METAIRIE, La. — Running back Alvin Kamara has been ruled out for the second straight week because of a knee injury for a New Orleans Saints offense that will be extremely short-handed Sunday at the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Saints (5-4) also ruled out both of their standout offensive tackles, Terron Armstead (knee/shoulder) and Ryan Ramczyk (knee), and backup RB/WR Ty Montgomery (finger) after they missed practice all week.
Quarterback Taysom Hill (foot) was listed as questionable after practicing on a limited basis Friday for the first time all week. Kamara returned to practice on a limited basis Wednesday, but then he didn’t practice Thursday or Friday.
Coach Sean Payton declined to share any injury details Friday, so it’s unclear if Kamara suffered a setback or if he is just slowly working his way back. Kamara initially suffered his injury during the Saints’ Week 9 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, but he played through it.
Payton described Kamara’s knee injury last week as one that he was rehabbing to return “as quickly as he can get back” after he experienced “soreness” during the loss to Atlanta.
Kamara will obviously be missed since he leads the Saints’ depleted offense with 840 yards from scrimmage, seven touchdowns and 32 receptions this season. The Saints will continue to rely heavily on veteran backup Mark Ingram II as they try to avoid their first three-game losing streak since 2016. Ingram had 18 touches for 108 yards and a touchdown during last Sunday’s loss at the Tennessee Titans.
“Yeah, I miss my guy. But, obviously, he’s working to get as healthy as he can to be able to play,” Ingram said earlier this week. “But until then … I’m gonna hold it down — we’re all gonna hold it down for him.”
Veteran tackle/guard James Hurst has also done a nice job filling in for Armstead when he has missed time with injuries this year — including last week at Tennessee. But it’s unclear where the Saints will choose to deploy Hurst on Sunday now that they need two replacement tackles.
Rookie Landon Young and veteran Jordan Mills are also candidates to start at one tackle spot or the other. The Saints also ruled out defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon (ankle) and defensive tackle Malcolm Roach (knee).
And they released rookie kicker Brian Johnson on Friday after he missed two extra points in last week’s two-point loss at Tennessee and a total of three extra points over the past three games. The Saints promoted recently signed veteran kicker Brett Maher from the practice squad to replace him.
Source: www.espn.com