HEADLINES

Kendre Miller

Saints Activate Kendre Miller, Place Nick Saldiveri On IR

December 7th, 2024 at 9:01pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Saints’ offense will once again have another option in the backfield starting tomorrow. Running back Kendre Miller has been activated from injured reserve, per a team announcement.

Miller made a pair of appearances in October upon returning to action the first time this season. He was given the IR/designated for return designation many other players received during roster cuts this summer, ensuring missed time at the start of the campaign. Miller healed in full from his offseason hamstring injury, but he was again sidelined not long after making his season debut.

Now, the 2023 third-rounder will again have the opportunity to see playing time upon being activated from IR. Miller only received nine carries when he was in the lineup, but veteran Jamaal Williams has seen between zero and three carries per contest each game since Week 3. At least a somewhat notable workload could be in place for Miller moving forward while serving as a complement to Alvin Kamara.

In a corresponding move, guard Nick Saldiveri has been moved to IR. The 2023 fourth-rounder made only four appearances (and no starts) during his rookie campaign, but he has been a much more prominent O-line figure this year. Saldiveri has made six starts amongst his 11 total games in 2024, all of which have come at left guard. He currently ranks 60th out of 73 guards in terms of PFF grade, but his absence will add further to the injuries which have been felt at multiple spots up front this year in New Orleans.

The Saints have only two IR activations remaining for the season, and with five games left in the campaign Saldiveri (who will miss at least the next four contests) will likely not return in 2024. New Orleans’ latest changes on offense come as the 4-8 team prepares to play the Giants on Sunday.

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/2/24

November 2nd, 2024 at 7:30pm CST by Ely Allen

Today’s minor NFL moves including standard gameday practice squad elevations for Sunday’s slate of games:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New Orleans Saints

Philadelphia Eagles

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Saints Place S Will Harris On IR, Activate RB Kendre Miller

October 12th, 2024 at 4:51pm CST by Ely Allen

The Saints secondary took a hit today as starting safety Will Harris has been placed on injured reserve. Taking his place on the 53-man roster will be second-year running back Kendre Miller, who has been officially activated from IR today.

Harris and Miller have both been dealing with hamstring injuries. While Harris suffered his against the Chiefs on Monday, Miller is just getting healthy from his. Miller was a full participant in practice all week, while Harris did not participate at all. Hamstring injuries have a tendency to linger, hence keeping Harris out for at least four games.

Harris is in his sixth year of NFL football and is playing his first season outside of Detroit. The veteran defensive back has never been a game-changer on the field, but he has been consistently available and a dependable starter. This will be Harris’ first instance of extended missed time. Since getting drafted by the Lions in 2019, Harris has only missed two of a possible 88 games, starting 45 of those contests.

Without Harris on defense, the Saints will likely turn to second-year safety Jordan Howden to play next to Tyrann Mathieu in the defensive backfield. Howden started seven games for New Orleans last year as an injury replacement for Marcus Maye. In a worst-case scenario, the Saints roster veteran Johnathan Abram as a backup behind Howden on the practice squad.

Miller should replace Jordan Mims as the RB3 behind Alvin Kamara and Jamaal Williams in his return to play. As a third-round rookie last year, Miller finished fourth on the team in yards and carries behind Kamara, Williams, and Swiss Army weapon Taysom Hill.

In addition to the IR transactions, the Saints also announced that Abram and offensive guard Chris Reed will be called up tomorrow as standard gameday practice squad elevations. Abram and Reed will be relegated back to the practice squad after tomorrow’s contest.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/3/24

October 3rd, 2024 at 7:33pm CST by Ely Allen

Thursday’s minor transactions from around the NFL:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Phillips’ spot on the 53-man roster was filled today when Miami signed outside linebacker Tyus Bowser from Seattle’s practice squad.

The young running back in Baltimore will have his 21-day practice window opened as he attempts to come back from injury after being placed on injured reserve the day of the season opener.

Saints Place RB Kendre Miller On IR, Reduce Squad To 53

August 27th, 2024 at 9:56pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here is how the Saints moved their roster down to the regular-season 53-man limit:

Released:

Waived:

Placed on IR:

Placed on IR/return designation:

Placed on reserve/PUP list:

A host of vested vets are off the Saints’ roster, and Miller will be for a stretch as well. Miller has been down with a hamstring injury for several weeks, suffering the setback minutes into the team’s initial training camp workout. This lingering into the regular season is a concerning development for both parties. Hamstring trouble limited Miller late last summer as well. The Saints still roster Jamaal Williams behind Alvin Kamara, but they used a third-round pick on Miller last year. The TCU alum logged 41 carries as a rookie, but a new OC (Klint Kubiak) is now calling the shots.

Kpassagnon sustained an Achilles tear early this offseason, and he will miss at least four games. Rookie UDFA Mason Tipton made the roster over St. Brown, while offseason pickup Will Harris secured a spot over Abram. The Saints kept Lucas Patrick and Oli Udoh over Davis and Lemieux, who had been attempting to bounce back from an injury-plagued Giants tenure.

NFL Injury Rumors: Holland, Dillon, Pacheco, Miller, Elam

December 15th, 2023 at 10:11pm CST by Ely Allen

Injuries aren’t anything to keep Dolphins safety Jevon Holland down for long. The third-year starter has missed three games this season (the most he’s missed in his short carer) while dealing with reported knee injuries. According to an interview Holland did with Adam Beasley of Pro Football Network, the Dolphins defender has been dealing with two MCL sprains.

A single MCL sprain is enough to force many players to sit out multiple games, as those knee ligament injuries are not meant to be dealt with lightly. Regardless, Holland wants to be through with missing time, telling Beasley that “he’s optimistic about playing this week.” With the team’s other starting safety DeShon Elliott out this week after suffering a concussion in Miami’s surprising loss to the Titans on Monday, the defense would be glad to return Holland to the field.

Here are a few other injury rumors from around the NFL:

  • Packers running back A.J. Dillon has already been asked to step into a starting role with Aaron Jones out for the past three weeks. Green Bay may be down another rusher as Dillon reportedly suffered a broken thumb in the team’s loss to the Giants on Monday night, per ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. Like Holland, Dillon isn’t one to miss time with an injury. The only games he’s missed in his career were due to COVID-19 during his rookie year. That being said, he’s never played with a broken thumb. He’s listed as questionable heading into the weekend, but Dillon is trying to figure out if he can play through the injury. The biggest issue comes with the fact that opposing teams will know of the injury and attempts to punch out fumbles could lead to further harm.
  • Isiah Pacheco has only missed one game since taking over as the Chiefs‘ starting running back in Week 2, sitting out for last week’s loss to the Bills. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, head coach Andy Reid reported that Pacheco underwent “a clean up procedure on his shoulder” that will force him to miss this weekend’s matchup with the Patriots, as well. Reid expects that Pacheco should be able to return after that.
  • Yet another running back, Saints rookie rusher Kendre Miller has missed the team’s past four games with an ankle injury and is scheduled to miss a fifth straight game this weekend. NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill believes that we haven’t seen the last of Miller this season. While the TCU-product may not be back immediately after this week’s game, Underhill thinks a Week 17 appearance in Tampa Bay could be in the cards for the 21-year-old.
  • Lastly, it’s safe to say that we haven’t seen the best from Bills second-year cornerback Kaiir Elam in his sophomore season. 2023 has been an injury-riddled year for the Florida-product as he’s only made an appearance in three games this year, the most recent of which only saw him on special teams. According to Ryan O’Halloran of The Buffalo News, Elam reportedly tore an ankle ligament prior to the start of the regular season. While he did sit out the team’s first four contests, Elam’s Week 5 return apparently saw him attempting to play through the injury without it being healed due to injuries to Tre’Davious White and Christian Benford in the team’s Week 4 win over the Dolphins. The injury would eventually push him onto injured reserve at the start of November. He’s since been designated to return from IR. If he isn’t able to return by shortly after Christmas, Elam will remain on IR for the rest of the year.

NFL Injury Updates: Higgins, Turner, Palmer, Saints, Jones

November 10th, 2023 at 9:58pm CST by Ely Allen

The Bengals will be without their second leading receiver for their Week 10 matchup against the Texans. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Tee Higgins will miss Sunday’s game after injuring his hamstring in practice on Wednesday. He will reportedly continue to be evaluated on a week-to-week basis.

Partially due to the early struggles of quarterback Joe Burrow, Higgins is off to the worst start of his career this season. After averaging 1,009.33 receiving yards in each of his first three seasons, Higgins is currently on track to finish the season with only 703 yards. Hamstring injuries have a tendency to linger, as well, threatening to take even more away from Higgins this year.

Leading wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase has been limited this week with a back injury and is currently listed as questionable. Should he play, though, he will be joined by Tyler Boyd, Trenton Irwin, and sixth-round rookie Andrei Iosivas. With Higgins out, tight end Irv Smith may, too, continue to see an increased role in the Bengals’ passing gameplan.

Here are a few other injury updates from around the NFL:

  • The Jets will be without yet another offensive lineman this week as backup lineman Billy Turner will miss Sunday’s game in Las Vegas, per Brian Costello of the New York Post. Turner suffered a “concerning” broken bone in his hand during his first start of the season last week that head coach Robert Saleh disclosed had required surgery. Turner was starting in place of injured right guard Connor McGovern, who was placed on injured reserve before last week’s game with a dislocated knee cap. With all the current injuries on the offensive line, New York only has three linemen on the active roster – Chris Glaser, Dennis Kelly, and Carter Warren – that it can turn to as a replacement starter this weekend. They also have Jake Hanson, Xavier Newman, and Rodger Saffold, who should be available off the practice squad. Saffold and Hanson are recent signings who may have been brought in to assist with the team’s plague of injuries on the offensive front.
  • Chargers wide receiver Josh Palmer was placed on IR earlier this week without much word on the specifics of what was being called a knee injury. Daniel Popper of The Athletic provided an update on Wednesday that Palmer is dealing with a knee sprain. Popper’s report comes from head coach Brandon Staley, who relayed that Palmer will obviously be out for the next four weeks, the minimum required on IR, but he has “no expectations” after that. They will simply have to reassess once Palmer is eligible to return.
  • Two Saints rookies suffered injuries this past Sunday. Defensive end Isaiah Foskey suffered “a low-grade quad strain,” according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. Foskey’s absence, as a rotational lineman, will open the door for more potential snaps for either Tanoh Kpassagnon or Kyle Phillips, who was signed to the active roster weeks ago but has yet to make his season debut. Foskey is expected to miss a week or two, but the injury isn’t considered serious. Running back Kendre Miller was the other Saints rookie to suffer an injury, spraining his ankle against Chicago last week, per Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football. He hasn’t participated in practice all week and will also be out this Sunday. It’s unclear whether or not his injury will linger to hold him out for much longer. Miller’s usage has decreased significantly since the return of Jamaal Williams, but with Eno Benjamin on IR, the team may feel the need to elevate practice squad running back Jordan Mims to back up Williams and Alvin Kamara.
  • The Browns will be down three offensive tackles for this weekend’s trip to Baltimore. According to Jeff Schudel of The News-Herald and Morning Journal, rookie fourth-round tackle Dawand Jones has been ruled out for Sunday’s game. Starting tackles Jack Conklin and Jedrick Wills both currently reside on IR, Conklin since Week 1 and Wills just this past week. Jones had been starting across from Wills in place of Conklin. With Wills and Jones out next week, Cleveland will have to start two fresh faces at offensive tackle. Schudel reports that James Hudson III is expected to start at right tackle. Starting left guard Joel Bitonio is expected to slide out to serve as a left tackle. Backup center Nick Harris will get an opportunity to start in Bitonio’s place at left guard. A beleaguered offensive line will face a significant challenge with three new starters in new positions against a Ravens defense that leads the league in sacks.

Saints To Sign RB Darrel Williams

August 14th, 2023 at 5:00pm CST by Adam La Rose

5:00pm: The Saints have signed Williams, per Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football (Twitter link). Williams should have a pass-catching role early in the season in particular as he looks to put together a healthy campaign and in doing so, boost his free agent value. He will also provide insurance against Miller’s injury lasting longer than expected.

12:05pm: With the running back position in flux at the moment, the Saints are eyeing a depth addition. Darrel Williams is set to work out with New Orleans today, per Jordan Schultz of the Score (Twitter link).

Williams spent his first four campaigns in Kansas City, finding himself behind a number of different contributors on the depth chart over that span. In 2021, however, he saw a surge in playing time and recorded the only seven starts of his career. The 28-year-old parlayed that into a notable uptick in production with 558 yards and six touchdowns on the ground, coupled with another 452 yards and two scores through the air.

The former UDFA signed with the Cardinals last year to serve as James Conner‘s pass-catching backup. Williams was limited to just six games, however, and he received only 21 carries in Arizona. With a number of other backs still on the open market, it comes as no surprise that he has not been able to land a deal despite training camps and the preseason being well underway.

New Orleans is expected to pursue help at the position, though, as Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com tweets. Williams, a Marrero, Louisiana native and LSU alum, could provide depth in a backfield which will be without Alvin Kamara for the first three weeks of the season due to suspension and which lost Eno Benjamin for the year to an Achilles tear. The Saints appeared poised to sign Kareem Hunt last week, but his visit did not result in a deal being signed.

With Kamara temporarily out of the picture, much of the Saints’ backfield responsibilities will fall to free agent signing Jamaal Williams and third-round rookie Kendre Miller. The latter suffered an injury scare during the team’s preseason win on Sunday, threatening to thin out the roster further at the RB spot. Testing confirmed Miller suffered a knee sprain, but surgery will not be required and recovering in time for Week 1 is still in play at this point (Twitter link via Tom Pelissero of NFL Network).

Even if Miller is able to suit up at the start of the season, a vacancy exists which Williams could fill if his visit convinces the Saints to add him. As the Hunt workout demonstrated, New Orleans is not prepared to make a sizable commitment in terms of guaranteed money for a depth addition to the backfield. It will be interesting to see if Williams’ case produces a different result than Hunt’s.

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/18/23

July 18th, 2023 at 7:35pm CST by Ben Levine

As teams welcomed in rookies for camp this week, they began to reorganize their rosters. Today’s minor moves:

Miami Dolphins

  • Placed on NFI: CB Ethan Bonner
  • Placed on IR: LB Zeke Vandenburgh

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

San Francisco 49ers

Vandenburgh, an undrafted rookie out of Illinois State, suffered an injury while training this offseason, per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald (on Twitter). His placement on IR means he won’t be able to play for the Dolphins in 2023, but he could work his way onto the field with another squad. Bonner, meanwhile, is dealing with a minor illness and should be good to go later this week.

Miller, a third-round pick by the Saints, is still recovering from a meniscus injury that kept him off the field for TCU’s National Championship game. The Saints were always planning to ease in the running back during training camp, and it sounds like he’s still expected to be a full-go by the time the regular season comes around.

Saints Rumors: Miller, Moreau, Saldiveri

May 21st, 2023 at 9:07pm CST by Ely Allen

One of three star offensive players for the Horned Frogs last year, new Saints rookie running back Kendre Miller was unable to finish the season with his fellow stars, quarterback Max Duggan and wide receiver Quentin Johnston, after suffering a knee injury in the team’s semifinal win over Michigan. Despite needing surgery to correct the knee injury, Miller expects to be 100 percent healthy by camp, according to Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football.

Miller was dominant during his final season in Fort Worth, racking up 1,399 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns. The game against the Wolverines that saw him leave early was the only contest of the season in which he failed to cross the goal line. His absence in TCU’s season finale against Georgia likely contributed to the team’s embarrassing championship loss.

Miller’s MCL was only injured and not torn, but the knee requiring surgery was a note of concern as it held him out of any pre-draft workouts. Luckily, it appears that the ailment won’t preclude him from getting some preseason work with his teammates in New Orleans. It’s not as if it matters too much, though, since Miller is set to join a loaded Saints running backs room.

Miller won’t be required to be an immediate contributor as Alvin Kamara and Jamaal Williams put New Orleans in a stellar situation to start the year. With Kamara and Williams both under contract through 2025, the Saints have an embarrassment of riches and will have plenty of time to allow Miller to develop without working too much tread off of his tires.

Here are a few more rumors coming out of NOLA:

  • Nearly two weeks ago, the Saints added former Raiders tight end Foster Moreau, rejoining him with quarterback Derek Carr in New Orleans. Thanks to ESPN’s Field Yates, we now have a few more details on the new deal. The three-year, $12.23MM contract has a guaranteed amount of $8.02MM consisting of a $3.5MM signing bonus, Moreau’s 2023 base salary of $1.1MM, and his 2024 base salary of $3.42MM. Thanks to two void years tacked on to the end of the deal, Moreau’s cap hit in 2023 will only be $1.8MM. In the final two years of the deal, Moreau will receive a per game active roster bonus of $16,470 for a potential season total of $280K. The team also built in a potential out after the 2024 season that will allow them to avoid $8.3MM in cap hit while taking on no dead cap.
  • The Saints were able to sign fourth-round offensive tackle Nick Saldiveri to his four-year rookie contract a little over a week ago. An interesting detail about the signing is apparent in the deal’s value. As the top pick of the fourth round, Saldiveri already was set for an impressive contract. According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, though, the team ended up giving him a deal worth $63K more than the amount designated for that draft slot.
  • New Orleans made an addition to its player personnel staff this week, promoting Tosan Eyetsemitan to the role of pro scout, according to Neil Stratton of SucceedinFootball.com. Eyetsemitan served previously in the role of football administration associate. This will be his third year with the Saints after four years in Cleveland.
Load More Posts