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A series of free agent tryouts this week have resulted in the New Orleans Saints signing some help. Friday’s update to the daily NFL transactions wire saw New Orleans report a new addition to the depth chart in defensive tackle Damion Square, who spent his first six years in the NFL with the Los Angeles Chargers.
Square, 32, weighs in at 6-foot-2 and 293 pounds. He was recently waived after spending training camp with the Cleveland Browns. He’s never been much of a pass rusher (bagging just 8 sacks in 1,196 pass-rush snaps, per Pro Football Focus) but could help solidify a position that’s running thin on experienced players with David Onyemata starting the year with a six-game suspension and Jalen Dalton landing on injured reserve.
Right now, the defensive tackles on New Orleans’ roster eligible to play in Week 1 are Square, Malcolm Roach, Shy Tuttle, Christian Ringo, Albert Huggins, R.J. McIntosh, and rookie Josiah Bronson. The team typically only keeps four or five, so at least three of that group will soon be waived and maybe revert to the practice squad.
The corresponding move was the release of fullback Sutton Smith, who was pushing veteran pickup Alex Armah Jr. for the starting job. Smith will test the waiver wire. He had been playing a high number of snaps on both offense and special teams while auditioning for the gig, but the Saints must have seen enough from Armah to call this battle off early. That marks the third preseason roster battle to be settled in as many days — punter Blake Gillikin won his job over rookie Nolan Cooney, while Jameis Winston was of course named the starting quarterback earlier Friday. The Saints’ Week 1 roster is beginning to take shape.
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