The New Orleans Saints don't have much time to recover from injuries ahead of a showdown with the Broncos on Thursday Night Football, and they sure have a lot of them.
The Saints had a season-high 17 players listed on their initial injury report for Week 7, including a whopping four wide receivers. The most concerning injury of that group is Chris Olave (concussion), who will be hard pressed to clear the concussion protocol in 72 hours. Fellow starting WR Rashid Shaheed (knee) was a surprise addition. He was also on the injury report last week due to a hip issue, but played and finished the game against the Bucs.
The Saints were still without RG Cesar Ruiz (knee) and LB Pete Werner (hamstring), both of whom have missed multiple games with their injuries.
The Saints didn't hold a full practice on Monday, so the injury report is estimated. Here's how it broke down on Monday.
LP = limited participation; FP = full participation; DNP = did not participate
- RG Cesar Ruiz (knee): DNP
- QB Derek Carr (oblique): DNP
- C/G Lucas Patrick (chest): DNP
- LB Pete Werner (hamstring): DNP
- WR Rashid Shaheed (knee): DNP
- WR Chris Olave (concussion): DNP
- TE Taysom Hill (rib): LP
- DE Payton Turner (knee): LP
- RB Alvin Kamara (hand): LP
- DE Carl Granderson (neck): LP
- DT Nathan Shepherd (groin): LP
- S J.T. Gray (calf): LP
- CB Alontae Taylor (shoulder): LP
- WR Cedrick Wilson (ankle): LP
- S Tyrann Mathieu (forearm): FP
- LB Willie Gay Jr. (hand): FP
- WR Bub Means (hand): FP
Related
On the side of good news, Monday did mark the return of Taysom Hill (rib), who hadn't practiced since he was hurt during the Week 4 loss the Falcons. He was on the field Sunday the Superdome and his return would certainly be a welcome sight for an offense that's been struggling to get anything going in the run game the past two weeks. He was a limited participant on Thursday.
The Saints will have plenty of new additions to watch, with Alontae Taylor (shoulder), Cedrick Wilson (ankle), J.T. Gray (calf), Nathan Shepherd (groin) and Carl Granderson (neck) all added with new issues this week.
The list of injuries is much shorter on Denver's side, though the cornerback position is very banged up heading into this matchup.
Here's how the Bucs' side of things broke down
- CB Pat Surtain (concussion): DNP
- CB Ja'Quan McMillan (ankle): LP
- CB Riley Moss (hip): LP
- OT Alex Palczewski (ankle): LP
- CB Damarri Mathis (ankle): FP
- LB Justin Strnad (ribs): FP
The Saints (2-4) host Sean Payton and the Broncos (3-3) at 7:15 p.m. Thursday inside the Caesars Superdome. Catch all the action on WWL and Audacy.