For the second time since last week, the Saints tried out free agent offensive lineman Khalif Barnes on Wednesday, according to Nick Underhill of the New Orleans Advocate.
The Saints are familiar with Barnes, having employed the 34-year-old briefly toward the end of the preseason before releasing him as part of their final cuts on Sept. 3. New Orleans head coach Sean Payton said after the club cut Barnes that he wasn’t in football shape, per Underhill, so it’s possible it will bring the tackle/guard in as depth if it feels his conditioning is now up to par.
“I think (well) considering this is a player that really hasn’t been in an offseason plan,” Payton said. “He is overweight right now, he’s big and that will be a process of him gradually cutting his weight down, but to sign him early in the week and play 20 something snaps, we wanted to make sure we didn’t give him too many snaps and risk any type of injury for a player that really hadn’t had the training camp and offseason program. I think he handled it pretty well.”
Barnes, who went in the second round of the 2005 draft, racked up a combined 151 appearances and 117 starts as a member of the Jaguars and Raiders over his first 11 NFL seasons. Barnes suited up for 14 of the Raiders’ games last year, but he made a career-worst one start.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Does he still have it….???