Week Five is fast approaching with the Seattle Seahawks traveling to the Caesars Superdome to square off with the New Orleans Saints. Let’s take at the state of the Saints’ roster. Who’s playing, who’s not, and who could see an uptick in snaps?
Saints Injuries
Saints Players Who Are OUT
Quarterback Jameis Winston will be missing his second straight game this weekend against Seattle. The Saints are prioritizing getting Winston back to as close to fully healthy as possible before bringing him back into the line-up.
An interesting development regarding Winston’s health was provided by NewOrleans.football’s Nick Underhill. He reported that the bigger issue for Winston to overcome is not the four fractures in his back but his ankle. Winston had a re-occurrence of the Ankle injury that kept him out of training camp. This injury was significantly hindering Winston’s movement in-game and seems to be the more significant reason for HC Dennis Allen deciding to sit his starting QB.
Michael Thomas will again be OUT this week due to a lingering toe issue. The fact that he is not on IR is encouraging that it might not be a long-term issue. However, Saints fans rightly are concerned because we have seen this movie before.
The toe injury is not on the same foot as the ankle that kept Thomas out for nearly two years. However, When Thomas injured his ankle the original reports were that it was not too severe and that he should come back faster than expected.
I’m not saying that is happening here but there is a reason for pause and to monitor this as time goes on.
Marquez Callaway should get the start at the X WR spot with Thomas out. Callaway played well in this role last week and is certainly a great fallback option for New Orleans.
Last week’s starting safety P.J. Williams is also out, he played well in place of Marcus Maye who missed the last two games. Some good news on this front though (more on this shortly).
Last year’s first-round pick Peyton Turner will also miss this game. Sadly, this doesn’t impact the Saints a huge amount. Turner has struggled to make an impact so far this season. Expect Carl Granderson and Tanoh Kpassagnon to split Turner’s snaps between them.
Backup LG Calvin Throckmorton is the final Saints player who’s been declared OUT, despite starting last week against the Vikings, this shouldn’t hugely impact them (see next section).
Saints Players Expected To Play
After missing last week, Alvin Kamara is expected to be back in the lineup this week. His and Andy Dalton’s skill sets mesh well and this on paper looks like the perfect matchup for a big Alvin Kamara game. He’s played well against Seattle in the past and Seattle’s pass defense is currently ranked one of the worst in the league.
As mentioned earlier there is some good news for safety. Marcus Maye should be back this week after missing the last two weeks. This is a big playmaking position for Dennis Allen’s defense, so having your other starter back opposite Tyrann Mathieu is huge.
The Saints should also have to start LG Andrus Peat back this week after miss half of Week Three and all of last week’s game due to a concussion. Having Peat back along with Kamara is a huge upgrade for the running and screen game.
Final Saints injury notes, Taysom Hill and Jarvis Landry were both limited throughout the week. There doesn’t seem to be much concern regarding their health. Landry didn’t seem himself last week, so hopefully, another week to heal will help his foot injury.
Taysom looked more than okay against the Vikings and should see similar usage this week.
Notes on Seahawks Injuries
A very clean injury report for Seattle (feels like this happens every week when a team plays the Saints).
There was concern early in the week regarding Penny’s shoulder, but that concern has lifted as he has practiced fully on Thursday and Friday after registering a DNP on Wednesday.
Starting defensive lineman Quinten Jefferson also didn’t practice on Wednesday but was upgraded to limited on Thursday and Friday, if he doesn’t play expect Shelby Harris or Bryan Mone to pick up his snaps.
The biggest loss for Seattle? EDGE, Darrell Johnson is OUT after being placed on injured reserve on Friday. he started last week’s game over 2020 second-round pick, Darrell Taylor. As Taylor has been disappointing through the first three weeks. Expect second-round rookie Boye Mafe and Taylor to split Johnson’s snaps. This will give Seattle a chance to give their second-round rookie an extended look.
Despite being questionable Justin Coleman (who is Seattle’s usual starter in the slot) should be back according to HC Pete Carroll and he also said Kenneth Walker will play.
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