Winston Ruled Out, Saints Announce Four Other Roster Moves
Jameis Winston has been ruled out in Sunday’s game vs. the Vikings. Can Andy Dalton lead the Saints to victory in his first start as the Saints Quarterback?
Injury To Saints Quarterback
Saints quarterback Jameis Winston has officially been ruled out for Sunday’s international game vs the Vikings. He is dealing with three injuries that we know of. Those injuries include four fractured vertebrae, also called a transverse process: Which are the boney knobs on the back of your spine. An ankle injury which is the same one that held Winston back during training camp for a good period of time and the final injury is a hip flexor injury.
It’s safe to say this week off to rest is probably much needed for the eight-year veteran Quarterback. Friday’s injury report listed Winston as doubtful with him not practicing the whole week in London. Now the starter has been ruled out and Andy Dalton will take his place.
The Saints have downgraded QB Jameis Winston from doubtful to out. — New Orleans Saints (@Saints) October 1, 2022
Additional Saints Injuries
Jameis Winston is the fourth Saints player ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Vikings. The other three players ruled out are Wide Receiver Michael Thomas with a foot injury, Safety Marcus Maye with a rib injury, and Guard Andrus Peat with a concussion. Two players were listed as questionable on the Saints injury report. Wide Receiver Jarvis Landry suffered an ankle injury in Carolina last week and Running Back Alvin Kamara, who’s been dealing with a rib injury since the Atlanta game.
There is some good news regarding one of the questionable players. The New Orleans offense is going into this game short-handed at the receiver position. Three of the five active receivers suffered an injury last week in Carolina, thinning out the receiver room. Those injuries led the team to sign WR Keith Kirkwood to the practice squad. Kirkwood had a previous stint with the team back in 2018 making him an easy plug-and-play guy if needed. Kirkwood was not elevated to the active roster meaning that Jarvis Landry is most likely good to go and will play against the Vikings.
The not-so-good news: Running Back Alvin Kamara’s game status is unknown, the Saints elevated Latavius Murray from the practice squad to the roster as a standard elevation. It’s not good to speculate, but this can’t be too good of a sign that the All-Pro RB plays on Sunday. Kamara will probably be a game-time decision just as he was in Week Two. Murray wasn’t elevated then and Kamara would end up not playing.
The elevation of Murray could mean the Saints have a very run-heavy scheme for this week and they want to have extra depth at the RB position. If Kamara is good to go and none of the backs are inactive, the team will have five RBs available including Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram, Latavius Murray, Tony Jones Jr, and Dwayne Washington.
Two of the other three moves the Saints made were standard practice squad elevations. The team elevated practice squad Quarterback Jake Luton to the active roster to back up Andy Dalton and Taysom Hill, who took snaps at quarterback this week in practice. Tight End J.P. Holtz was the second standard practice squad elevation to the active roster. These moves put the Saints over the maximum roster size so the team waived Full Back Adam Prentice. I would expect him to be back at some point, but until then Holtz will fill in as he took reps at FB during camp.
The Saints take on the Vikings this Sunday at 9:30 AM EST. Will Andy Dalton be able to lead the team to victory in his first game as the Saints quarterback?