Alright – barring a surprise last-minute change, the New Orleans Saints have set their 53-man roster and 16-man practice squad ahead of their Week 1 kickoff with the Atlanta Falcons. And any players who are brought in so soon before game day won’t have enough time to practice with the team so that they can dress out on Sunday.
Remember, NFL rules mandate that only 48 players may dress out on game days, meaning there will be inactive players. Two of those activations will come from the practice squad as single-game promotions. It’s a good time to brush up on the roster and consider who will be playing heavy snaps in Atlanta, so let’s get to it:
Quarterbacks (2, plus 1)
No. 2 Jameis Winston
No. 14 Andy Dalton
Practice squad: No. 16 Jake Luton
There’s your depth chart. So much rides on Winston – if he can just be average and get the ball to his weapons, the offense should be fine. Things get exciting if he can take a step forward. But the Saints smartly invested in Dalton as their backup, meaning things don’t get fraught if Winston takes a step back. Luton is a fine option for that spot on the practice squad. He won’t be expected to do more than keep drills running on schedule during the week.
Running backs (5)
No. 41 Alvin Kamara
No. 5 Mark Ingram II
No. 24 Dwayne Washington
No. 34 Tony Jones Jr
No. 46 Adam Prentice (fullback)
Practice squad: N/A
Can Ingram be a No. 2 runner behind Kamara for one more year? He’s gotten up there in years and struggled with an injury and poor blocking up front last season, but Ingram ran hard in the preseason and might have enough left in the tank to see things through. Kamara is one of the game’s best players, but the less he’s asked to do on his own, the better.
Tight ends (4, plus 2)
No. 82 Adam Trautman
No. 7 Taysom Hill
No. 83 Juwan Johnson
No. 81 Nick Vannett
Practice squad: No. 88 J.P. Holtz, No. 87 Lucas Krull (rookie)
Probably the weakest position group on offense (if not the team as a whole), the Saints tight ends could help out if a couple of different factors go their way. If Trautman finally breaks out, if Hill can remain healthy, and if Johnson can continue to develop, they’ll have enough different skill sets to make an impact. But that’s a lot of questions to answer at just one spot on the roster.
Wide receivers (6, plus…
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