Well that is less than ideal. New Orleans Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore is set to miss his ninth game of the season on Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons. Lattimore suffered a severe injury trying to make a play over the top of a Seattle Seahawks touchdown all the way back in Week 5. He suffered a lacerated kidney, an internal injury which is much harder to monitor than something like a sprain or even a bone break.
Co-defensive coordinator Kris Richard mentioned to New Orleans media on Thursday that the injury is one “as tolerated.” Meaning there is no hard dataset that says “Lattimore’s ready to go.” Instead, it will be all about how he can tolerate the pain and contact. Richard has also said they don’t want Lattimore’s first live contact to come in a game. He needs to work up to it in practice. He’s been a limited participant in each of the last three weeks.
With just three games left in the season and not much left to play for in terms for postseason chances, it is worth considering shutting Lattimore down for the season. This is an internal injury that one must assume has the chance to only gets worse. It will always be tough to accept that sending a four-time Pro Bowl cornerback to injured reserve to end his season is the right move. But it seems that there is no reason to risk long-term impact when you have two corners in Paulson Adebo and rookie Alontae Taylor playing well.
Taylor in particular deserves the opportunity to close out his rookie season on the field. He’s been outstanding so far since being selected in the second round of the 2022 NFL draft. Adebo has also performed better down the stretch as he has gotten healthier after battling early-season injuries. Though penalties have been a hurdle, as they have been for the entire team this season.
As for Lattimore, he has every reason to try to get back out on the field. Players have prepared their entire lives to be out there. But in this case, with returns diminishing by the week, it may be wise to just shut him down. Let him rest up and recover properly for 2023 and beyond.
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