NFL Injury News

Saints fear turf toe injury for LT Trevor Penning in preseason finale

Saints fear turf toe injury for LT Trevor Penning in preseason finale

During the final preseason game against the Los Angeles Chargers, New Orleans Saints rookie tackle was carted back to the locker room after walking off the field with an apparent lower leg injury. The first-round selection was able to walk to the injury tent, which was good news. But it wasn’t the best news awaiting Saints fans on Saturday morning. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport first reported that Penning is believed to have suffered a “bad case of turf toe” which could keep him sidelined for a few weeks.

Last season safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson also went through a turf toe injury which caused him to miss four games. Back in 2019, wide receiver Devante Adams also missed four games with the same injury. Fellow wideout A.J. Green missed three games after suffering the injury in Week 8 of the 2018 season. He returned for 17 snaps against the Denver Broncos and then missed the remaining  four games of the season after aggravating the toe. This is an injury that can go many ways. Saints running back Mark Ingram went through it as well back in 2011 and missed six matchups.

There are a pair of silver linings here though. The first bit of good news is that this is not the type of injury that becomes a plague for years to come. It’s an impact injury that will take some time to heal up now, but shouldn’t become a long-term concern unless rushed to get back on the field too quickly. The next is that there are still two weeks before the Saints opening regular season action against the Atlanta Falcons. While it’s very unlikely Penning will be available Sept. 11, the schedule does carve out two weeks of his recovery time. That takes a six-week injury down to four games missed and a four-week injury potentially down to two games missed.

It seemed unlikely too that Penning would open the season as the starting left tackle if tackle James Hurst was also healthy. The underlying issue will be that he loses practice time and therefore ability to further his progression. Head coach Dennis Allen updated on Hursts’ progress last night saying that he’d be ready “sooner than later.” Throughout camp “sooner than later” from Allen has proven to mean “tomorrow” in most cases. So, expecting Hurst for Week 1 doesn’t seem too far fetched.

The big question beyond Penning’s return timeline, which is still to be determined, comes down to depth at the position. Behind Hurst, the Saints are shorthanded at left tackle options. Landon Young has been…

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