Mark Ingram is down for the first four games of the season. The league announced he violated their policies against performance-enhancing drugs.
Ingram will be around for the preseason, then he won’t be allowed to have contact with the team for most of September. He’ll be eligible to re-join the team after the Week 4 game at the Giants.
The Saints open at home against Tampa Bay and Cleveland, then play at Atlanta.
While Ingram is out, the Saints likely will give Alvin Kamara a few more touches. But Kamara is a smaller, explosive back – not a workhorse guy – so they’ll likely work in another back to take on some of the workload.
The Saints used a sixth-round pick on Boston Scott from Louisiana Tech, but he’s a smaller back.
Trey Edmunds (older brother of the twins selected in the first round of the draft) scored on a 41-yard run last year, but his other 8 carries went for a total of 7 yards.
I’m guessing the back who’ll share time with Kamara in those first four weeks will be either Daniel Lasco, who’s been kicking around for a few years, or Jonathan Williams, who was surprisingly cut by Buffalo last August.
The Saints also could go back to passing more in the first month of a the season, moving away from the run-dominated offense they used for most of last season.
—Ian Allan