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The Saints have placed 28-year old LB Will Herring on the Injured Reserve List, ending his season due to an undisclosed injury. Herring played in 11 games for the Saints this year and he had 9 tackles, 1 interception and 1 pass defensed. He has now played in 65 games in his first five years in the NFL and he has 118 tackles, 1 sack, 7 tackles for a loss, 2 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, 4 passes defensed and 2 interceptions.
22-year old rookie RB Mark Ingram will miss the rest of the season as he is going to undergo toe surgery this Wednesday. Ingram played in 10 games (4 starts) this year for the Saints and he carried the ball 122 times for 474 yards (3.9 ypc) with 5 TD runs. He also caught 11 passes for 46 yards (4.2 avg) this year. With Chris Ivory back healthy, the Saints should be o.k. without Ingram in the playoffs.
The Saints have placed 28-year old TE David Thomas on the Injured Reserve List, ending his season due to a nasty concussion. Thomas played in 5 games for the Saints this year and he caught 5 passes for 16 yards (3.2 ypc). He has now played in 33 games in his first three years with the Saints and he has caught 70 passes for 591 yards (8.4 avg) with 3 TD grabs. This is not a big loss to the Saints due to the fast rise of Jimmy Graham.
The Saints have placed 24-year old OT Charles Brown on the Injured Reserve List due to a hip flexor injury. Brown played in 8 games (5 starts) for the Saints this year. He has now played in 11 games (5 starts) in his first two years with the Saints. This was a bad break for both Brown and the Saints, as he has doing a solid job.
The Saints have placed 25-year old kicker Garrett Hartley on Injured Reserve due to his hip injury, as he is now officially done for the year. 41-year old kicker John Kasay has made this decision a rather easy one based on his performance so far this year. Kasay has played in all 3 of the Saints’ games so far this year and he has connected on all six of his field goal attempts and all 10 of his extra points. Kasay has already scored 28 points for the Saints so far this year and that’s pretty impressive. The Saints didn’t want to keep two kickers on the roster for the next few weeks and that’s why they placed Hartley on I.R. and it was the right move.
The Saints are going to be without their #1 WR Marques Colston for at least the new four weeks due to a broken collarbone. Colston caught 6 passes for 81 yards (13.5 avg) in the season opener against the Packers last Thursday Night. He is Drew Brees’ go-to man, so the Saints are going to need someone to really step up while he is out of action. With Lance Moore also banged up, it will be up to Robert Meachem, Devery Henderson and TE Jimmy Graham to step up.
The Saints will be without 25-year old kicker Garrett Hartley for the next 6-8 weeks due to a hip flexor injury. Hartley has played in 27 games in his first three years with the Saints. He has connected on 42 of 49 field goals (85.7%) and 78 of 79 extra points as he has scored 204 points so far in his NFL career. This is the reason that they recently signed kicker John Kasay.
The Saints have placed 27-year old RB Chris Taylor on the Injured Reserve list ending his 2011 season. He has not played in the NFL since the 2008 season with the Texans. Taylor has played in 7 games (0 starts) in parts of two years and he has carried the ball 42 times for 160 yards (3.8 avg) with 1 TD run. He has also caught 3 passes for 40 yards (13.3 avg) so far in his NFL career. This is not a big loss for the Saints as they are loaded at RB.
The Saints will be without rookie WR Joseph Morgan for the next 2-4 weeks due to arthroscopic knee surgery. Morgan has caught 2 passes for 77 yards (38.5 avg) with 1 TD grab in the Saints’ first two pre-season games. He also has returned 6 punts for 107 yards (17.8 avg) with 1 TD return and he also has returned 1 kickoff for 26 yards. This will really hurt Morgan’s chances of making the team. That being said, he has looked really good so far in the pre-season for the Saints.
UPDATE: (9/3/2011) – The Saints have placed Joseph Morgan on the Injured Reserve List ending his 2011 season.
23-year old RB Chris Ivory is going to miss likely 4-6 weeks after having surgery to repair a sports hernia. Ivory played in 12 games (4 starts) for the Saints last year and he carried the ball 137 times for 716 yards (5.2 ypc) with 5 TD runs. He also caught 1 pass for 17 yards last year. Ivory really made a good first impression for the Saints last year as an undrafted rookie out of Tiffin. But, he is below Mark Ingram, Pierre Thomas and Darren Sproles on the depth chart, so look for his touches to be limited this season.
UPDATE: (9/3/2011) – The Saints have placed Chris Ivory on the PUP list which will cause him to miss the first 6 games of the regular season.