METAIRIE, La. – The New Orleans Saints are still hoping to get offensive stars Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas back on Sunday’s playoff list against the Chicago Bears.
But they ruled out one of the most important defense players, Trey Hendrickson, on Friday.
Hendrickson was one of the NFL’s biggest surprises this year, with a 13.5 team-level sack. He initially suffered an injury in Week 15 and did not play in Week 16. But he returned to play in Week 17 and trained on a limited basis on Wednesday before being eliminated on Thursday and Friday.
However, Saints’ No. 4 defense has a good depth at DE. They have two experienced beginners in Pro Bowler, Cameron Jordan and Marcus Davenport. And young rescuer Carl Granderson has been delivering juice in four bags for the past five weeks.
The Saints also ruled out veteran Nick Easton with a contusion. But the rest of their injury report was sought this week. Nickel safety CJ Gardner-Johnson was activated on Friday from the reserve list / COVID-19. Safety start Marcus Williams (ankle), versatile backup defender Taysom Hill (concussion) and tight veteran Josh Hill (hand) are also expected to return from injury.
Kamara (backup / COVID-19), Thomas (ankle) and receiving / returning specialist Deonte Harris (neck) are not part of the daily injury reports, as all three are still on the reserve lists. However, the signs continue to indicate all three who will return to the band on Sunday.
Thomas and Harris returned to training on Wednesday after spending the last three weeks in the injured reserve. Coach Sean Payton declined to give Thomas official status for this week’s game, but he previously explained that the plan was to rest Thomas for three weeks to bring him as close as 100% possible to the playoffs. . And defender Drew Brees said Sunday night that “I know we’re getting Mike Thomas back – I think the last three weeks they’ve been down have been great for him.”
Meanwhile, Kamara is not eligible to return from the reserve list / COVID-19 until Sunday, which means he could not practice all week and cannot even stay at the team’s hotel on Saturday night. However, Kamara suggested on Twitter Thursday night he expects to be allowed to play.
A source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Kamara is watching the practices remotely through a live video stream at his home, with Payton’s microphone to guide Kamara through the tracks.
“There’s a live video camera and I’ve had a number of things. But I don’t want that to be the big story, because we have to wait and see if he’s able to play,” Payton said Friday. “Obviously we have Zoom technology [to allow Kamara to participate in meetings], practice video, all these things. And it really helps that he’s an extremely smart player. “