Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro will be placed on the injured reserve list, sources tell Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Vaccaro has been playing on an adductor completely torn off the bone as well as an injured wrist and he’ll need surgery to repair both. 
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At 10-4, the Saints are likely headed to the postseason, but they’ll have to forge ahead without the services of their starting strong safety. The advanced numbers aren’t presently fond of Vaccaro (he rates as Pro Football Focus’ worst safety out of any qualified player this year), but he is a valuable five-year veteran of the defense. It’s another tough blow to a Saints team that just placed middle linebacker A.J. Klein on injured reserve a few days ago.
Clearly, Vaccaro has been at less than 100% throughout the year. Although Vaccaro has started in all 12 of his games this year, the team has had to take him off the field for large chunks of time. The 27-year-old (28 on New Year’s Day) has tried to tough it out, but the maladies have finally caught up with him.
Last year, Vaccaro ranked an above-average 38th in performance among PFF’s 90 qualified safeties. He’ll be eligible for unrestricted free agency in March.