was on the roster but inactive, they’ve lost some roster flexibility later in the season.
And they could certainly use the help. All-Pro defensive end Cameron Jordan has looked stiff (possibly due to offseason surgery), and he hasn’t had a sack in the first two games. As a team, the Saints have logged just six sacks. That’s not good enough.
We’ll know more once the injury report is published. Stay tuned for updates.
[vertical-gallery id=38128]