Tag: Shane Lemieux

Derek Carr returns to practice on the first Week 9 Saints-Panthers injury report

Derek Carr returned to practice on the first Week 9 Saints-Panthers injury report, but a combined 14 players didn’t participate on Wednesday between the two teams:

Derek Carr returned to practice on the first Week 9 injury report, but a combined 14 players didn’t participate on Wednesday between the two teams. The New Orleans Saints had six non-participants to start the week with six more working on a limited basis; two others (linebacker Nephi Sewell and offensive lineman Shane Lemieux) both designated to return this week from  the injury lists, were full participants.

As for the Carolina Panthers? Eight of their own players were sidelined by injuries or veteran’s reset to start the week, with wide receiver Adam Thielen (hamstring) limited. Six more Panthers players practiced fully but were s till listed on the injury report while receiving treatment.

It’s a lot to get through, so here’s the full injury report from each squad:

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Saints designate two players to return from injury lists

Nephi Sewell and Shane Lemieux have 21 days to return to the New Orleans Saints’ active roster. What would be their role upon return?

The New Orleans Saints will be getting pieces back from injury that will add depth to the linebacker corps and offensive line very soon. New Orleans has opened the 21-day window for linebacker Nephi Sewell and offensive lineman Shane Lemieux.

Sewell’s immediate role will be on special teams upon his return from a torn ACL. Demario Davis, Willie Gay Jr., and Pete Werner will lead the charge at linebacker, but Sewell could compete with Anfernee Orji and D’Marco Jackson for reps in case of injury.

Lemieux is an interesting case. He replaced Erik McCoy in the starting lineup after McCoy’s injury versus the Eagles. Shortly after, Lemieux went to injured reserve with an ankle injury. Lemieux could return McCoy is available. If so, would the Saints turn back to Lemieux over Connor McGovern? McCoy’s availability will determine if New Orleans even has to answer that question.

These players have three weeks to be placed on the active roster, otherwise their season is over. That extends to the Saints bye week, so the latest we should see Sewell or Lemieux is Week 13 versus the Los Angeles Rams.

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Saints starting third center in three weeks vs. Chiefs

In the last three weeks, the Saints have started Erik McCoy, Shane Lemieux and now Lucas Patrick at center:

Lucas Patrick was the New Orleans Saints’ starting center in Week 5 against t he Kansas City Chiefs. Through the first month of the season, Patrick has started every game at left guard.

This is Patrick’s first time starting at center but not his first time lining up at the position for the Saints. He filled in for Erik McCoy after McCoy injured his groin against the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Saints opted to move him back to left guard the next week against the Atlanta Falcons. Shane Lemieux was signed to the active roster from the practice squad to start at center. Unfortunately, Lemieux suffered an injury that landed him next to McCoy on injured reserve.

Because of this injury, the Saints have turned back to Patrick. Nick Saldiveri will replace Patrick at left guard. Saldiveri is making the first start of his career. Landon Young is filling in for Cesar Ruiz for the second week in a row.

The Saints offensive line has been a mixture of shuffling parts on the interior due to injuries. Taliese Fuaga and Trevor Penning have started every game this season, on the bright side.

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Saints could start their third center in as many weeks vs. Chiefs

Injuries to Erik McCoy, Lucas Patrick, and Shane Lemieux mean the Saints may have to start their third center in as many weeks against the Chiefs:

It wasn’t too long ago that the New Orleans Saints offensive line was winning some confidence from their fans. They had gotten off to a hot start and Pro Bowl center Erik McCoy looked like their best player up front. Then he suffered a groin injury that sent him into surgery, and now he’s looking at a month or more of recovery on injured reserve.

Next man up. That was Lucas Patrick, who filled in for McCoy against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Saints brought up Shane Lemieux from their practice squad for the next game, but he suffered an ankle injury and won’t play on Monday night versus the Kansas City Chiefs. Next man up again, right? That would be Patrick. But he missed the last two days of practice  with a groin injury of his own and is questionable to play at all.

At some point you run out of options and get to the end of the line. That’s why the Saints signed Connor McGovern off the New York Jets practice squad, and he has a real shot at starting in Kansas City. With McCoy and Lemieux out of action and Patrick questionable, McGovern would probably be that next man up.

At least he has experience. McGovern has snapped the ball himself 4,925 times and mostly played in similar offenses to Klint Kubiak’s system. He could be a capable replacement at the pivot even if he was only in New Orleans a few days before flying out to Kansas City. Still, it’s concerning that Derek Carr would have to take the snap from another new set of hands. Especially with five-time All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones watching and waiting to charge at him.

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NFL Next Gen Stats: Falcons defense had a season-high pressure rate vs. Saints

NFL Next Gen Stats found the Falcons defense had a season-high pressure rate against the Saints, even though Derek Carr had his fastest windup to throw this year:

Everyone knew the New Orleans Saints offensive line was going to be at a disadvantage against the Atlanta Falcons. They were working without two injured starters in Erik McCoy and Cesar Ruiz, and offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak tried to coach around those absences by speeding up Derek Carr’s windup. It worked, for a time, but ultimately the backups blocking for him fell apart.

Here’s what Week 4’s newsletter from NFL Next Gen Stats and Zebra Technologies had to say about the game:

“The Falcons defense generated a season-high 28.9% pressure rate despite Derek Carr averaging just 2.39 seconds to throw. Entering Sunday, the Falcons generated pressure on only 20.0% of dropbacks, the lowest rate in the NFL.”

Carr averaged 2.64 seconds to throw in Week 3, 2.81 seconds in Week 2, and 2.83 seconds in Week 1. So he was taking the snap, dropping back, reading the field and winding up to throw almost half a second faster in Week 4 than in the season opener. No wonder he wasn’t able to get off his first or second read very often.

Everyone’s hands are dirty here. Carr needs to both make better decisions with the ball and throw better passes, even if he’s facing more pressure than usual. That’s why he’s paid the big bucks. At the same time his offensive line needs to do a better job keeping him clean, even if guys like Shane Lemieux and Landon Young are normally spectators on gameday, not starters. And inexperienced starters like Trevor Penning must keep improving, too. The unit did some things well as a whole on Sunday. Connecting those positive moments and sustaining success is going to be their challenge moving forward.

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Saints promote Shane Lemieux to the 53-man roster, put Erik McCoy on I.R.

The Saints reported a couple of roster moves on Wednesday, with Erik McCoy going on injured reserve and a replacement coming up from the practice squad:

The New Orleans Saints reported a couple of roster moves on Wednesday, with starting center Erik McCoy going on injured reserve and a possible replacement coming up from the practice squad. McCoy is expected to be out six to eight weeks recovering from sports hernia surgery.

Veteran backup Shane Lemieux was promoted to the 53-man roster in McCoy’s place but don’t expect him to start. It’ll probably be Lucas Patrick filling in at center again this week. Look for Lemieux to dress out as an emergency option should something happen to Patrick, too.

These weren’t the only moves the Saints made. With Lemieux creating an opening on the practice squad, they signed journeyman Chris Reed after a round of free agent tryouts earlier this week. Reed has pro experience at both guard spots and tackle.

Still, the Saints’ offensive line is a mess. Right guard Cesar Ruiz is managing a knee issue and if he can’t dress out against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday then all five of last year’s starters will miss this game. Hopefully they can get by with whoever is healthy enough to play.

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Saints offensive line depth being tested early at training camp

The New Orleans Saints’ offensive line depth is being tested early at training camp, with position battles heating up and injuries hitting the unit:

The New Orleans Saints have been shuffling the offensive line around for most of training camp, with left guard and right tackle primarily being the positions where battles are taking place. At Friday’s practice, according to NewOrleans.Football’s Mike Triplett, “Lucas Patrick spent much of the day as the starting LG, with Nick Saldiveri with the 2s. A competition there.”

Left guard has been a battle between Patrick, Saldiveri, and Shane Lemieux, the latter of whom suffered an ankle injury recently and was held out of Friday’s practice. Right tackle is also seeing some competition, with Trevor Penning running with the starters but Landon Young getting reps in walkthroughs. Olisaemeka Udoh has also been getting reps at right tackle occasionally, and the other competitor Justin Herron has been sidelined with a knee injury as well.

Outside of those two positions, the presumed locks for the remaining spots are Taliese Fuaga at left tackle (pending the need to move back to right tackle if it does not work out), Cesar Ruiz at right guard, and Erik McCoy at center. The backups for those positions, as well as the starters at right tackle and left guard, are essentially up in the air for now as the training camp battles continue to become more and more intriguing. We will see who ends up starting where come the preseason games, but there could be changes on the horizon with how much movement there has been thus far.

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ESPN ranks Erik McCoy among the NFL’s best interior offensive linemen

ESPN’s positional rankings listed Erik McCoy among the NFL’s best interior offensive linemen, and third-best among centers around the league:

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler is continuing his series of positional rankings as voted on by dozens of anonymous sources around the NFL — everyone from team executives and general managers to position coaches and regional scouts shared their input on highlighting the game’s best players. And with interior offensive linemen coming up next, it’s time to focus on New Orleans Saints center Erik McCoy.

Fowler lumped guards and centers together for this exercise, and while McCoy was listed as only an honorable mention he was one of X centers to make the list at all. Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro Creed Humphrey (No. 7) and Detroit Lions Pro Bowler Frank Ragnow (No. 8) were the only centers to make the top-10, and McCoy was slotted ahead of other guys on the list like Lloyd Cushenberry III, Ryan Kelly, Tyler Linderbaum, Ted Karras, and Drew Dalman.

Here’s why Fowler’s sources say McCoy stands apart from the rest:

After five NFL seasons, McCoy owns a 93.7% pass block win rate and a 70.4% run block win rate. “You could make an argument he’s been the best center for a while. He gives us problems. Plays like a guard as far as power and physicality,” a high-ranking NFL personnel man said.

The Saints are certainly banking on McCoy continuing to anchor their offensive interior again in 2024. He’s coming off his first Pro Bowl appearance and figures to play a key role in Klint Kubiak’s new system as the pivot between veteran right guard Cesar Ruiz (who has experienced an up-and-down career thus far) and whoever starts at left guard, whether it’s second-year pro Nick Saldiveri or a journeyman like Shane Lemieux, Lucas Patrick, or Olisaemeka Udoh.

McCoy has been a great player for the Saints ever since they traded up to draft him back in 2019. He has started all 74 games he’s appeared in and suited up for all 17 games last season after missing some time with injuries inn 2021 and 2022. Maybe Kubiak’s emphasis on movement and blocking in space can help him level up even further in 2024. It would be good to see McCoy take his place inside these top-10 rankings this time next year.

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Two-time Pro Bowler LeCharles Bentley is our Saints Player of Day 65

Two-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman LeCharles Bentley is our Saints Player of Day 65. Injuries shortened his career, but he has a strong legacy:

We’ve been counting down the days to the start of the New Orleans Saints’ 2024 regular season by profiling each player on the roster in the corresponding jersey number, but there isn’t anyone currently wearing No. 65. So instead, we’re shifting gears to cast a light on one of the players who wore it best: LeCharles Bentley.

Bentley, the team’s second-round pick in the 2002 NFL draft (out of, where else, but Ohio State) , started 14 games at guard in his rookie year and was named a Pro Bowler in 2003. He moved back to his college position, center, in 2004 and was again voted into the Pro Bowl the following season. But he left to sign with the Cleveland Browns as a free agent in 2006 and suffered a career-ending knee injury that summer. Multiple surgeries and a close call with a serious infection kept him from ever playing a snap in Cleveland.

These days Bentley works with the NFL as its senior advisor of player performance and development, an opportunity he earned after founding the L. Bentley O-Line Academy in Ohio. It’s one of the few training facilities specializing in working with offensive linemen, and the resources Bentley has made available have helped send some impressive players to the pros.

Bentley also founded AMDG Sports, an agency focused solely on representing offensive linemen (including current Saints players Shane Lemieux and Justin Herron). He may not have enjoyed a long-running career himself as a player, but Bentley has done a lot to ensure he’ll be proud of his legacy in pro football.

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Countdown to Kickoff: Shane Lemieux is the Saints Player of Day 66

Countdown to Kickoff: Shane Lemieux is the Saints Player of Day 66. The veteran free agent is pushing Nick Saldiveri to start at left guard:

We’ve got 66 days to go until the New Orleans Saints kick off their 2024 regular season, which makes the current owner of the No. 66 jersey our Saints Player of the Day: Shane Lemieux.

The former New York Giants draft pick signed with the Saints this spring and entered a competition to start early on at OTAs. So what are realistic expectations for him in 2024? Let’s get to know him a little better.

  • Name (Age): Shane Lemieux (27)
  • Position: Offensive guard/center
  • Height, weight: 6-foot-4, 310 pounds
  • Relative Athletic Score: 6.64
  • 2024 salary cap hit: $1,055,000
  • College: Oregon
  • Drafted: Fifth round in 2020 (New York Giants)
  • NFL experience: 5 years

Lemieux played left guard in college and for most of his career in the NFL, though he’s had a little experience at right guard and center. He started most of his rookie season at left guard with the Giants but he allowed five sacks in  nine games and was limited to a combined 147 snaps on offense over the next three years.

A big part of those absences was due to injuries. A September knee injury took Lemieux out for the entire 2021 season. In 2022, he suffered a preseason toe injury in August and wasn’t able to return until late in December, only to aggravate the same injury and miss the rest of the year. And his 2023 season ended with a torn biceps in October. Durability has been a major challenge for him.

Still, Lemieux was the primary backup for Nick Saldiveri at OTAs, though the second-year pro pulled away in front by the time minicamp came around.  Lemieux has time to win the job but he isn’t the only experienced pro in the mix. The Saints also gave Lucas Patrick a look at the left guard spot, and Olisaemeka Udoh (who has started for Klint Kubiak before) is expected to compete there, too. The hope is for Saldiveri to blow away his competition and win the job cleanly. If that comes to pass, it’ll be Lemieux or one of those other veterans backing him up.

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