Two careers heading in different directions were highlighted by the New Orleans Saints’ transactions on Saturday.
Rookie defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins was activated from injured reserve -- an expected move as the first-round draft pick from Louisville appears set to make his NFL debut Sunday at the San Francisco 49ers.
Meanwhile, veteran middle linebacker James Laurinaitis was placed on IR with a lingering quad injury -- a disappointing finish to a disappointing year for the former St. Louis Rams ironman.
Rankins will likely be on a snap count Sunday after beginning the year on IR with a broken fibula suffered in training camp. He has had ample time to recover, though, and returned to practice as soon as he was eligible two weeks ago. This is the first game he is eligible to play under the NFL’s injured-reserve rules.
The 6-foot-2, 305-pound Rankins is a disruptive and versatile player against both the pass and the run. He had 14 sacks and 26.5 tackles for loss during his final two years in college at Louisville, and Saints offensive linemen on the scout team talked this week about how Rankins has been making his presence felt in practice.
Laurinaitis, 29, signed with the Saints in free agency after being released by the Rams. They wanted him to be the “quarterback” of their young defense, and he was elected as a captain by his teammates. But his performances were uneven before he suffered the quad injury in Week 3, and he hasn’t played a snap on defense since.
Laurinaitis started the first 115 games of his career with the Rams and Saints before he was inactive in Week 4. He played more snaps (7,187) than any other defensive player in the NFL between 2009 and 2015, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
But during the past three games, he played only on special teams, with veteran Craig Robertson replacing him as the starting middle linebacker. The Saints have also used a lot of three-safety sets with only two linebackers on the field.
It’s unclear if Laurinaitis suffered a setback with his quad injury this week, or if the Saints just determined he wasn’t effective enough while playing through it.
Laurinaitis signed a three-year, $8.25 million contract with New Orleans, but nothing is guaranteed beyond this year’s $3.25 million in salary and bonuses. So the Saints can walk away without adding too much dead money to their ever-increasing stockpile from recent free-agent misses.
The Saints also released on-again, off-again offensive lineman Khalif Barnes on Saturday and promoted defensive end Chris McCain from the practice squad.
