Team news: New Orleans Saints | Page 2

Saints RB Kendre Miller is expected to begin the year on injured reserve, making the position a bit more of a concern entering the season.

Related players: Alvin Kamara, Jamaal Williams, Jordan Mims

Most of the RB duties are likely to fall on Kamara and Williams. The team also let go James Robinson, leaving Mims as the perhaps the team's RB3. It's possible the Saints will have to make another move at RB before the start of the season.

Bills HC Sean McDermott said there is optimism both WR Curtis Samuel and WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling could get back for Week 1, but he did not want to commit all the way to it because all injury situations are still "murky" at the moment.

Related Players: Keon Coleman, Khalil Shakir, Mack Hollins, KJ Hamler

This WR room doesn't need any more setbacks, so let's hope that they're both ready to go for Week 1 as a rotational piece (Valdes-Scantling) and a do-it-all option (Samuel). In a fully healthy season, there would be a good chance that Samuel could lead the position group in targets.

Saints running back Alvin Kamara returned to practice Tuesday, according to multiple reports.

Kamara had not practiced in more than a week because of back tightness, which coach Dennis Allen said Aug. 13 wasn’t a big deal, the story said. Speculation suggested Kamara was doing a "hold-in" since he skipped the final practice of the mandatory minicamp in June as a way of showing his displeasure over his contract situation. He was a regular at camp before the injury, however.

Bills WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling suffered a neck sprain during Saturday’s preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

X-rays were negative for MVS, a positive sign after the receiver left the game on a cart. His status for this week is uncertain. MVS is reportedly squarely on the roster bubble. It’s great to hear his injury isn’t that serious but time will tell if he is still on the team come roster cuts.

The 65-yard touchdown pass that Dontayvion Wicks caught in stride on the third play of Saturday's preseason opener at the Cleveland Browns was reminiscent of the 17 deep balls that Jordan Love connected on last year.

Only two quarterbacks hit on more throws of 25 or more air yards last season: New Orleans' Derek Carr and Miami's Tua Tagovailoa with 19.

As perfect as that throw looked against the Browns on Saturday as it floated 27.7 yards in the air, according to NFL Next Gen Stats tracking, it's easy to forget that even with 17 deep-throw connections last season, Love's completion rate on those passes was no better than 15th among all quarterbacks.

Working to improve Love's 34.7% success rate on throws of 25-plus air-yards has been a focus in training camp, the story said. So even though it was a preseason game, it was Love's first deep attempt in live action - and it was a success. The story added last year Love struggled to hit his speed receivers on deep throws, many of which were under thrown. Love's fantasy value seems to be on the rise and he's surrounded by a ton of talent on the offensive side of the ball. Success on deep throws will only help continue his climb. Love is currently ranked 10th on our QB list.

Beyond Keon Coleman, three other receivers took snaps with Allen: Khalil Shakir, Curtis Samuel and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Shakir’s usage was the most interesting, as he was an immediate starter with Allen — and in 12 personnel, no less.

The story went on to say as the team’s primary slot receiver, working into two-receiver sets is essential for Shakir to take the next step. The author said that also of note, Shakir was the first receiver the team shut down, perhaps signifying his lofty spot within the offense. He took the first three snaps after Allen left the field, and that was the end of his evening. With Bills WR spots seemingly up for grabs this season, Shakir is looking like he could be a fantasy receiver to target in drafts.

Taysom Hill has never had a clearly defined position during his eight seasons with the Saints, and he won’t have one this year either.

“He’s gonna do a lot of stuff. He’s gonna run routes from in line, out wide, out of the backfield, he’s going to block, he’s going to run the ball out of the backfield, I think he’s going to do a lot of stuff. He’s going to line up at the quarterback position at some point in time. I think he’s an awesome weapon to have,” Allen said.

Of all the tight ends, Hill’s fantasy value depends most on the scoring format in question. In standard scoring, he was the TE7 last year. In half-PPR and full-PPR, he was the TE10 and TE15, respectively. With a new offensive coordinator (Klint Kubiak) in town, Hill’s role is very much up in the air. Hill said that he had a “positive” conversation with Kubiak about his new role, so he seems like he’ll be content with his usage. Of course, Hill is not even TE-eligible in some leagues, but that’s where we rank/project him since that’s the only real position that he’s startable.

Running back Alvin Kamara left the Saints’ mandatory minicamp early last month because of issues with his contract that have not been resolved, so his status for the team’s training camp in Irvine, California has been up in the air for the last month.

Saints veterans reported to camp on Tuesday and, per multiple reports, Kamara is among them.

The next question will be whether Kamara will practice with the team on Wednesday or if he is holding in by reporting to avoid the fines he’d incur by holding out, the story said. It went on to say Kamara is due a salary of $10.2 million this season and is under contract for 2025, but has a cap hit of over $29 million and is not due any guaranteed money.

The New Orleans Saints have placed TE Juwan Johnson, DE Tanoh Kpassagnon, LB Nephi Sewell and DE Chase Young on the physically unable to perform list, placed T Ryan Ramczyk on the reserve/physically unable to perform list, placed WR Chris Olave on the non-football injury list

In a follow-up tweet, Nick Underhill mentions that Olave is "battling a little back tightness. Not a significant situation and he'll be fine." It seems like this is more precautionary than anything. We'll keep an eye on the situation as we get through training camp.

Saints TE Juwan Johnson is scheduled to undergo foot surgery next week that will sideline him “a while”. The hope and belief for now is that he will be back for the start of the season.

Related Players: Foster Moreau, Taysom Hill

Taysom Hill needs to be targeted anywhere that has him with TE eligibility. A foot surgery seems more impactful than Johnson coming back by Week 1 but he should still be on fantasy radars with the Saints so bereft of pass-catching talent behind Chris Olave.