At this rate, the New Orleans Saints might have trouble fielding a complete secondary during their joint practices against the New England Patriots this week.
Safety Kenny Vaccaro left Tuesday’s practice early, according to multiple reports -- though he walked off under his own power and was watching from the sideline during the afternoon walk-through. And cornerback Keenan Lewis was absent from the afternoon walk-through, according to NOLA.com and the New Orleans Advocate. It’s unclear if Lewis’ absence was injury-related.
The two Saints starters joined the other starting safety, Jairus Byrd (who has been sidelined throughout training camp with a knee injury), the other starting cornerback, Brandon Browner (out since last Thursday with a leg injury), and nickel cornerback Delvin Breaux (out since last Thursday with an unspecified ailment).
Browner and Breaux’s injuries were described as minor last week, either by sources or the players themselves on Twitter. Byrd hasn’t appeared close yet to returning to practice, but coach Sean Payton expressed confidence earlier this month that he’d be back sooner than later. The latest ailments are unknown.
It’s possible that many of those guys could be back within the week, but no specific timetables have been offered since the Saints keep injury details close to the vest while not being required to offer them during training camp.
In other injury/attendance news Tuesday:
Second-year defensive tackle Austin Brown was carted off the field during Tuesday’s practice -- his first practice since signing with the team earlier in the week. Brown was an undrafted rookie out of Miami (Ohio) in 2014, who spent time with the Houston Texans before joining the Arena Football League.
According to multiple reports, the Saints signed defensive tackle David Hunter to replace him. Hunter has spent time with the Houston Texans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers since 2012 but hasn’t cracked an active roster yet.
Linebacker/ends Dannell Ellerbe, Anthony Spencer, Ramon Humber and Ronald Powell all remained sidelined Tuesday, as well, based on multiple reports. Rookie Hau’oli Kikaha missed the morning session but was back for the afternoon walk-through.
