Team news: New Orleans Saints | Page 7

The Saints placed RB Jamaal Williams on injured reserve Saturday.

Williams is now out a minimum of four games due to a hamstring injury. He’ll miss games against the Packers, Buccaneers, Patriots and Texans. Rookie Kendre Miller is expected to make his debut Sunday in Green Bay and the Saints will get Alvin Kamara back from suspension in Week 4.

Saints’ RB Jamaal Williams is expected to need “some time” to recover from his hamstring injury, per HC Dennis Allen.

Related players: Kendre Miller, Tony Jones, Alvin Kamara, Taysom Hill

It's another hit for the Saints backfield as Kamara is still suspended for two more games. But, the good news is Miller is expected to make his debut in Week 3. However, it could be an a messy situation until Kamara gets back and the team could opt to include Hill into the rushing attack like they did in Week 2. Jones carried 12 times for 34 yards but scored twice. Hill ran nine times for 75 yards.

Jamaal Williams left the game and went to the locker room during the second quarter. The team announced that Williams is questionable to return due to a hamstring injury a short time later.

Related players: Tony Jones, Alvin Kamara, Kendre Miller, Adam Prentice

Jones took over the Saints backfield and could see a significant role over the next couple of weeks. The Saints are thin at the position with Kamara suspended and Miller out.

One reason Mahomes is the league’s reigning MVP is he became one of the league’s most efficient quarterbacks when attempting short and intermediate passes. In the Chiefs’ comeback victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII, none of Mahomes’ 21 completions traveled more than 20 yards past the line of scrimmage.

Of course, Reid and Mahomes can anticipate the next trend: Opposing defenses starting to zig to more conventional coverage, a mission to clog the short and intermediate passing windows for Mahomes.

Related Players: Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Kadarius Toney, Skyy Moore, Rashee Rice

As the article would go on to mention, Mahomes' 8.2% deep ball rate in 2022 was a career-low. Particularly when the team returns a healthy Travis Kelce who can do so much damage in the short-to-intermediate areas of the field, the Chiefs may be pushing the ball downfield more often while defenses attempt to prevent their ultra-efficient short game.

Despite his horrendous first week of the season, Toney should expect some of that action to go his way, as his speed will often see him at the perimeter and beyond the defense. Valdes-Scantling was an incredible best ball target throughout the summer for this exact same reason. They are both difficult starts outside of deep-league Flex plays, but they will certainly pop from time to time this season.

Things may change, but it’s not looking good for Kendre Miller’s availability this week. I would anticipate a big Jamaal Williams game backed up by Kirk Merritt, with Tony Jones Jr. activated from the practice squad.

Merritt didn't carry the ball one single time in the preseason, so his workload isn't expected to make much of an impact on Wiliams' touch share. Could be a huge game for the former Packer.

Judging from how the Chiefs utilized their receivers in training camp, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Skyy Moore and Justin Watson will get the most playing time. Kadarius Toney missed all of camp after having surgery for a torn meniscus, but is back at practice and should be available to play against the Lions.

It’s less clear how much the others might play. But they all bring something to the group. Richie James has the most single-season catches of the group, having caught 57 passes for the New York Giants last season. The Chiefs tried to get the ball to Rashee Rice on plays like screens and pop passes during the preseason to highlight his ability to run after the catch.

Justyn Ross is big at 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds. Veach suggested he could take the red zone role held last year by Jody Fortson, who is out for the season with a shoulder injury.

Rice, a second-round draft pick, is a rookie. Ross is playing his first season with the Chiefs. He joined last season as an undrafted rookie but didn’t play because of injuries.

The Chiefs claim they will use their WRs based on defenses and who they are playing, allowing them to attack in different ways. While a lot of the young WRs got attention over the summer at some point - either working with the first team or just standing out - the story said Rice and Ross, especially, could see their roles be limited early in the season or at least until the coaches are comfortable with giving them a bigger workload. The Chiefs receivers could be a frustrating group for fantasy purposes, at least early on in the season.

Technically, the Saints now have four quarterbacks on the 53-man roster.

As noted by Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.football, the team shifted the designation of Taysom Hill from tight end to quarterback. He had been listed as a tight end for all of camp.

The story went on to say that under that approach, Derek Carr would serve as QB1, Hill would fill the role of QB2, and Jameis Winston or rookie fourth-rounder Jake Haener would be the emergency third quarterback. The third quarterback could play only if both Carr and Hill were both unavailable due to injury or ejection. If that’s what the Saints do, it’s a creative application of the rule. The second quarterback can play at will and line up at other positions like tight end; only the emergency third quarterback is restricted to operating under center, the story said. However, it won't help fantasy owners much if Hill is only listed as a QB.

Saints head coach Dennis Allen said Kendre Miller has a hamstring injury. Wouldn’t say if it will impact Week 1.

Related Players: Jamaal Williams, Kirk Merritt, Alvin Kamara

As it stands, the only active running backs on the Saints roster are Jamaal Williams and Kirk Merritt, though Jordan Mims and Tony Jones are on the practice squad. 4for4's injury expert, Jeff Mueller, believes the hamstring is related to offseason knee surgery, which will impact his Week 1 status. Either Williams is going to have a monster workload right out of the gate, or the team will be immediately signing a free agent option to eat into that (still large) workload.