The New Orleans Saints will soon be looking for a replacement long snapper for the first time in a decade.
Veteran LS Zach Wood is expected to miss at least four weeks with a calf strain, according to a report from ESPN. Wood was not listed on the team's initial injury report. He would be a candidate to land on injured reserve.
It's unlikely the Saints have Wood's replacement on the roster currently, though DT John Ridgeway did serve as the fill-in long snapper when Wood missed a practice earlier this season. The Saints in the past have kept a "ready list" of players for such circumstances, so the team would likely already have a name or two in mind as an option.
The long snapper position is one that tends to be set it and forget it, at least as long as the name is never being mentioned. That tends to happen only when mistakes are made. The Saints have had remarkable consistency at the position since adding Wood in 2017, and the former SMU standout played in the first 150 possible regular season games of his career, as well as seven playoff games.
Only Cam Jordan (Year 16) has been with the Saints longer than Wood and Alvin Kamara, who has also been with the Saints for 10 seasons.
The Saints will face the Baltimore Ravens on the road in Week 2.
