METAIRIE, La. -- The New Orleans Saints waived three injured players Monday: receiver Andy Tanner, offensive tackle Ty Nsekhe and safety Ty Zimmerman. All three could potentially land on injured reserve.
The Saints' roster is now officially down to 83 players. They'll need to make eight more moves to get down to the required 75 players by the NFL's 4 p.m. ET/3 p.m. CT deadline on Tuesday.
Recently-signed veteran tight end Travis Beckum also is apparently being cut. He indicated he had been cut following practice, tweeting: "Short stay with the Saints. Still a blessing to have that opportunity, now even more excited about my next one. God is great!"
Tanner's release isn't a surprise, but it still will likely rank among the Saints' most difficult cuts this year. He's been with the team since 2010, spending parts of the past four seasons on the practice squad. With his practice-squad eligibility finally expired, the former undrafted rookie from Division II Midwestern State had to crack the full 53-man roster this year.
Tanner suffered an undisclosed injury in practice last week.
"He's someone that you don't ever take for granted," Saints coach Sean Payton said of Tanner earlier in camp. "He's a guy you don't bet against. He's a grinder. He's tough. He knows what to do. Shoot, he has a lot of traits that endear himself to the team. He has the respect of his teammates, and they have seen him work, and they have seen him be successful. Defensively, guys will talk about who is tough to cover. ...I think he'd be one of those guys they would bring up."
Nsekhe joined the Saints in January after bouncing around with the St. Louis Rams, Indianapolis Colts and the Arena Football League. But he was injured off and on throughout training camp.
Zimmerman signed this year as an undrafted rookie out of Kansas State. But he's been out the past two weeks with an undisclosed injury.
