New Orleans

Saints

Tyson was officially a non-participant to begin the week, as expected. Moore adds that Tyson is “progressing well,” and New Orleans Football’s Mike Triplett said there is “an expectation that he’ll return to practice soon.” Tyson should be rostered in 12-team formats, but fantasy managers must, unfortunately, remain patient.

We expect Olave to be fine for the Saints’ Week 6 game against the Giants. There is currently no cause for concern, but this is worth keeping an eye on. Olave experienced blood clots in his lung last season, and spent much of the offseason recovering. We are not doctors and cannot opine on the matter. For now, expect him to play, but keep an eye out for his hopeful return to practice tomorrow or Friday.

It appears that Kellen Moore and GM Mickey Loomis are on the hot seat after a surprisingly bad start and a no-show on the 20th anniversary of the return to the dome. We’d be a little surprised if Moore were fired in only the second year of his tenure, without even being given a chance to pick his own franchise quarterback. But most ownership groups would not say something like this out loud, so it’s worth noting.

So, probably, then. The hand hasn’t really been a contributing factor to New Orleans’ decline so much as the Saints offensive line has just been in the blender for two weeks against Atlanta and Minnesota’s fronts, but it sure looks like Shough is managing through something and we should probably break ties against him in the rankings.

Shough had been coasting on extreme play volume over the first month of the fantasy season. Brian Flores and the Vikings’ hyper-aggressive defense had no issues shutting down that approach. The Saints had five drives in the first half. Only one lasted longer than three plays. Of their four second-half drives, two ended with interceptions. A fumbled kickoff coming out of the break didn’t help the team’s play volume either. Shough has ultimately been a better fantasy quarterback than a real-life passer this year and the Vikings’ defense exposed that truth for the better part of four quarters. He will look to rebound against a far worse Giants unit in Week 6.

Olave was averaging over 120 yards per game before today’s contest. The Saints’ extreme play volume and tilt to toward passing the ball turned his great role into elite fantasy production. That finally came to a halt with Brian Flore’s defense shutting down Tyler Shough. The second-year passer completed just 16 throws for 96 yards. Shough and the entire passing attack should improve drastically versus the Giants next week. Fantasy managers can keep treating Olave as a WR1 despite this speed bump.

Tyler Shough managed a dismal 96 passing yards in this game, so there simply wasn’t enough production for any New Orleans wideout to post usable fantasy numbers. Vele still tied Chris Olave for a team-high in targets. He has at least four catches and six targets in every game this year. Even after a quiet Week 5, Vele remains a solid WR4 option headed into a Week 6 date with the Giants.

Johnson had hovered around 50 yards in every game before today’s loss, but a shutdown Minnesota defense was more than enough to mute the production of every New Orleans pass-catcher. Things should improve for everyone when the Saints take on the Giants next week. Johnson will be a volume-based TE2 for Week 6.

Alvin Kamara entered this game with a back injury and played just eight snaps in the second half, freeing up some extra work for Donaldson. He led the team in snaps, but Kendre Miller was the top option between the tackles, seeing 10 carries, one of which went for a touchdown. Even if Kamara remains on the injury report for Week 6, Donaldson won’t crack the FLEX rankings versus the Giants.

He “added” two catches for -6 yards. Kamara rotated with Kendre Miller and CJ Donaldson throughout the game. Donaldson ultimately led the backfield in snaps, while Miller’s 10 carries paced the team. Kamara only touched the ball once in the second half and spent long stretches of the final two quarters on the sidelines with his helmet off. The team was likely managing his reps while he played through a back injury. He was listed as questionable heading into today’s game. As part of a three-man committee, Kamara is barely an RB4 for his Week 6 date with the Giants.