Saints tight end Juwan Johnson is dealing with a leg injury.
Johnson suffered an injury to his lower leg and will miss “a good amount of time,” according to Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football. The nature of the injury and Johnson’s status when the regular season starts in three months is unclear.
Last year Johnson was the Saints’ top tight end, finishing the season with 37 catches for 368 yards and four touchdowns. It would be a major concern if he has to miss games in the regular season.
The news of Johnson’s injury came just hours after tight end Jimmy Graham said he would be open to returning to the Saints this season. Graham is currently a free agent but could be an option for the Saints if they need another tight end with Johnson hurt.
Foster Moreau would be the top tight end on the Saints’ depth chart while Johnson is out.
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Free agent tight end Jimmy Graham doesn’t know whether he’s done playing in the NFL, but he wants to talk to the Saints before he makes a final decision.
The 37-year-old Graham, who played for the Saints from 2010 to 2014 and again in 2023, says he’s not sure yet if he is retiring and his future is up in the air.
“I’m gonna reach out to the Saints and figure out what’s best, and then make the decision on when it’s best for me to retire,” he told Katherine Terrell of ESPN.
Graham, who also spent time with the Seahawks, Packers and Bears, doesn’t sound interested in playing for any other team.
“I don’t have any expectations,” Graham said. “I just want to make sure when I retire, it’s as a Saint, and it’s when they want me to. I’ll just make sure I give them a call and see exactly when they want me to retire and then I’ll end up doing it.”
Graham is currently planning to do a long-distance rowing event next year, as well as some long-distance cycling, but he said it’s not impossible to train for that while also getting into football shape.
“I think anything is possible,” Graham said. “Right now I’m certainly enjoying how my body feels as far as my joints and everything.”
Last year Graham caught just six passes, but four of them were touchdowns, and he still has the ability to help out in the red zone. It seems like a long shot that he’ll be back in the NFL this season, but he isn’t ready to officially call it a career.
Running back Alvin Kamara didn’t attend the voluntary portions of the Saints offseason work, so he got his first full taste of new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak’s scheme at Tuesday’s mandatory minicamp practice.
Kamara had a playbook and he was able to remain in contact with the team, but said “it’s different when you go do it.” There will be a lot more on-field work to do before Kamara fully harnesses the offense, but he’s already seeing a lot of way to make an impact on games.
“Run looks, pass looks — everything is intentional about this offense,” Kamara said, via the team’s website. “You know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it and when you’re doing it. There’s a lot going on. There’s a lot of movement. There’s a lot of opportunity for you to make a play when your number is called. Even when you know there’s a play for another guy, I think there’s a lot of room in this offense to still be open and available to get a ball or to make an impact on a play.”
Kubiak came to the Saints from the 49ers, so it’s only natural to think he’ll try to mimic some of what the team does with Christian McCaffrey. Kamara might not be able to come up with the same numbers, but anything in the ballpark would serve the Saints well this season.
Cornerback Marshon Lattimore’s future with the Saints became a talking point when he agreed to a contract restructure late in the 2023 season and it continued throughout the offseason.
The contract tweak made it easier to trade Lattimore and General Manager Mickey Loomis was noncommittal about Lattimore being on the team in multiple press conferences since the season ended. Lattimore also stayed away from the voluntary portions of the team’s offseason program, but no deal ever happened and Lattimore is with the team for this week’s mandatory minicamp.
On Tuesday, Lattimore said there was “a situation” he and the team worked through and that he “didn’t want to leave” the team he’s played for since 2017. Injuries have hampered him the last two seasons and Lattimore said that helped him be at peace with the trade chatter of the last few months.
“I ain’t got no problem with it. It’s all business at the end of the day. I can’t have no personal problem because you want to trade me or something. It is what it is,” Lattimore said, via Katherine Terrell of ESPN.com. “Everybody knows that they come here and what can happen. I’ve been hurt for two years, so I understand that people probably don’t think I’m the same type of player or whatever the case may be. All I’ve got to do is prove to people that I am. So that really falls on me to be honest.”
Lattimore said he’s confident he can provide that proof and the Saints defense will be in better shape if that proves to be the case.
Free agent safety Marcus Maye is signing with the Dolphins, Jordan Schultz reports.
Maye has remained a free agent since the Saints cut him in March.
He signed a three year, $22.5 million contract with New Orleans as a free agent in 2022, but he missed as many games (17) as he played (17) in two seasons. That includes a three-game suspension.
Maye, 31, spent his first five seasons with the Jets after they made him a second-round pick in 2017.
In 77 career games, he has totaled 409 tackles, eight interceptions, 28 passes defensed, five forced fumbles and 4.5 sacks.
The Dolphins upgraded their secondary this offseason with the additions of cornerback Kendall Fuller and safety Jordan Poyer, and they now have Maye for depth purposes.
Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore, the subject of trade rumors this offseason, skipped the team’s voluntary offseason program. Not participating in organized team activities is something Lattimore has done in the past.
He will, however, attend the Saints’ mandatory minicamp this week.
Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football reports that Lattimore is at the team facility ahead of Tuesday’s start of minicamp.
Lattimore has spent his entire career with the Saints after joining the team as the 11th overall pick in 2017, and it appears that run will continue for an eighth season.
Injuries have limited Lattimore to a total of 17 games the past two seasons, with two total interceptions. He last made the Pro Bowl in 2021.
Lattimore’s contract runs through 2026, but this is the final year he has with guaranteed money. So, this very well could be Lattimore’s final season with the Saints. He is due to count $14.616 million against the cap this season.
The Saints drafted wide receiver Chris Olave in the first round in 2022 because they thought he would be a productive piece of their passing game and their bet has paid off.
Olave has 159 catches for 2,165 yards and nine touchdowns through his first 31 NFL games and he posted better numbers in all three categories during his second season with the team. During an appearance on NFL Network, Olave said he still sees room for progress as he moves into his third season and that he believes making it would launch him into another level of receivers.
“Really everywhere,” Olave said. “Just going into this offseason knowing that [the Saints] believe in me as the receiver 1, I’m excited to get to work. But I’m just trying to take that next step forward and try to go from a good player to an elite player. So just trying to be consistent every day and put in the work to be able to be one of the top receivers in the game.”
While Olave had good numbers, the Saints weren’t happy about the overall state of their offense in 2023. That led to Klint Kubiak’s arrival as the new offensive coordinator and Olave making a jump to elite status would boost the coach’s chances of a long run in New Orleans.
The Saints have completed their draft class signings.
Second-round cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry was the last to sign, inking his four-year rookie contract Friday.
First-round offensive tackle Taliese Fuaga, fifth-round quarterback Spencer Rattler, fifth-round receiver Bub Means, fifth-round linebacker Jaylan Ford, sixth-round defensive tackle Khristian Boyd and seventh-round offensive tackle Josiah Ezirim all signed earlier this month.
The Saints traded up to get McKinstry with the 41st overall pick.
He earned first-team All-America honors in 2023 and was a two-time first-team All-SEC selection.
In 42 career games, McKinstry made 92 tackles, five for a loss, with two interceptions, two sacks and 25 passes defended. McKinstry also returned punts, averaging 15.8 yards per return as a sophomore before a drop to 6.1 yards this season.
He worked out at the Alabama Pro Day in March before undergoing surgery on his right foot to repair a Jones fracture. McKinstry ran a 4.47 in the 40, had a broad jump of 10 foot 1 and a vertical jump of 34.5 inches.
The NFL Players Association is expected to propose changes to the offseason calendar that would do away with the voluntary organized team activities that are now underway around the league and replace them with additional work in the summer that would lead right into training camps.
While the proposal is coming from the NFLPA, Browns defensive tackle Shelby Harris said that he doesn’t know of any players who support the idea and Saints quarterback Derek Carr came out as an opponent of it as well. During an appearance on the Green Light podcast with Chris Long, Carr said he thinks players would get more out of the current schedule than the one that’s being proposed by the union.
“I think the skill that it takes to play all of our positions would go down because you have less time on task,” Carr said. “As a quarterback, your timing, your rhythm, your accuracy — All of that in April isn’t at its best. You use these practices, these OTAs to get there. . . . The NFL season’s already long and you’re gonna start it a month earlier, to me that would be hard. There’s so much the young players have to learn where I think OTAs are beneficial.”
The proposed changes to the offseason calendar have been tied with the league’s expected push to extend the regular season to 18 games and the financial upside of that expansion might trump any concerns about the consequences of changing offseason programs.
Quarterback Drew Brees retired after the 2020 season. But for issues with his arm, the retirement might have happened after the most recent NFL season.
“Honestly, man, if my right arm was still working, I probably would’ve played another three years,” Brees said Thursday in connection with the news that he’ll join the Saints Hall of Fame, via Katherine Terrell of ESPN.com. “My body feels great. My body can play, my right arm can’t. Unfortunately that’s what kind of forced me to step away. And it was time too.”
Brees said he seriously considered ending his retirement, but his arm wouldn’t allow it. And the arm problem traces to the shoulder injury he suffered in the final week of the 2005 season, his last game with the Chargers.
“At the end of the day, it’s like, how capable . . . am I to do the job, right?” Brees said. “I would’ve run QB draws, I would’ve done whatever. I would’ve done some veer option. We would’ve pulled out all the stops. I was ready. Pull out the high school playbook.”
Although the surgery in early 2006 ultimately cut his career short, he was still able to play at a high level for a long time.
The surgery was successful enough to prolong Brees’s playing career by 15 years, but he said that Dr. James Andrews warned him that the shoulder would eventually degenerate to the point where throwing would no longer be possible.
“He said you’re on the fast track to a degenerative shoulder, Brees said regarding his conversations with Dr. James Andrews. “And so at some point this will catch up with you. All that wear and tear and all the work that was done. .. . . Unfortunately there will be attrition at some point. I hung on as long as I could.”
He hung on long enough to author a Hall of Fame career, which is amazing in light of the fact that he believed after the injury that he might be done.
“I really thought my career was over,” Brees said. “Five years into it. I really thought I may never play again. . . . There came a moment after the surgery where I could’ve taken the insurance policy. . . . Here I was facing a career-ending injury and if I never played again, I could collect the insurance policy. And it was a good insurance policy. Point being, when that happens and all the sudden you just get a second chance . . . you just have so much gratitude in your heart.”
Saints fans will forever have gratitude for Brees, given what he did for the team and the city and the entire state. It’s really an amazing story of determination and perseverance from a guy who willed himself back from an injury that easily could have derailed his career before it ever fully blossomed.
