It’s been a few weeks since Marshon Lattimore was a full participant at New Orleans Saints practice, having exited their Aug. 18 joint session with the Los Angeles Chargers after injuring his knee.
Saints head coach Dennis Allen said at the time that there was no structural damage, but that the team would take it slowly with one of their best players — and now he says Lattimore is expected to play in their season-opening home game with the Tennessee Titans.
Lattimore was briefly spotted at practice on Aug. 23 but left the session early as a precaution, and he hasn’t participated since. But the Saints will have plenty of time to get him up to speed next week before kickoff with the Titans on Sept. 10. Hopefully they aren’t rushing Lattimore back too soon, but it’s a good sign the team felt confident enough about his status to release one of his top backups in Bradley Roby.
He’s coming off his best training camp with New Orleans in years. Rib and internal injuries limited him to just 7 games last season, but he’s tied with Jalen Ramsey for the thid-most passes defensed (78) since he entered the league in 2017. Only Darius Slay (85) and James Bradberry (89) have broken up more throws thrown into their coverage. And out of that group, Lattimore is the only player to do it with one team.
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