The New Orleans Saints made a couple of moves to account for Payton Turner’s injury including the promotion of practice squad defensive end Kyle Phillips to their 53-man roster, per NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill. They also reportedly signed veteran free agent Terrell Lewis to take Phillips’ spot on the practice squad.
It doesn’t bode well for Isaiah Foskey, the team’s rookie second-round pick out of Notre Dame. The young defensive end progressed each week in preseason but was still playing behind more-experienced teammates, and he was a healthy scratch in Week 1’s win over the Tennessee Titans (along with most of the team’s draft class). Foskey may still be a ways off from being thrown into a game even in a reserve role behind Cameron Jordan, Carl Granderson, and Tanoh Kpassagnon.
As for Phillips: the 6-foot-4, 277 pounder has appeared in 29 games in his pro career and memorably helped seal a win for the Saints in their first preseason game with a very clutch interception against the Kansas City Chiefs. But he continued to make plays in run defense while generating a couple of pressures throughout the exhibition series, so they must feel he’s a better option to roster than Niko Lalos, who remains on the practice squad with the recently-signed Lewis.
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