JUNE 14: Unsurprisingly, Saints head coach Sean Payton said today that 2016 is likely lost for Kikaha. As of now, it remains unknown what type of procedure Kikaha will have to undergo to repair his knee, per Mike Triplett of ESPN.com. In better news, Payton doesn’t see this as a career-threatening injury.
JUNE 9: Awful news for Saints defensive end Hau’oli Kikaha as he has suffered a torn ACL in his left knee (Twitter link via Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports). Given the severity of the injury, Kikaha is likely done for the season.
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Unfortunately, this is not new territory for Kikaha as he also suffered two ACL tears in college. The 2015 second-round pick was able to come back strong from both of those ACL tears, but he is surely frustrated with this latest setback.
In his final season at Washington, Kikaha led the nation with 19 sacks and had at least one sack in 13 of his 14 games. The strong performance in his final year marked a tremendous comeback for Kikaha, who torn his ACL as a frosh in 2011 and again as a medical redshirt freshman in 2012.
Last year, the 23-year-old (24 in July) appeared in 15 games and made 11 starts for New Orleans. In that time, he racked up 4 sacks, 50 total tackles, two passes defended, four forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
He was good last year. He would’ve had a break out year in their biggest area of need