Saints Clips
Saints running back Ty Chandler will miss the entire season with a knee injury, coach Kellen Moore confirmed Tuesday.
Chandler was injured during the preseason game against the Rams.
With Alvin Kamara sidelined with an MCL sprain and Devin Neal dealing with a hamstring injury, the Saints traded for running back Zamir White this week.
Chandler spent the past four seasons with the Vikings but played only three games last season.
The Saints placed Chandler and tight end Moliki Matavao on season-ending injured reserve Tuesday.
Moore offered better news about wide receiver Chris Olave, who left practice early after a hard landing on a deep pass. Moore said Olave is “all good.”
The Saints signed defensive tackle Zxavian Harris as an undrafted rookie on May 1, and he was on the Saints until they waived him on August 8. Now Harris plays for LSU, and Saints head coach Kellen Moore is trying to wrap his head around how that’s possible.
Harris was one of 16 players who re-gained NCAA eligibility as a result of a Louisiana judge’s ruling. Moore, whose brother Kirby Moore is the head coach at Washington State, thinks football needs eligibility rules that are clearly established and don’t change every time a player takes the NCAA to court.
“I think it’s unfortunate that there’s no regulation to anything right now. My brother coaches college football so I follow it closely, just watching everything college football is going through,” Moore said.
Moore said he wants players to have every opportunity but also wants someone to step up and provide some leadership in college football.
“I think there’s a challenging balancing act to this, and hopefully there can be some leadership and some regulations developed here shortly,” Moore said.
Asked if he ever thought he’d hear that a player who was in training camp with the Saints would play that season in college, Moore answered, “No. It’s a unique college football world we live in right now.”
Saints cornerback and special teams contributor Rejzohn Wright will miss the entire 2026 season.
New Orleans head coach Kellen Moore confirmed that Wright is out for the season with a hip injury that will require surgery.
Last year Wright played exclusively on special teams for the Saints, but he was competing in training camp for a role on defense as well. Instead, he’ll miss the year.
The 25-year-old Wright first became known to football fans when he was featured on the Netflix college football documentary series Last Chance U. He was originally an undrafted free agent with the Panthers out of Oregon State in 2023. He is the brother of Jets cornerback Nahshon Wright.
Wright has been with the Saints since 2024 but spent the whole 2024 season on injured reserve and will now spend the whole 2026 season on injured reserve as well.
The Saints made a trade for Zamir White on Monday and injuries in their offensive backfield appear to be the reason why they made the made.
The list of injured backs grew to include Ty Chandler in Saturday’s loss to the Rams. Chandler suffered a knee injury and head coach Kellen Moore said on Monday that Chandler was looking at possibly missing time.
A report from Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football suggests it could be quite a bit of time. Underhill reports that the team fears it is a serious injury.
Chandler’s injury comes at a moment when Alvin Kamara is sidelined by a sprained MCL and Devin Neal is battling a hamstring injury. Kendre Miller also missed extended time with a back injury before returning recently.
Miller joins White and Audric Estime as the team’s available options behind Travis Etienne at the moment.
The Saints waived rookie defensive tackle Zxavian Harris on Aug. 8. Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports reports that Harris has committed to LSU.
Harris played for new LSU coach Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss.
He just became eligible to return to college football after a court order in Louisiana on Aug. 19 granted Harris and 15 other college football players a temporary restraining order against the NCAA.
Harris went undrafted in the spring and signed with the Saints as an undrafted free agent.
He totaled 58 tackles, nine tackles for loss and three sacks.
The Saints have been holding a kicking competition this summer, but it appears they aren’t happy with either of their current choices for the job.
Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports that they are going to sign Daniel Carlson to their roster on Monday. There is no word about a corresponding move.
Tanner Brown and Charlie Smyth have been vying for the kicker spot in New Orleans. Brown missed a field goal in Saturday’s shutout loss to the Rams and Smyth missed one in the preseason opener. Brown was 2-of-2 on field goals in that game while Smyth made both extra points he attempted.
Carlson spent the last eight seasons with the Raiders. He was 224-of-255 on field goals and 238-of-249 on extra points for the AFC West club.
The Saints are trading veteran linebacker Deion Jones to the 49ers in exchange for running back Zamir White, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.
The Saints needed running back help with Alvin Kamara out at least a month with an MCL sprain. Devin Neal (hamstring) and Kendre Miller (back) have also missed time in camp with injuries.
The 49ers signed White on Aug. 12 as they dealt with backfield injuries of their own. Christian McCaffrey returned to practice on Sunday.
Jones reunites with 49ers defensive coordinator Raheem Morris after the two were together with the Falcons from 2016-20. Jones was a Pro Bowler in 2017.
Jones spent the past two seasons with the Bucs, and he played all 17 games last season.
Zach Wilson made a good case for the Saints’ backup quarterback job in the team’s first preseason game, but his second outing did not go as well.
Wilson started against the Rams on Saturday after replacing Spencer Rattler in the opener, but failed to put any points on the board while going 6-of-12 for 55 yards and an interception. Rattler was 14-of-23 for 141 yards, but he also threw an interception in the red zone that was returned for a 100-yard touchdown during the 34-0 loss.
After the game, head coach Kellen Moore said he feels both quarterbacks have had good camps but that Saturday’s game was “a big-time missed opportunity.”
“We’re gonna have to watch the film really closely,” Moore said. “Gut reaction is obviously we want to accomplish more as an offense. . . . We pushed these guys this week, we challenged them with some big-time opportunities with some joint practices and this game. I love the work collectively that we got over the course of the week. It’s just obviously we missed an opportunity here. I’ve got to prepare our guys better, I’ve got to get our guys ready to go for this opportunity.”
The Saints will close out the preseason against the Dolphins on Friday and Moore will be looking for at least one of the quarterbacks to make more of their chance this time around.
Jerry Jones likes his money. And with his players costing him $500,000 for fights during joint practices, Jerry plans to recoup some (if not all) of the financial expense.
Via Patrik Walker of the team’s internal media operation, Jones said that players deemed responsible for the half-million-dollar fine will be fined by the Cowboys.
Of course, Jones separately will be appealing the league-imposed fine, via Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News. Which means that, in theory, Jerry could emerge from the situation with a profit.
That’s unlikely. The league shouldn’t change the fines. They’re large enough to give teams an incentive to ensure that fights don’t happen at joint practices. Especially if it creates an incentive to pass any and all expenses directly to the players.
The NFL has cracked down on fighting at joint practices. Sort of.
For the second time in two years, the NFL has fined teams for fighting at joint practices. The players involved weren’t fined.
The league, in August 2024, fined the Giants and Lions $200,000 each for fighting during joint practices. And while the price tag for the Saints and Cowboys increased the punishment by 150 percent — to $500,000 each — the NFL still isn’t fining the players who threw punches and/or otherwise were involved in the extracurricular violence.
The ultimate offense happened four years ago, when Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald swung helmets at a joint practice with the Bengals. At the time, we explained that the league has a longstanding practice of clubs being responsible for overseeing the conduct of players at practice, including joint practices.
While the teams have the authority to fine players, the league doesn’t do it. If the league ever began issuing the kind of discipline for practice fights that the league issues for fights during games, the fights would end.
Maybe it’s a CBA issue. Maybe the league simply doesn’t want to ask the NFL Players Association for the power to issue those fines.
Of course, the NFLPA should want to create mechanisms for protecting players from injuries inflicted during those fights. But that’s not how collective bargaining works. If one side wants to change the status quo, the other side will want something in return — even if there’s a mutual benefit arising from the request that was made.
