Kool-Aid

McKinstry

Rattler goes from being the starter to the emergency QB with the return of David Carr (oblique). Williams was already listed out with his groin injury, so it’ll be Jordan Mims as the backup tailback against Carolina on Sunday.

Lattimore has been dealing with the hamstring issue for weeks. The injury resurfaces every time he attempts to play through it, so it’s likely for the best that he misses a game or two. Fellow cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry has also been ruled out. The Saints’ secondary will be severely undermanned in Week 9, but Bryce Young may still struggle to make the most of a good matchup.

Lattimore strained his hamstring in Week 7’s Thursday Night Football game before re-injuring it in Week 8. He has an uphill battle to play this week. Rookie CB Kool-Aid McKinstry was added to the injury report as a limited participant on Wednesday and likewise went unseen during Thursday’s practice. The Saints already lost Paulson Adebo (femur) for the year. It appears as though the Saints secondary will field a skeleton crew in their Halloween-week, Week 9 game against the Panthers.

The Saints moved into the 41st spot and sent picks 45, 168, and 190 back to the Packers to land McKinstry (5'11/196). McKinstry excelled as a two-way CB/WR and state-champion basketball player who scored over 1,000 points in his high school career. McKinstry pulled off the rare Alabama feat of starting six games as a true freshman (479 snaps) but proved the decision to be warranted by being named to the Freshman All-SEC Team. The five-star prodigy fulfilled his potential in 2022, leading the SEC with 16 PBU while earning First Team All-SEC and Second Team All-American honors. PFF graded him above the 75th percentile in every relevant phase of the game, with Kool-Aid allowing a scorching 2.6 yards per target and a 36% completion rate. Arguably the 2024 NFL Draft CB1 heading into this season, McKinstry allowed 37 receptions on 80 targets in 2022. He managed to cut that number in half to 19 catches allowed on 39 targets while ranking fifth nationally with .35 receiving yards allowed per coverage snap. A right foot ailment shelved him for the Combine, but he ran a strong 4.47s 40-yard dash (78th%) at his pro day, though a pair of uninspiring jumping tests and no agility testing means we have an incomplete athletic profile to work with from a testing perspective. Is more instinctive in zone diagnosing route concepts as opposed to being a pugnacious in-your-face man corner. McKinstry profiles as a solid all-around player who doesn’t possess supersonic long speed but has a firm grasp of the nuances of the position and also can return kicks.