Following a 2-0 start featuring a suddenly explosive offense and their veteran-laden defense performing well, the Saints lost in Week 3 and came out of it worse for wear. Plenty of questions now face New Orleans, which was missing several key contributors at practice Wednesday.
Among them, the last two members of the team’s Drew Brees offensive lines. Erik McCoy is heading to IR, and right guard Cesar Ruiz is battling both knee and ankle injuries. Coming into the season with issues up front, New Orleans now has injury hurdles to negotiate early. As a result, reinforcements are coming.
One of them will move up from the practice squad, with another coming from outside the organization. Shane Lemieux is being signed to the 53-man roster from the practice squad, per ESPN.com’s Katherine Terrell, while NewOrleans.football’s Nick Underhill indicates Chris Reed is joining team’s P-squad.
While Reed comes to New Orleans from Minnesota, his Vikings tenure did not overlap with new OC Klint Kubiak‘s. Reed spent the previous two seasons in Minnesota, after Kubiak had moved on, and worked as a Vikings backup. Reed, who worked as a Panthers regular starter in 2020 and a Colts fill-in starter in 2021, will mix in at a reeling position group.
Oli Udoh, who started 16 games at guard for the Vikings during Kubiak’s 2021 season as OC, moved into the lineup once McCoy went down against the Eagles. Udoh kicked Lucas Patrick from left guard to center, and the Saints figure to lean on the versatile blocker’s experience there for the foreseeable future. The Saints have a younger option as well in Nick Saldiveri, a 2023 fourth-round pick. The Old Dominion alum began training camp working as the first-string left guard. Patrick eventually won the job, but both Udoh and Saldiveri could be summoned if Ruiz cannot go in Week 4.
Lemieux, who became a Giants starter as a rookie, battled constant injury trouble during his final three seasons in New York. A severe foot injury sidelined the former fifth-round pick for almost all of the 2021 and ’22 seasons. Lemieux returned in 2022 but played in only one game. A biceps injury in practice last October ended Lemieux’s contract year on a familiar note. This represents another shot for a player who has played in just six games over the past three seasons.
Reed joined Brian Allen and others, ex-Colts backup Josh Sills among them, at Wednesday’s workout. Formerly the Rams’ starting center in Super Bowl LVI who worked as the team’s starter for three seasons during an injury-plagued run in Los Angeles, Allen lost his job to Coleman Shelton last season and became an offseason cap casualty. Previously given a three-year, $18MM Rams deal, Allen could not make the Browns’ 53-man roster in August.