The Saints have their 53-man roster set for Week 1. The biggest surprise came in the form of rookie wide receiver Emmanuel Butler being cut. He did return to the Saints via the practice squad. The roster will assuredly change after the regular season opener, but it currently only features two tight ends.
The roster contains several surprising moves, but our experts like what New Orleans has. Here’s what WWL Radio’s resident pros Bobby Hebert, Deuce McAllister and Zach Strief think about the roster.
Bobby Hebert: I was surprised they cut Butler. I thought that he did enough to make the final roster, but then again it’s Week 1 and you don’t know what they are thinking along the defensive line, because Sheldon Rankins and David Onyemata are out for this game. So, that factor made them get creative with some roster spots. As always the bottom four or five players will change on this roster week-to-week.
Deuce McAllister: The Saints overall look a lot like the Saints of last year — with a few tweaks here and there. On offense the bulk of the load will be carried by the Big 3 (Alvin Kamara, Michael Thomas, Jared Cook). Who else can contribute consistently will be the question. Expect more tweaks over the next few weeks. Defensively...about what you expected outside of (safety Chris) Banjo, who was more special teams than defense, but with the additions of some of the young guys, it became a numbers game. Health will determine what other moves are made on this side of the ball
Zach Stief: The decision to cut (RB Devine) Ozigbo, while not necessarily a surprise, I found interesting. I think Ozigbo has great upside, though it’s hard to compare it to Washington. They are very different players. I think there are two things in action here: 1. They see Dwayne Washington as one of their top special teams players. 2. The desire to have someone ready to go now, over valued the desire to develop something later.
I know there was a surprise with the (offensive lineman Ethan) Greenidge pick and it surprised me too. Not because there isn’t talent there…because there is. He just wasn’t very available through camp. He was going to be a surefire practice squad guy. I think he played well enough in the last preseason game to turn heads around the league. After playing mostly guard in practice, he lined up at left tackle and had an outstanding game. I don’t think the team felt as though they could get him through to the practice squad. Young players with the ability to play tackle are not easy to come by
As far as surprise of Crawley making the team… if you are truly surprised, you didn’t watch the tape. Ken is one of those players that people form an opinion about and never let go. He gave up a QB rating of 69.27 in the preseason (2nd best among Saints corners). This might be the deepest position on the team. If, and it is an if, they play to their potential, this backfield could be very good.
Expect a decent amount of roster shifting over the next couple weeks. I could see a couple different players move up and down. Crawley, Omameh, Greenidge, Carr, Edwards Jr, Horton are all players that could be shuffled in the coming weeks
