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Help is on the way. The New Orleans Saints designated Pro Bowl kicker Wil Lutz to return from injured reserve on Monday, opening his 21-day window to practice with the team. It doesn’t mean he’s a sure thing to kick against the Seattle Seahawks in New Orleans’ next game on Oct. 25, but it does give us an idea of when Lutz will be available.
So if he isn’t ready for this week’s kickoff, Lutz could return in subsequent games with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Atlanta Falcons. He’s been unavailable since early in training camp after undergoing core muscle surgery, and the Saints have struggled to replace him. Two of his potential replacements — Brett Maher and Cody Parkey — suffered similar groin injuries during pregame warmups to knock them out of action, while Aldrick Rosas was too erratic to trust any longer.
Now it’s up to Brian Johnson, signed off the Chicago Bears practice squad, to step up. Johnson must remain on the 53-man roster for at least three games, which lines up neatly with Lutz’s practice timeline. At some point New Orleans will have two kickers on the roster which isn’t that big of a problem given how often players can be promoted from the practice squad on game days.
The Saints played a couple games this year with only 51 of 53 roster spots filled thanks to that loophole, so rostering Johnson and Lutz together (albeit briefly) isn’t something Sean Payton or any other New Orleans decision-maker will be losing sleep over. Stay tuned for any other players designated to return from injured reserve in the days ahead, but we may have to wait until Thursday’s initial injury report for clarity.
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