Tag: players

Demario Davis, Trevor Lawrence both active for Saints vs. Jaguars

Demario Davis and Trevor Lawrence are both active for Saints vs. Jaguars. Here’s who will be watching from the sidelines:

Demario Davis and Trevor Lawrence are both active for Thursday night’s game between the New Orleans Saints and Jacksonville Jaguars, having been listed as questionable to play on the final injury report while dealing with knee injuries.

Here’s who will be watching from the sidelines for New Orleans:

  • FS J.T. Gray (ruled out with injury)
  • TE Juwan Johnson (ruled out with injury)
  • OL Landon Young (ruled out with injury)
  • OL Ryan Ramczyk (ruled out with injury)
  • OL James Hurst (ruled out with injury)
  • DE Kyle Phillips
  • WR A.T. Perry

And here are the Jaguars’ inactive players:

  • WR Zay Jones
  • RB JaMycal Hasty
  • CB Tyson Campbell
  • OLB Yasir Abdullah
  • OL Walker Little
  • QB Nathan Rourke (designated 3rd QB)
The Jaguars are taking advantage of the NFL’s third quarterback rule, while the Saints are not, with all four of their passers dressing out and counting into the 48-man roster: Derek Carr, Jameis Winston, Taysom Hill, and Jake Haener. We’ll see if those extra bodies make a difference.

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Highest and lowest Saints PFF player grades from Week 1 win vs. Titans

Highest and lowest Saints PFF player grades from Week 1 win vs. Titans

What can we learn from the New Orleans Saints’ Week 1 player grades at Pro Football Focus? For the most part, PFF validated some things that passed the eye test: the Saints have some awesome young wide receivers, highly effective veteran defenders, and a quarterback who is an obvious upgrade over who they trotted out a season ago.

But sometimes we lost the plot. It’s tough to buy what PFF is selling in a few of these performances. Let’s break it down by the best and worst grades on offense and defense:

NFL to expand practice squads in 2024 with emphasis on international players

The NFL announced plans to expand practice squads in 2024 with an emphasis on international players, something the Saints have taken advantage of before:

We’re continuing to see an emphasis on the NFL’s overseas outreach with the league announcing a plan to expand practice squads in 2024 — opening a 17th spot on every team’s practice squad for an international player. Expect the New Orleans Saints to embrace this opportunity.

The Saints have participated in the NFL International Pathway program before, having developed British defensive end Alex Jenkins on their practice squad for a few years; he last played for the New York Giants in 2019 but was waived with an injury settlement, and he has been out of football since. He didn’t start out on the practice squad, but Nigerian defensive tackle David Onyemata was one of the Saints’ best players in recent years after the team found him while scouting Canadian college football prospects.

Still, other players have traveled from abroad to find success in the NFL. Former Carolina Panthers defensive end Efe Obada was another player who benefited from the NFL International Pathway opportunity, developing into a playmaker with 15 career sacks and a couple of takeaways to his credit; the program was piloted with NFC South teams back in 2017.

Expect more efforts from the NFL to expand their international brand in the years ahead. The league is playing more games in other countries and looking to cultivate stronger followings abroad, and it feels like only a matter of time until the Saints kick off a game in France as the country’s exclusive NFL marketing presence.

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Packers sitting 9 players for preseason opener in Cincinnati

The Packers are sitting only nine players for the preseason opener in Cincinnati on Friday night.

Last season, the Green Bay Packers sat 33 players for the preseason opener in San Francisco. With a much younger and healthier roster this year, Matt LaFleur’s team will sit only nine players for Friday night’s preseason opener against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Jordan Love is active and will start at quarterback. Of the 90 players on the roster, 81 will be active and available for LaFleur, including most of his starters on both sides of the ball.

Kickoff from Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. CT.

Here is the full list of players who won’t play against the Bengals:

LT David Bakhtiari
CB Jaire Alexander (groin)
CB Eric Stokes (PUP)
OLB Rashan Gary (knee)
OL Jake Hanson (elbow)
S Innis Gaines (quad)
RB Lew Nichols (shoulder)
TE Josiah Deguara (calf)
WR Grant DuBose (back)

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DeVonta Smith ranked in the top 100 NFL Players of 2023

DeVonta Smith voted by NFL Players as Top 100 in the league

With only 45 days until the start of the NFL season (but who’s counting), The NFL is releasing its top 100 Players of 2023. The list is voted on by the players, and since it is your peers voting, not members of the media, it has a little bit of added meaning for the selected 100.

Former Alabama wide receiver and now Eagles stand-out, DeVonta Smith, has been selected into the NFL’s Top 100 entering only his third season in the league. Smith qualifies for the list by the skin of his teeth as the No. 100 overall player, but to be in the top 100 in the world in any profession means you’re the elite of the elite.

Smith didn’t miss a single game in 2022 as he started all 17 regular season games and all playoff games. In the regular season, he brought down 95 catches for 1,196 yards and seven touchdowns. Smith alongside Pro Bowl WR teammate, A.J. Brown, were both key contributors in Jalen Hurts’ growth this year and played marquee roles in Philadelphia’s offense that ultimately finished their season with a Super Bowl defeat to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Eagles are thought to be the front runners in the NFC entering the season and everything is set up for Smitty to have a Pro Bowl season.

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Rashid Shaheed won’t be the Saints’ most underappreciated player much longer

Rashid Shaheed won’t be the Saints’ most underappreciated player much longer. If he can continue to play at the level we saw last year, everyone will know his name:

The NFL is full of underappreciated players, some of whom were talked up by CBS Sports’ Jeff Kerr — including New Orleans Saints wide receiver Rashid Shaheed. Recruited as a returns specialist coming out of school, Shaheed became a big-play threat for a Saints offense that badly needed one last season, and now he’s riding a lot of hype going into his second season. Here’s what Benjamin had to say about Shaheed:

“Give the Saints a ton of credit for finding a player like Shaheed, who has a cap number of just $870,000 in 2023. An undrafted free agent out of Weber State, Shaheed was a deep ball threat in his rookie season, averaging 17.4 yards per catch in 12 games (28 catches, 488 yards, two touchdowns). He also averaged 14.3 yards per carry (on just four carries) with a touchdown while finishing with 1,058 all-purpose yards.

Shaheed was tremendous value for the Saints — and his speed is one of the best-kept secrets in the league. He’ll be an excellent No. 3 wide receiver for New Orleans in 2023, but don’t be surprised if he elevates his status.” 

2023 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for Shaheed. He’s stepping into a bigger role in the offense as the No. 3 receiver behind Chris Olave and Michael Thomas and his arrow is trending up now that his coaches know how to best use his talents. He’s switched back to his college jersey number and is embracing the opportunity in front of him.

It shouldn’t take long for Shaheed and Carr to strike up a connection. If he can continue to play at the level we saw in the back half of the 2022 season, he won’t be underappreciated for much longer.

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37 players are locks for Saints’ 53-man roster heading into training camp

Barring something unforeseen, these 37 players should be seen as locks for the New Orleans Saints’ 53-man roster heading into training camp:

Every player on the New Orleans Saints’ 90-man roster is going into training camp with different goals in mind. Some of them are looking to build off of last year’s success, some will be hoping to bounce back from a disappointing season, and others are just hoping to stay healthy and get a fair shot at making the cut in September.

At the end of the day only 53 roster spots will be available, and a good chunk of them are already accounted for. These 37 players should be seen as locks to make the team:

25 most important Saints of 2023: No. 13, Jamaal Williams

25 most important New Orleans Saints players of 2023: No. 13, Jamaal Williams is poised for a big role | @DillySanders

The 2023 NFL offseason is in full swing, and with that, training camps edge ever closer to starting. We have seen a new wave of players enter the team both via the draft and free agency, but there is also a large group of returning players from last season as well. This has led to some debates to be had regarding which players will have the largest impact on the roster for the 2023 season.

Each day we will be counting down the 25 most important Saints for the 2023 season. This will be split up into the following categories:

  • Recap of their 2022 season
  • Projecting their 2023 success
  • What is the biggest question mark for them in 2023?

The 13th-ranked player by the Saints Wire staff is running back Jamaal Williams:

Without a home: Former Saints who remain unsigned in NFL free agency

Without a home: Jarvis Landry, P.J. Williams among former New Orleans Saints players who remain unsigned in NFL free agency | @DillySanders

The New Orleans Saints made a lot of changes during this offseason and that means leaving some former players behind. Guys like Jarvis Landry, PJ Williams and Chase Hansen have yet to find a new home for next season.

We saw a fan-favorite make the move from football to TV with Mark Ingram joining FOX Sports this week, but that won’t be the case for every veteran as players search for their next teams. We likely will see some names called as we get closer to training camp/

Here are all of the former Saints from last season that have yet to sign to a new team for the 2023 season:

Which non-QB player can the Saints least afford to lose in 2023?

Which non-QB player can the Saints least afford to lose in 2023? | @DillySanders

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There has been a lot of shuffling of the New Orleans Saints roster over the years, but since 2011 there has been one constant. In CBS Sports’ recent article going over which non-QB player each NFL not afford to lose in 2023, by Cody Benjamin, they spoke about this veteran for the Saints.

That player is, of course, Cameron Jordan. Here is their reasoning for saying the Saints need to hold on to the vet:

Who else is rushing the passer if the longtime veteran goes down? New QB Derek Carr probably can’t afford to lose top WR Chris Olave, either, what with Michael Thomas‘ injury history. But Dennis Allen’s team is still built on stuffing opposing offenses.

Jordan is an all-time Saints great, and will end up on the Mount Rushmore of the franchises’ best players, but I would disagree that he’s the most important player that has to make it through this season. While Jordan is still a great defensive end, it is clear that he doesn’t have his fastball anymore. Five of his eight sacks in 2023 came against just two teams, with three of them coming against a Gardner Minshew-led Eagles team at the end of the season.

The most important non-QB player that needs to make it through this season, is the guy also mentioned in that blurb, Chris Olave. The offense needs his speed and consistency to be able to work. Michael Thomas isn’t reliable and there’s still a question of how much of a workload that Rashid Shaheed can carry. Olave is the most proven that he can provide a great option in 2023 that the Saints have.

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