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The New Orleans Saints met with free agent wide receiver Tommylee Lewis earlier this week, and he’s since signed with the practice squad. Nick Underhill reported for NewOrleans.Football that Lewis has returned to New Orleans after joining them for training camp, and Nola.com’s Amie Just added that he’ll be wearing No. 14. It isn’t immediately clear which member of the 16-strong practice squad Lewis will be replacing.
This follows an injury to All-Pro returns specialist Deonte Harris. The Athletic’s Katherine Terrell reported that Lewis tweaked his hamstring late in Week 4’s win over the Detroit Lions, and he was not spotted at the portion of Saints practice open to media on Thursday. Harris also missed two games in 2019 with a hamstring injury.
Harris replaced Lewis on both special teams and his bit part on offense last year, so it makes sense to go with someone the Saints know well as a short-term replacement. Alvin Kamara was pressed into action as a returns specialist after Harris exited the Lions game, but Lewis will have a tough time competing with rookie wideout Marquez Callaway to fill in for Harris on Monday’s game with the Los Angeles Chargers.
Callaway was an accomplished return man at Tennessee, where he fielded 40 punts in four years while averaging 13.6 yards per return. He’s less experienced at handling kickoffs (with just 8 tries in his college career), but it’s better to make the rookie earn that spot-duty if Harris can’t play by competing with a veteran.
If Lewis gets the nod instead on Monday night, then it means Callaway didn’t show the coaches enough to practice to trust him just yet. But Callaway has dressed for three of the first four games already and caught his first pass last week (a 16-yard gain), so he at least has momentum behind him.
But this could all be premature. If Harris is able to return to action soon then it’s all moot, and there’s no question that he would be the best option returning kicks and punts for the Saints. Stay tuned for updates to the official injury report in the days ahead.
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