METAIRIE, Louisiana – The New Orleans Saints still hope to put offensive stars Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas back on the roster for Sunday’s playoff opening against the Chicago Bears.
But they ruled out one of their main defensive guards, Trey Hendrickson, with a neck injury on Friday.
Hendrickson has been one of the biggest surprises in the NFL this year, with 13.5 sacks. He originally suffered his injury at week 15 and did not play at week 16. But he returned to play at week 17 and trained to a limited extent on Wednesday before being removed on Thursday and Friday.
However, Saints defense number 4 has a good DE depth. They have two experienced holders in the perennial Pro Bowler Cameron Jordan and Marcus Davenport. And young reserve Carl Granderson has provided some juice with four bags in the past five weeks.
The Saints also dismissed veteran guard Nick Easton with a concussion. But the rest of the injury report has been improving this week. Nickel safety CJ Gardner-Johnson was activated from the reserve / COVID-19 list on Friday. Initial safety Marcus Williams (ankle), versatile reserve quarterback Taysom Hill (concussion) and veteran tight end Josh Hill (hand) are also expected to return from injuries.
Kamara (reserve / COVID-19), Thomas (ankle) and receiving / returning specialist Deonte Harris (neck) are not on the daily injury reports because all three are still on the reserve lists. However, the signs continue to point to all three returning to lineup on Sunday, too.
Thomas and Harris returned to training on Wednesday after spending the last three weeks on the reserve due to injuries. Coach Sean Payton declined to give Thomas official status for this week’s game, but he previously explained that the plan was to rest Thomas for three weeks to get him as close to 100% as possible into the playoffs. And quarterback Drew Brees said on Sunday night that, “I know we’re going to bring Mike Thomas back – I think the last three weeks being out have been great for him.”
Kamara, for his part, is not eligible to return from the reserve / COVID-19 list until Sunday, which means he cannot practice all week and cannot even stay at the team’s hotel on Saturday night. However, Kamara suggested on Twitter Thursday night he hopes to be released to play.
A source told Adam Schefter of ESPN that Kamara has been watching training remotely via a live video feed at his home, with Payton microphoned to guide Kamara through the plays.
“There’s a live video camera, and we’ve had a number of things. But I don’t want this to be the big story, because we still have to wait to see if he can play, ”said Payton on Friday. “Obviously, we have Zoom technology [to allow Kamara to participate in meetings], the practice video, all that stuff. And it really helps that he is an extremely intelligent player. “