METAIRIE, La. – The New Orleans Saints are still hoping to get offensive stars Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas back on the lineup for Sunday’s playoff opening against the Chicago Bears.
But they ruled out one of their best defensive players, defensive end 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 at most. He originally suffered an injury in week 15 and did not play in week 16. But he returned to play in week 17 and exercised on a limited basis on Wednesday before being out of action on Thursday and Friday.
However, the Saints ’No. 4 ranked defense has good depth in DE. They have two starters with experience in the perennial Cameron Jordan and Marcus Davenport. And young substitute Carl Granderson has provided some juice with four sacks in the last five weeks.
The Saints also ruled out veteran guard Nick Easton with a concussion. But the rest of his injury report has been searching this week. CJ Gardner-Johnson Nickel Security was activated Friday on the reserve list / COVID-19. Initial safety Marcus Williams (ankle), versatile quarterback Taysom Hill (concussion) and tight end veteran Josh Hill (hand) are also expected to return from injury.
Kamara (reserve / COVID-19), Thomas (ankle) and receiver / return specialist Deonte Harris (neck) are not on the daily injury reports because all three remain on the reserve lists. Still, signs continue to signal that the three will return to lineup on Sunday.
Thomas and Harris returned to practice on Wednesday after spending the last three weeks on the injured reserve. Coach Sean Payton has refused to give Thomas official status for this week’s game, but previously explained that the plan was to rest Thomas for three weeks to get him as close to 100% as possible for the playoffs. And quarterback Drew Brees said Sunday night that “I know we’re recovering Mike Thomas, I think the last three weeks off have been great for him.”
Meanwhile, Kamara does not meet the requirements to return from the reserve list / COVID-19 until Sunday, which means he has not been able to practice all week and cannot even stay at the team’s hotel on Saturday at the evening. However, Kamara suggested on Twitter Thursday night waiting to be allowed to play.
A source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Kamara has been watching practices remotely via a live video channel at his home, with Payton at the microphone to guide Kamara through the works.
“There’s a live video camera and we’ve had several things. But I don’t want this to be the big story, because we still have to wait and see if it’s capable of playing,” Payton said 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 smart player. “